NWSL looks to capitalize on Team USA’s Olympic success

The National Women’s Soccer League has traditionally experienced increased interest following a successful U.S. run in a major international tournament.

NWSL teams are poised to capitalize again as the regular season resumes this weekend in the wake of the reinvigorated U.S. team’s gold medal run at the Paris Olympics.

“These international tournaments give us an opportunity to measure our league on a world stage and see how our players are performing. And we couldn’t have been prouder of the NWSL representation at the Olympics,” commissioner Jessica Berman said. “Just being able to have representation across the world really affirms for us that our strategy about how we’re going to attract more international talent is working.”

The league hasn’t had an opportunity for a post-championship bump in years as the United States hadn’t claimed a title since the 2019 Women’s World Cup. But the Americans went undefeated in France en route to a 1-0 victory over Brazil in the final for the team’s first gold since 2012.

The match drew an average of 9 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, more than any women’s final since the 2004 Athens Games. The slogan “Gold Plays Here” was splashed across a full-page ad in the New York Times with a celebratory photo of U.S. forwards Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Smith — all NWSL players.

This is the environment as the NWSL returns from a month-long break for the Olympics.

One of the biggest attendance bumps in the league’s history came after the U.S. team’s 2019 World Cup win. That year, attendance rose nearly 22% before dipping the next year due to COVID. Viewership for the NWSL championship game on ESPN jumped by 43% that year.

Five years later, the league is in a better position to take advantage of the moment, Berman told The Associated Press.

“For the first time, we have an infrastructure in the league that is prepared to launch a strategy that is coming out of the Olympics. So at the league level, we are coordinating across all of our clubs for back-to-market dates and making sure that the fans have an opportunity to celebrate the players who are returning back to the NWSL,” she said.

The NWSL had 56 players — more than any other women’s professional league globally — scattered among 11 of the 12 teams that played in France. Nineteen of the 22 U.S. Olympians play in the domestic league.

But it was not just the gold medalists. Six-time world player of the year Marta, who plays for the Orlando Pride, won the silver medal with Brazil in her final major international tournament. Gotham FC goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger saved a penalty by Spain’s Alexia Putellas to give Germany a 1-0 win in the bronze medal match.

The league also wasn’t totally idle during the Olympics. NWSL teams played some of their Liga MX Feminil counterparts in a 33-match tournament that will conclude with the title match between Gotham and the Kansas City Current in San Antonio on Oct. 25.

The NWSL was already having a record-breaking season attendance-wise, welcoming 1 million fans through the first 91 games, the earliest the league has hit the mark. The Chicago Red Stars set a record for a single match with a crowd of 35,038 for a game against Bay FC at Wrigley Field.

Additionally, a new media rights deal worth $60 million annually with CBS, ESPN, Amazon Prime and Scripps put the games in front of more viewers this year.

As a result of the attention, the NWSL is seeing greater investment. Last month, Bob Iger and Willow Bay bought Angel City for $250 million — a record team valuation for the league.

Then on Thursday, the league and its players’ association agreed to a landmark collective bargaining agreement that runs through 2030, giving both sides long-term stability. The deal not only increases wages and other benefits, it gives players greater flexibility in shaping their careers by eliminating the college draft.

The NWSL is also expanding. Bay FC and the reboot of the Utah Royals started play this season, bringing the league to 14 teams. Boston will join in 2026 and another expansion team is expected to be announced by the end of this season.

“Seeing 56 players competing for their countries on the international stage and shining is an incredible source of pride for me and on behalf of our team, who have been working around the clock to provide an environment that makes the players proud to play in,” Berman said. “Really proud to have brought the joy into the game for them and, as importantly, that we have an infrastructure in place post-Olympics to give them a place to be celebrated and have tens of thousands of fans show up, and have this not be just a moment of success but part of a movement.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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