CHICAGO (February 15, 2023) – The National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) today released the 2023 season schedule. With the unbalanced schedule, clubs will spend less budget on travel and more energy on building rivalries.

“This schedule really is a reflection of the very hard work put in by our operations team,” says NISA Commissioner John Prutch. “We learned a lot last year regarding club travel. We created this unbalanced schedule to protect the clubs. It is not unheard of in soccer – or in sports – to minimize travel costs.”

Key elements of the schedule:

• Position in the single table format will be based on average points per match, much like the second half of the 2022 season
• The first match of the season is March 31 with Los Angeles Force hosting Club de Lyon FC at Championship Stadium (7:00pm PST)
• The weekends of July 22 and 29 are designated for final matches of the NISA Independent Cup
• All nine NISA clubs will participate in the 2023 U.S. Open Cup

The complete season covers 33 weeks, with 108 regular season matches, five playoff matches. The top six clubs in the single-table format will earn playoff berths with the top two getting a first-round bye mirroring 2022. The planned playoff dates look like this:

• Quarter Finals: Saturday, October 21
• Semi Finals: Saturday, October 28
• Finals: Saturday, November 11

NB: the two-week break between the Semi Finals and Finals will allow the players to get fit. Matches will stream on ElevenSports. The complete schedule can be found at nisasoccer.com