Utah Royals tabbed 1st for NWSL's college draft, 2nd in expansion in 2024

We now know how the newly revived Utah Royals FC can begin constructing their roster for the upcoming 2024 NWSL season.

The newly rebranded Utah Royals are still months away from furnishing anything resembling a first team, but on Wednesday, we got a look at just how head coach Amy Rodriguez and Co. will be building the team.

The National Women’s Soccer League announced that San Francisco-based Bay FC was awarded the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft via random generator during a meeting involving members of the league. The two expansion clubs will alternate selections between a list of unprotected players from around the league for a total of 12 rounds at a yet-to-be-determined date.

That means that Utah Royals FC will pick first in the 2024 NWSL Entry (formerly collegiate) Draft, traditionally held in January (no date has been revealed yet).

The Royals will also pick first in the third round, as well as the second pick in each of the second and fourth rounds.

“Receiving the first overall pick in the NWSL Entry Draft is a massive first step for us as we look to build our roster for the 2024 season,” said Rodriguez, the former Utah Royals forward and U.S. international who makes her professional coaching debut after a short stint as an assistant at her alma mater USC. “There is a clear and proven history with first overall picks in this league and we are excited to be in the driver’s seat with this upcoming year’s draft.”

The Royals also selected priority in the league’s discovery order ranking, which outlines the order of teams that is used to determine which team receives priority when competing discovery requests are made simultaneously for eligible players.

Utah took a similar priority on the waiver wire order, which is used when two or more teams attempt to acquire the rights of an NWSL player who has been released by their team.

Bay FC will have first priority in the distribution order, used for eligible U.S. women’s national team players not currently in the NWSL who choose to enter the league.

The decision helps guide a roster decision by Rodriguez, who will be determining her coaching style while assembling a roster on the fly. Unlike when the Royals first came to Utah prior to the 2018 season — and inherited the player contracts of the now-defunct FC Kansas City organization — this iteration of the Royals will be tasked with starting a roster from scratch.

That also includes starting an organization from scratch, including the front office. The club first hired RSL legal counsel Michelle Hyncik as team president, who then finalized the process with her former high school teammate Rodriguez as the new club’s first reimagined head coach (third permanent head coach overall).

The team is also currently hiring for numerous Royals-specific positions on staff, including representatives in public relations, graphic artists, social media, account executives, and operations to help prepare the team prior to the 2024 relaunch.

A promotional video for the club’s relaunch said that the Royals would be an organization “that represents everyone, run by women, empowering women.”

One source close to the team told Salt City FC that the Royals are nearing the hiring of a general manager or sporting director for the club, a position that has been at the forefront since Rodriguez’s start date. Rodriguez, for her part, has been in Utah to participate and learn from various training sessions with RSL head coach Pablo Mastroeni and his staff, as well as work on other duties related to the Royals — while also moving her family from Southern California to Utah at the close of the school year.

With head coach, team president and general manager (or similar position) in place, Utah Royals FC can then begin laying out its roster for Rodriguez’s first season in charge of a professional soccer club. And that roster will likely lean heavily on the draft and young players to supplement whatever veteran core is left available through expansion, based on Wednesday’s announcement.