Washington Spirit NWSL must win the NWSL championship at Rowdy Audi to fulfill owner Michele Kang's ambitions. The team has been involved in two consecutive NWSL championship finals and is unbeaten in matches that have broken attendance records. They beat Bay FC 3-2 at Oracle Park in San Francisco in front of 40,091 people, and held the Denver Summit to a scoreless draw at Empower Field at Mile High when 63,004 watched on. When teams visit the Spirit in the post-season playoffs, Rowdy Audi goes to another level. The crowd pushes the Spirit over the line; it happened in their semi-final against Gotham in 2024 and the Portland Thorns a year later. Just as the NWSL were willing to shapeshift to retain Rodman, the Spirit should be just as willing to do everything it can to reach the finals this year — and to mark the occasion with the hardware that has eluded them. There’s no other option if the Spirit are to continue ascending in the direction and at the pace that matches Kang’s ambitions. It feels like it’s now or never.