NWSL must learn from its decision to continue play after Angel City's Savy King collapsed

New York Times

12-05-2025

Why did the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) allow Friday night's match between Angel City FC and the Utah Royals to continue after a serious medical event involving defender Savy King? It's a fair question, and one that's been asked since the game resumed 16 minutes after King initially collapsed.
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The 20-year-old went down in the 74th minute. Play didn't resume until the 85th minute. In that lengthy delay, she was stretchered off via a cart, put in an ambulance in stable condition and sent to a local hospital for further care and evaluation. Multiple times on the broadcast, the cameras cut to players from both teams appearing visibly shaken and emotional, even crying. Yet after King was safely removed from the field, they were asked to continue playing.
The league has the final say when it comes to playing following major incidents, whether medical, weather-related, or anything else that rises to this level, according to internal policies reviewed by The Athletic. Beyond that, NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman has the final say in overruling any protocol to make the best decision for the league. The NWSL could have made the call to consider Friday night's game complete, despite only being played through the 74th minute, if they considered it best for everyone.
Angel City was already up a goal by that point and had little incentive to want the match to continue, but even Utah's head coach Jimmy Coenraets seemed fine with the idea of ceasing play in the immediate aftermath.
'In those moments, I'm not sure if we should have continued the game,'Coenraets told reporters. 'You're emotional — not only them but also our players were just scared. That's not the right situation to be in but in the end, we played on. That's the decision other people have taken, which is fine. It was a really tough moment.'
According to multiple people who spoke to The Athletic about Friday's happenings, Angel City and its medical staff, in partnership with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, got everything right in the moment to provide the proper care for King. And it appears a worst-case scenario was avoided. Even five years prior, before the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and increased investment into medical staff across the league, the result might not have been the same.
All of this comes back to the health of King and the rest of the players and staff on the field watching a serious medical situation.
As multiple sources — who, like all consulted for this article, wished to remain anonymous to protect relationships — stressed, league policy was followed, even if it meant the decision to play on. However, it's hard to argue that it was best for everyone.
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Players have been expected to continue playing after someone goes down with a serious injury in the past. As recently as March, Racing Louisville's Savannah DeMelo was transported to a local hospital with the team's medical director after experiencing lightheadedness during a game against Bay FC. In 2015, Ali Krieger was stretchered off after a head-to-head collision while playing for the Washington Spirit and Houston Dash player Rachel Daly collapsed from heat exhaustion during the final minute of a match in 2017.
This isn't a new ask. As devastating as a torn ACL or Achilles injury might be, they are a known risk. They are not nearly as distressing as a player suddenly collapsing without an immediately clear reason. According to sources briefed on the situation, referee Alexandra Billeter checked in with both teams during the delay and gave the players extra time before resuming the match, which is encouraging, but she never had final say on whether the game would resume or not.
Yes, protocols need to exist; yes, scheduling NWSL games is hard enough as it is without adding having to, potentially, find time the next day to finish an incomplete match. But this is where the protocols must be more of a suggestion rather than hard and fast rules.
If King had gone down four or five seconds later, the game clock would have ticked over to the 75th minute, and the match could have been called, according to league protocol. It was a matter of seconds.
Going case by case means erring on the side of caution more often than not. Maybe some fans get upset over a decision to be overly cautious if a player ultimately turns out to be fine following their hospital stay, but why risk it? Considering this league's history, putting player health and safety at the top of the list feels like an easy win. It is also the right thing to do.
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The NWSL has to learn from this moment. They can't get bogged down questioning if they followed policies or not. There's going to be pressure to get big moments like this right, and the league has a chance to either have a better plan in place or more robustly explain why their call was the right one.
On Saturday, it took over 12 hours for the NWSL to release a statement. King was in stable condition when she left the field and later responsive as she made her way to the hospital. If the league needed more time to gather information and speak to the medical personnel involved, say that.
It is fair to question who was involved in the decision-making process, simply because the internal operations manual provides so much freedom for the league to step in and make a final determination. If Berman has the final say, we should know if she used that power. This all comes down to making the right decision in that moment. Does the NWSL have the right people on call for every match who either feel enabled to make a decision or escalate it appropriately? We don't currently know, and that's the problem.
Every one of these decisions will be a tough call with a heightened level of concern and potential risk to players. It can't be a one size fits all solution, but I do hope the level of pushback from players and fans alike over the continuation of Friday's game prompts a review not just of policy, but staffing levels at the NWSL on the medical side, player health and safety, and even operations, compared to the growth the league has seen on the commercial and marketing sides.
We can all hope that there won't be another moment as scary as this, but none of us can guarantee it. It's OK to make a decision in the moment that might not ultimately prove necessary if it prioritizes the safety of every player in this league. Their bodies are their livelihoods, their health is the priority and no game is worth it if something worse happens next time.