"The Women's World Cup in Brazil, the Olympics in '28, and the Women's World Cup being here in the U.S. — being able to have that connectivity between club and country in real time will allow us to exponentially bring in those tailwinds." That's NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman, and she's not just spinning optimism. She has the receipts.
The league is averaging 11,174 fans per match year-to-date — second only to 2024 by a slim margin. New clubs in Denver and Boston drove that surge early in the season. Then last month, Gotham FC vs. Washington Spirit sold out Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, with 42,000 tickets gone. That's not a women's soccer anomaly anymore. That's a pattern.
Riding the men's World Cup wave — before the bigger swell arrives
The summer's residual energy from the men's World Cup, co-hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico, has fed into both domestic leagues. But Berman's point is sharper than "soccer is popular right now." This summer lacked the direct connection between club and country — national team players scattered abroad, not in the NWSL during the tournament. In 2027, 2028, and 2031, that changes entirely. Those players will be here, visible, recognisable, playing in these stadiums week in and week out.
That's when the flywheel really spins.
The 2027 season also brings the league's 17th and 18th teams, landing in Atlanta and Columbus, while the 2026 season gets an early launch timed around Super Bowl weekend in Los Angeles — three days before the NFL title game, same city, with ABC and ESPN weaving the NWSL opener into the championship's media footprint. If that sounds like a calculated land grab for casual sports fans, it is. It's a smart one.
Sam Kerr, Lindsey Heaps, and the pull of American market-building
Meanwhile, the player pipeline is reversing direction. Sam Kerr has returned from Chelsea. US women's national team captain Lindsey Heaps is back from OL Lyonnes. The draw isn't just competitive — it's commercial. Two-thirds of NWSL clubs have built or are building purpose-built training facilities. The infrastructure argument for staying in Europe is weakening.
Berman framed it plainly: "There's a lot of interest and intrigue in the brand building that you can do in this country culturally." For players who want sponsorships, social reach, and career longevity beyond their playing days, the NWSL is increasingly the right address.
The league's TV deal with ABC and ESPN gives it a broadcast platform that most women's leagues globally can't match. Add three marquee international events across five years, expansion into Atlanta and Columbus, and high-profile returnees anchoring rosters — the NWSL's trajectory is pointed firmly upward. Whether attendance and engagement keep pace when the World Cup hype fades will be the real test. But right now, the conditions don't get much better than this.
