NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman provided an update on league expansion and year-end metrics Friday as she addressed media for a brief state of the league update ahead of the 2023 NWSL Championship. Berman also began the news conference with an announcement of the formation of a new entity from women’s soccer leagues from across the globe, the Women’s Leagues Forum.
Here’s what you need to know about NWSL viewership and attendance:
- On Thursday, the NWSL announced its new four-year media deals with CBS, ESPN, Amazon and Scripps for a combined value of $240 million.
- Total CBS viewership was up 41 percent year-over-year, with an 83 percent increase in viewership for matches streaming on Paramount+.
- Regular season attendance was up, again, with median attendance 40 percent higher in 2023, average attendance up 26 percent and more than 1.2 million tickets sold this year across the league.
- Nine of the league’s teams broke the 10,000 barrier for attendance this season, with Berman noting that the number of games with 10K+ fans had doubled.
Expansion process opens for 16th team
The NWSL is launching the expansion process for the team that will join alongside Boston in 2026. The process will begin after this year’s championship — led once again by Inner Circle Sports, an…
