"We're making lemonade out of lemons." That's NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman's honest take on a summer where seven of the league's 16 markets are doubling as FIFA host cities, stadiums are tied up, and the men's World Cup is consuming every inch of oxygen in American football culture. Her response? Get in front of the crowd, not behind it.
The NWSL wrapped match week 10 of 27 over the weekend and is now into a month-long break — partly mandated by the collective bargaining agreement, partly a concession to the logistical chaos a 48-team, three-country tournament brings with it. But rather than quietly wait it out, the league has a plan.
Coming back before the World Cup is over
The NWSL returns to play on July 3 — not after the tournament wraps on July 19, but right in the middle of it. The timing is deliberate. The round of 32 will be winding down, match days will be less congested, and football fans who've had a month of wall-to-wall World Cup will be starting to look for something else to watch. The NWSL wants to be that something.
To bridge the gap, the league announced its Summer of Soccer program: a branded bus tour stopping in FIFA host cities like New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Kansas City, as well as NWSL markets including Portland, Denver, and Columbus — which becomes the league's 18th team in 2028. The centerpiece event is the Queen's Classic at Citi Field, where Gotham host Washington Spirit in a rematch of the 2025 NWSL Championship. The league is targeting an attendance record for women's sports in New York City at an MLB stadium. Bold call. But not an unreasonable one given the moment.
The Challenge Cup final on June 26 — reigning champions Gotham against Shield winners Kansas City — kicks off the tour, and there's a deliberate stop timed around Lindsey Heaps's debut in Denver. The former Lyon midfielder's return to the game after a serious injury is one of the league's genuine storylines this season, and the NWSL knows it.
Who's actually watching women's football?
Berman's target audience isn't just women who've never found the NWSL, or converted World Cup tourists. It's football fans, full stop. "Our specific focus is to make sure our product is in front of people who love elite soccer, agnostic to whether it is men or women," she said.
The data backs the strategy. A YouGov survey from the 2023 Women's World Cup found men were two to three times more likely to be following the tournament than women, depending on the country. ESPN's Susie Piotrkowski, who oversees women's sports programming, put it bluntly: "There was a perception historically that only women were watching women's sports. Actually, it couldn't be more wrong." ESPN is seeing growth among women and among men aged 18 to 34. The audience is there. The question is whether the NWSL can hold it once the World Cup noise fades.
The league has product to offer. Twenty-two of the 26 players in Emma Hayes's most recent USWNT squad play in the NWSL. If the tournament rekindles American passion for the sport — and a home World Cup historically does exactly that — the pipeline from casual viewer to NWSL fan has never been shorter.
They'll also have a presence at the World Cup final on July 19. Right until the last moment, the NWSL is making sure it's in the room.
