It’s gotta happen and it’s going to happen. In LA? There’s no better place to put an expansion side in any football league. We have the active support, the charisma, and the loyalty to not only preserve a club, but enhance the league. As LAFC fans, we have brought forward an outrageous amount of interest in the MLS (despite the fact that our team is so damn good) so why can’t we do that with a club in the NWSL? Without a doubt, Women’s soccer in America has been growing ever since the USWNT took home the world cup trophy from Japan in 2015, and the repeat from this past summer only made our love stronger for the women’s game.

Not only do we have the support for a club, but in the City of Angels, we have the local talent. Southern California is known for its Girl’s youth academies, with clubs such as Beach FC (Long Beach), San Diego Surf, and So Cal Blues (Orange County). All three of these clubs have won a handful of national championships and continue to play at the national level today, and have been grabbing attention from the USWNT youth camps for a very long time.

We have the support, interest, and talent, so why don't we have a professional women’s team yet? Well, it turns out, we had two of them. Before the NWSL began play in 2013, there was another women’s professional league called the W-League. It was a second division flagship that began in 1995, known as the longest serving professional women's league in North America, and home to two teams, the Los Angeles Strikers and the Pali Blues. These two clubs were very successful, having won multiple national championships and have groomed into dynasties since the start of the league by acquiring players like Alex Morgan, Lauren Holiday, Tobin Heath, Kelley O’Hara, Whitney Engen, Christen Press, Mele French, Liz Bogus, Amy LePeilbet, Ali Riley, Ashlyn Harris and Karen Bardsley. In the fall of 2013, the two clubs merged, dubbing themselves as the “LA Blues”. The inaugural season (13’-14’) started and finished with a bang, having won all 15 of their regular season games and outscoring their opponents 62-6 while doing so. The LA Blues won the W-League championship in 2014, but at the end of the year, the team folded due to financial issues.

You might be asking yourself, why is he telling me this? Well, if we want to have a successful club, we must support it. The Strikers and the Blues were nothing short of successful, but they didn’t have the support they needed to continue. I mean, imagine our club, LAFC, wins the MLS Cup this season, and the next season, John Thorrington and Tom Penn announce that they're folding the club. We must learn from this and take initiative on what to do and what not to do. If we are serious about bringing a team to play in the highest tier here in LA, we must support it 100%. Am I doubting? No, because we already have people ready to get it started. A pioneership in people like Sujin Lee, The hosts of The Center Mid Chicks Podcast (Amanda Filimon, Nina Kiefer, and Amy Acevedo) and many more supporters with Lindsay Ivins leading the movement. People like them and their support are what’s needed in order to do this correctly.

I took a minute to speak with Sujin Lee and her thoughts on why a women’s professional team needs to be in LA, “With Liga MX Femenil and all the different women’s clubs and leagues popping up all over the world, why can’t LA have a team?”she says. Exactamundo. Why Not? She goes on to say, ”The support is and will be there, we just need a local team. For the sake of growing the culture, we need an NWSL team in LA.” Sujin knows all about support as she is an active and astounding member of the Tigers Supporter's Group (TSG) of LAFC.

In terms of growing the culture, the trio in Amanda Filimon, Nina Kiefer, and Amy Acevedo have been doing a fantastic job in spreading the awareness of the NWSL in their podcast, Center Mid Chicks. During the women's World Cup, these ladies took some time to breakdown and evaluate every USWNT game on their fellow companions' podcast, the Defenders of the Banc. The rush of the tournament never ceased to leave their hearts after the final in July, so they decided to dig deeper and discover a new profound love in the NWSL. Their podcast is filled with information on the league, their support in the NWSL to LA movement, and countless banter between the three on their newly adopted teams. You must tune into this show to witness the start of something special, and when it happens, you'll soon realize that you'll need to hop on board. These ladies work extremely hard and are only fueled by the passion and love they have for this game, and how eager they are to see what they want to see: a women's club in Los Angeles.

This now leads to the one who sparked the conversation, Lindsay Ivins, who is most famously known for bringing out the Black and Gold Flag that reads "Bring NWSL to LA" to an LAFC game earlier this season. Ivins explains on the "FCFC" podcast that she was eager to start a movement on bringing the NWSL to LA after her personal hero, USWNT superstar Megan Rapinoe, made a call to action that all football supporters need to support their local clubs and teams in order for the game to grow in this country. She continues to inspire this idea throughout the community by making banners that visualize the possibility of an NWSL team and attends many USWNT and Local women's soccer matches. Pictures can be seen of her and her "Tifos" on her instagram page @nwsl_la and have been seen everywhere through social media, being reposted or people showing their support by posting their own pictures while using the hashtag #NWSLtoLA.

The passion and inspiration these ladies have drawn in the community is a perfect depiction of what the love for the game looks and feels like. So, I say to you all that are reading, take note of what is happening here, as it is the start of something special, and it's only a matter of time before you get involved. Count me in ladies! Where do I sign up?