The NWSL had its foundation shaken by a wide-reaching abuse scandal, but the league is reestablishing its trust with players and rebuilding its future as it heads into 2023, commissioner Jessica Berman said.
Before the NWSL could move forward, it needed to prove itself to players, Berman told Lisa Leslie and Tracy Wolfson on the Dec. 25 episode of CBS Sports show “We Need to Talk.”
Berman joined the NWSL in April, six months after former commissioner Lisa Baird resigned. Baird, who had started as commissioner in February 2020, left the post after misconduct allegations against coaches rocked the league throughout the 2021 season.
The allegations culminated in two reports published this fall, one commissioned by U.S. Soccer and one undertaken by the NWSL and NWSLPA, which detailed “systemic” abuse.
“You can’t take steps forward to build the future of the league without rebuilding the credibility of our league and it starts with listening,” she said. “I sat in every locker room in person and sat with the players to listen and learn about their experience and to understand their vision for how we rebuild the future of the league.”
The 2022 season ended with one marker of success, in Berman’s view: When two of the…
