NWSL: Measures adopted to deal with afternoon heat

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Jun 13, 2017

In the aftermath of the incident involving the Houston Dash's Rachel Daly, who collapsed from heat exhaustion in a game in late May, the NWSL has rescheduled 23 games, added time for hydration breaks on the NWSL Game of the Week on Lifetime and issued new guidelines to deal with extreme heat.

NWSL: Revised 2017 Schedule

"The safety of everyone involved with the execution of NWSL matches, including players, referees and fans, is paramount," NWSL managing director of operations Amanda Duffy said. "These are important measures that will help to ensure the safest environment possible at all league matches, and we will continue to evaluate steps that can be taken in the future."

The NWSL Game of the Week on Lifetime will kick off at 3:50 p.m. ET to accommodate hydration breaks and complete broadcasts by their scheduled off-air time of 6 p.m. ET. In addition, teams not part of the Game of the Week have more flexibility to reschedule afternoon games into the late afternoon and evenings.

Like severe weather delays, matches will be halted or their starts delayed when WBGT measurements exceed 95 degrees.