The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Greenwich’s Baird ready to kickstart NWSL
OLD GREENWICH — Old Greenwich’s Lisa Baird began her tenure as commissioner for the National Women’s Soccer League on March 10 — only a day before the NBA suspended operations due to COVID-19 and with the rest of professional sports to follow. Now, her league is set to be the first team sport to return to action in the U.S. with their Challenge Cup tournament kicking off on Saturday.
“We are number one, and we’re going to take advantage of it,” Baird said. “My goal right now is to make sure everybody is aware that we’re going to be out there, we’re going to be in the sports spotlight, and we’re going to have some incredible soccer by the best athletes on the planet.”
Those athletes feature the U.S. heroes from the 2019 Women’s World Cup champion squad, where all 23 players currently play in the NWSL—including star goalkeeper and Bridgeport native Alyssa Naeher.
A town resident for the past 20 years, Baird has essentially created a NWSL makeshift headquarters in her home. Between finalizing deals with sponsorships like CBS Sports and live-streaming service Twitch—and coordinating with health officials on the safest way to return to soccer action — the Challenge Cup became the best opportunity for women’s soccer to continue.
In what has been deemed the “NWSL Village,” eight of the league’s nine teams will play out their tournament games without fans in Utah after the Orlando Pride withdrew their participation on Monday. The month-long tournament will run from June 27 to July 26 and all of the games will be available to watch on CBS All Access; the opening and championship match will be broadcast on the main CBS network.
Though the details are solidified now, the road to getting there wasn’t so simple. Baird previously held marketing and communications positions for the National Football League and the United States Olympic Committee, but it was her time at IBM as Senior Vice President for their World Marketing Communications that prepared her the most for this scenario.
“I think having that deep respect for understanding science and data helped me looked at the problem early on analytically and looked for what we called the ‘end to end solution’ in a different way than some other sports leaders may be looking at it,” Baird said.
Baird is no stranger to crises: she was the U.S. Olympic Committee’s chief marketing officer during the 2016 Summer Olympics where the mosquito-borne zika virus plagued Rio de Janeiro.
“In terms of having the playbook, COVID-19 is unprecedented,” she said.
Player safety is top of mind for the NWSL, which has numerous protocols in place that cover maskwearing, sanitization, testing, and social distancing for those participating, but Baird made it a point to consult the players who were mothers to ensure that scheduling fits in for what’s best for their respective families.
“I have a warm heart for the moms in particular—I know what it’s like to be away from your kids for months on end. It’s really hard. It was a personal desire to make sure we had a solution for them,” Baird said.
When the tournament wraps up in July, it’ll be a win for a league that is thankful to be playing soccer at all—but there may be more where that came from, as Baird says she’s still evaluating options for competition in the fall.
Though the role is still fresh to her, there’s a lot she’s looking to accomplish, too.
“After the tournament, I would love to take some time to develop strategies to grow the league and our profile to make the NWSL the best destination for women’s soccer,” Baird said.
What about a future Connecticut team?
“I’m definitely open to it. If anyone out there is interested, give me a call,” Baird said.