For the 2012 season, the league featured former WPS teams, Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, and Western New York Flash, in addition to many WPSL teams primarily located in the northeast and midwest regions of the United States.

The Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars and Western New York Flash joined the NWSL for the 2013 season.

Originally, it was leaked that five teams were slated to join the ASA Chesapeake Charge and FC Indiana in the 2013 of WPSL Elite.

Later, the WPSL Elite website revealed six teams - the Charge, FC Indiana, the California Storm, the Houston Aces, Jersey Sky Blues, and the San Diego SeaLions - would take place in the "WPSL Elite League Cup", a series of games played in addition to regular WPSL games; the Houston Aces even had these games on the schedule page of their website.

[13] The Elite League featured a standard home-and-away double round robin format, with a separate postseason from the regular WPSL playoffs.