NWSL taking a different approach than MLS in gaining an audience

HARRISON, N.J. — The lower bowl of Red Bull Arena was packed, part of what would be a franchise all-time attendance record of 15,540 for Gotham FC. It was an understandable point of pride for the team and the National Women’s Soccer League as a whole.

Yet what NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman noticed most during Sunday’s quarterfinal match (Gotham 2, Portland 1) wasn’t so much the quantity of supporters as the quality of the support.

Waving flags. Homemade signs. Most importantly, fans that hung (and screamed) on every play, every call, every goal. This was a scene. This was intense.

“It felt specific to the game,” Berman told Yahoo Sports this week. “It was very much focused on the action.”

This, Berman felt, wasn’t about people coming out to just support women’s soccer, or just to bring their daughter to see some role models after a youth clinic, not that there's anything wrong with that.

It was about Gotham winning a game and advancing to the playoffs — they’ll travel on Saturday for a semifinal match-up with Washington, which on Sunday also played in a similar rowdy, raucous environment (sold out crowd of 19,215).

“It was the fan base really appreciating the game itself,” Berman said.

Professional women’s soccer in America dates back almost a quarter century with the Women’s United Soccer Association (2001-03) and Women’s Professional Soccer (2009-2012). The 11-year old NWSL is the third iteration, but in many ways 2024 felt like a fresh start.

There is the new television package designed for access — games on CBS, ABC, ESPN, Amazon and Ion.

There is the arrival of a breathtaking talent in Kansas City’s Temwa Chawinga, whose record 20 goals was as many as the entire Houston team this year.

There is momentum from the U.S. women’s national team capturing Olympic gold in Paris behind a slew of young new stars such as Trinity Rodman (Washington) and Sophia Smith (Portland).

Berman calls it the “force multiplier” of taking long-term, hard core fans and more casual families and turning them into something that resembles European football — passions and traditions and pride. This is more than a movement. It is a sport.

And America can finally see it.

Throughout its fledgling existence, women's professional soccer has struggled for television partners. In 2023, not a single NWSL quarterfinal was on network TV. This year saw three, plus a Friday night Orlando victory on Amazon.

“We’ve gone from hidden to visible,” Berman said.

This weekend, Gotham will play Washington (which sold out again in just 72 hours) on Saturday at noon on CBS. On Sunday, KC visits Orlando at 3 p.m. on ABC. The championship game will be Nov. 23 at 8 p.m. on CBS.

The ratings won’t overwhelm anyone — if they hit 500,000 this weekend, the league should be happy. The goal is growth and that starts with exposure. League-wide average attendance hit 11,235 this season, up from just 7,894 in 2022, per Sportico.

On television, NWSL is taking the opposite approach of Major League Soccer, where the vast majority of games, including the playoffs, are part of a pay package on Apple TV.

MLS is vastly more popular and profitable than the NWSL. The $250 million Apple deal pays the bills and serves the established audience well. However, the league has had two years to showcase arguably the world’s most popular athlete (Lionel Messi) and hasn't reached that many curious or casual fans. There’s a trade off.

The NWSL doesn’t have Messi. It does have a slew of USWNT stars though — Rodman of Washington and Rose LaVelle of Gotham, for example. It also has some of the most exciting international players, including Chawinga, of Malawi, and the league’s second leading scorer, Barbra Banda of Orlando via Zambia.

“She’s incredible,” Berman said of Chawinga, whose speed doesn’t merely translate into goals, but highlight-reel goals. “Stars help grow leagues. You root for players. Then you root for teams.”

For the NWSL, the hope is that more fans tune in when Chawinga and Banda play and maybe get hooked either by the players or the action or the atmosphere. They are already planning an aggressive marketing campaign to introduce the best players to as many people as possible. You can’t create a Caitlin Clark, but you can nudge along with what you have.

If nothing else, it seems to have finally found a critical mass of fans to come who are desperate to help their team win, not just because it's a deserving cause or an affordable family excursion.

There is a real product to sell here, and finally a real media strategy to sell it.