Embattled Portland Thorns owner Merritt Paulson won't attend 2022 NWSL championship game

Portland Thorns owner Merritt Paulson, who is under pressure to sell that team and the Timbers of MLS because of his role in perpetuating a culture of abuse, won’t attend Saturday’s NWSL championship between the Thorns and the Kansas City Current.

The Thorns left Wednesday afternoon for Washington, D.C., and the team confirmed that instead of being at Audi Field for the final, Paulson will watch it on TV “remotely.” Interim CEO Heather Davis, interim chief operating officer Sarah Keane and general manager Karina LeBlanc will be at the game “when the Thorns hopefully win their third league title in 10 years.”

“As Merritt shared with the team and organization, he is committed to ensuring the long-term health and success of the Portland Thorns,” the team said.

Paulson fired his top two executives and stepped down as CEO of the Thorns and Timbers as a result of a report, issued Oct. 3 by former U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates, that found officials in both the NWSL and U.S. Soccer ignored complaints of systemic abuse. Paulson also apologized for what he called “our role in a gross systemic failure to protect player safety and the missteps we made in 2015.”

But it hasn’t quieted calls for him to sell both of the teams.

Ahead of Sunday’s semifinal, which Portland won on a stoppage-time blast by Crystal Dunn, Thorns fans held up “For Sale” signs. There also were protests before the game.

Paulson didn’t appear to be at the semifinal, not visible in the owner’s box where he usually sits or anywhere else at Providence Park.

“If Merritt Paulson isn’t fit to own a women’s team, then he should not be fit to own a men’s team,” Gabby Rosas, president of 107 Independent Supporters Trust, the board that governs the Timbers Army and Rose City Riveters fan groups, told USA TODAY Sports before the semifinal.

“If this type of abuse and harassment and coverup is happening in his organization, Merritt Paulson should not be involved in soccer — at all.”

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According to the Yates report, Paulson was told repeatedly that former Thorns coach Paul Riley was harassing and abusing his players but did nothing about it.

Paulson was told in 2014 that national team players had reported to U.S. Soccer officials that Riley “created a hostile environment” and “belittle(d)” and “verbally abuse(d)” players. Yet it was not until the following year, after a Thorns player reported his unwanted advances and retaliation, that Riley was fired.

Even then, the Thorns did not make their reasons for firing Riley public, making it possible for him to move to other teams. When the Western New York Flash hired Riley in 2016, Paulson congratulated the team president on the move and said, “I have a lot of affection for him.”

Thorns players also told Yates’ team that Paulson had made inappropriate comments to them.

Paulson had pledged cooperation with the Yates investigation, as well as one by the NWSL and its players association. Despite that promise, Yates said the Thorns “interfered with our access to relevant witnesses and raised specious legal arguments in an attempt to impede our use of relevant documents.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Portland Thorns owner will skip NWSL championship after abuse report