NWSL: 'Crazy' heat conditions send Daly to hospital
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, May 28, 2017
The 25-year-old Englishwoman from St. John's was stretchered off the field and taken to a Houston hospital, where she was treated for heat exhaustion.
The game televised on Lifetime kicked off with temperatures of 92 degrees at BBVA Compass Stadium. The Houston Chronicle reported that the heat index was in triple digits.
"It was a frightening experience," Daly tweeted. "Everyone who knows me knows that I am a player who will give everything and those conditions are not safe to play at your maximum."
Reign coach Laura Harvey tweeted that the conditions were "some of the hottest conditions I’ve seen. Road games are tough but that was crazy.”
The NWSL issued a statement that the league "will immediately review these measures to prevent this situation from occurring in the future."
It added that it implemented water breaks and prior to the season worked with the Dash on scheduling any nationally televised afternoon games earlier in the year in an attempt to avoid the summer heat.
The next televised game in Houston isn't until Sept. 23 when the Dash hosts the Chicago Red Stars. Eight of the 12 national broadcasts before then will be played in Orlando or North Carolina, where Saturday's highs were 95 degrees and 88 degrees.
Thirteen of the NWSL's 23 nationally broadcast games are hosted by the league's three MLS-owned teams -- Houston, Orlando and Portland -- and four others are hosted by the North Carolina Courage. No games will be hosted by FC Kansas City, Boston or Washington in 2017.
With massive heat waves becoming the norm, now that climate change is taking over, pro soccer will have to adjust all matches in southern climates. You cant play day games in 100 degree heat. If this was a night game, it would not have happened. Fans don't even want to go to these days games.