The NWSL takes a different approach than MLS to getting an audience

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

But what NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman noticed most during Sunday’s quarterfinal match (Gotham 2, Portland 1) was not so much the number of supporters as the quality of the support.

Waving flag. Homemade signs. Most importantly, fans who 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 focused on the action.”

This, Berman believed, wasn’t about people coming out just to 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 travel Saturday for a semifinal matchup with Washington, which also played Sunday in a similarly raucous, raucous environment (sellout crowd of 19,215).

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

Professional women’s soccer in America dates back nearly a quarter of a 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 TV 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 were as many as the entire Houston team this year.

There is momentum from the US women’s national team that captured Olympic gold in Paris behind a number of young emerging stars such as Trinity Rodman (Washington) and Sophia Smith (Portland).

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

And the US can finally see it.

Throughout its infancy, women’s football has struggled for television partners. In 2023, not a single NWSL quarterfinal was on network television. This year there were three plus an Orlando win Friday night on Amazon.

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

This weekend, Gotham plays Washington (which sold out again in just 72 hours) Saturday at noon on CBS. On Sunday, KC visits Orlando at 3pm on ABC. The championship match will be on November 23 at 20 on CBS.

The ratings aren’t going to blow anyone away – 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 reached 11,235 this season, up from just 7,894 in 2022, per Sportico.

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

MLS is far more popular and profitable than 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 as many curious or casual fans. There is a trade-off.

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

“She’s unbelievable,” Berman said of Chawinga, whose quickness translates not only to 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 push along with what you have.

If nothing else, it seems to have finally found a critical mass of fans on the way who are desperate to help their team win, not just because it’s a worthy cause or an affordable family outing.

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