Morning Sports Update

Women’s football powerhouse Boston Renegades will not play in 2025

"The existing model for women’s elite football is no longer sustainable."

Boston Renegades
Boston Renegades wide receiver Stephanie Pascual stiff-arms St. Louis Slam defensive back Jamie Skinner in the Women’s Football Alliance Pro Division national championship game in 2023. David Maxwell/Boston Globe

The Boston Renegades will not play in 2025: With five championships since 2018 in the Women’s Football Alliance, the Boston Renegades were an established dynasty.

Yet despite the on-field success, it hasn’t been enough to keep the business side of the team viable, per owner Molly Goodwin. According to Matt Porter of The Boston Globe, the Renegades are “suspending operations for 2025.”

While the team will not disappear entirely — Goodwin intends to keep going with Renegades-related events and camps as she pursues new investors — it was conspicuously absent from the WFA’s recent schedule announcement.

“The existing model for women’s elite football is no longer sustainable,” Goodwin told Porter. “We feel like we have topped out. We are the gold standard globally in women’s professional football. We feel like we are not growing and we want to take a step back and see what we can do to change the trajectory. We don’t want to miss this movement and this time in women’s sports.”

Advertisement:

She put it in blunt terms.

“We are the highest level of women’s tackle football, but we are not paid,” she said. “Our staff is not paid. By taking a step back to maximize our resources and secure partnerships and funding, we can take a step and be the next legitimate professional team in this town.”

Despite the financial issues, the team remained strong throughout its recent history. The Renegades posted 42-consecutive wins between 2018-2023, a period in which the team compiled five league titles.

Scores and schedules:

The Celtics defeated the Spurs 116-103 at TD Garden on Wednesday night. Jayson Tatum led Boston with 32 points, 14 rebounds, and seven assists.

Advertisement:

Also on Wednesday, the Boston Fleet routed the New York Sirens 4-0. The Fleet face the Sceptres in Toronto on Friday at 7 p.m.

And Canada got off to a winning start in the 4 Nations Face-Off, defeating Sweden 4-3 in overtime. The United States gets its first game tonight, facing Finland in Montreal at 8 p.m.

More from Boston.com:

Canada opens the tournament in style: While it ended up being a much closer game (requiring overtime before Mitch Marner scored the winner), Canada notched the first goal of the 4 Nations Face-Off with a series of slick passes, culminating with a no-look backhand assist from Sydney Crosby.

Alex Bregman recap: The details on the Red Sox signing from ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

On this day: In 1994, U.S. skier Tommy Moe won gold, pulling off a huge upset at the Lillehammer Winter Olympics, defeating Norwegian Kjetil André Aamodt — racing in front of home fans — by the razor thin margin of 0.04 seconds (the closest men’s downhill in Olympic history).

“I was going 70 miles per hour, but it felt like I was in slow motion,” Moe explained in an interview with Boston.com in 2018.

Daily highlight: Vasean Allette hit an improbable three at the buzzer after a full-court pass to hand TCU the win on Wednesday night.

Hayden Bird

Sports Staff

Hayden Bird is a sports staff writer for Boston.com, where he has worked since 2016. He covers all things sports in New England.

Get the latest Boston sports news

Receive updates on your favorite Boston teams, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.

To comment, please create a screen name in your profile

Conversation

This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com