The National Women’s Soccer League is trying to add a 16th team, Commissioner Jessica Berman introduced Friday.
The league at the moment stands at 12 groups, with the Utah Royals and Bay FC in Northern California becoming a member of subsequent season. A 15th team in Boston is set to launch in 2026.
“Our preliminary analysis of the landscape is that we have more than a dozen qualified investor groups from different markets around the U.S. who are extremely interested in the kinds of investment we know is required in order to operationalize a successful team,” Berman mentioned.
Berman made the feedback on Friday in a state-of the league tackle ahead of the NWSL’s championship game at San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium. Gotham FC performs OL Reign for the league title on Saturday evening.
[Related: USWNT legends Megan Rapinoe, Ali Krieger will face off one last time in NWSL final]
Earlier this week, the NWSL introduced a new media rights deal that can put the league’s matches on ESPN, CBS Sports, Amazon Prime Video and Scripps Sports. The deal is value $60 million yearly.
Berman mentioned ticket gross sales to NWSL video games grew 36% this season and common attendance at video games was up 26 %. The San Diego Wave led the league with a mean of 20,718 followers per dwelling match.
“We know that attendance is the rocket fuel that drives all of the growth of everything else we’re building, and creates the excitement around our game that makes people not only want to attend games, but to consume our content and to watch our games on TV,” Berman mentioned.
Last month, OL Reign attracted a record NWSL crowd of 34,130 to Lumen Field in Seattle for Megan Rapinoe’s farewell match. Rapinoe, a two-time World Cup winner, is retiring from the sport following the championship match.
Berman mentioned whole viewership on CBS, the league’s present media accomplice, was up 41 % year-over-year from final season.
“We’re one of the few leagues that’s fully independent. That means that we make investment decisions and business decisions for our own specific objective. That is a very different value proposition to brands, to media partners and to fans,” Berman mentioned. “And for that reason, we’ve been able to have a level of authenticity in the story that we’re sharing to other businesses that have allowed for what we believe is incremental growth and incremental impact.”
[Related: Gotham FC expands ownership group on eve of NWSL championship game]
Berman touched on a number of different points affecting the league, together with the 2024 schedule. In a departure from earlier seasons that coincided with large worldwide occasions, the league won’t play matches in the course of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The sale of each OL Reign and the Portland Thorns is progressing, with offers anticipated to be introduced by the tip of this yr, Berman mentioned.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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