The NWSL kicked off its season this past weekend, and it at least seems like more people than usual took note of it. They were given a national broadcast network platform to debut on that celebrated the first-ever game of one of its two expansion teams, and even THE BOSTON GLOBE’s Emma Healy took note it was actually a big deal:
Nearly three years of anticipation and a roaring announced crowd of 30,207 fans at Gillette Stadium led to some understandable nerves for Boston Legacy FC in the club’s inaugural game. The Legacy kept it competitive, holding reigning NWSL champion Gotham FC scoreless through the first half, but Esther González’s goal in the 55th minute was the difference in a 1-0 loss.
“I was really proud of the team and how we matched up,” said Ella Stevens, a sixth-year NWSL veteran who joined the Legacy from Gotham as a free agent this offseason. “We have a lot of new players, a lot of players who haven’t played in this league yet. We have a lot of growing to do, but for what we did out there today, I’m really proud of the group. I think all of them showed up.”
Meanwhile, the other newbies began what appears to be a slow build with a road opener, as FOX 31’s Dave Althouse posted:
In their first match in the National Women’s Soccer League, the Summit fell 2-1 in San Jose to Bay FC. “I think we can take away the togetherness, the effort, the commitment, and the sort of grit and determination,” head coach Nick Cushing said after Denver was outshot 20–6 by Bay FC. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get many chances.”
But his competitor up the dial, KUSA-TV’s
Summit FC announced it has surpassed 50,000 tickets sold for its inaugural home match at Empower Field at Mile High on Saturday, March 28. With 50,000 tickets sold, Summit FC said it will break the single-game NWSL attendance record of 40,091, previously set by Bay FC against the Washington Spirit in San Francisco on Aug. 23, 2025. Early season Summit FC home matches will be played at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, with summer and fall home matches at its still-under-construction stadium in Centennial.
It’s quite likely a couple of those later matches will be nationally showcased as part of ESPN’s new Sunday night strategy which was announced a month ago by the platform’s Garrett Cowan:
ESPN…announced the upcoming launch of Women’s Sports Sundays – a first-of-its-kind, weekly primetime programming franchise that places women’s sports at the center of the summer sports calendar. Debuting in Summer 2026, the new Sunday night destination will feature top-tier WNBA and NWSL on ESPN presented by Ally matchups, elevating the biggest moments, rivalries and stars across women’s sports on ESPN networks in premium windows.
Sounds great, except for one little problem that continues to persist which CBS SPORTS’ Jack Maloney updated us about on Saturday morning:
Since Tuesday afternoon, representatives from the WNBA and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association have spent dozens of hours inside The Langham, a luxury hotel in New York City, negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement. They have yet to come to terms(.) Late last month, the league notified the union and teams that if a deal was not in place by March 10, the 2026 season would be impacted. WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has now said that a deal must get done by Monday (March 16) to avoid “disrupting” key dates on the calendar. “We have to get it done by Monday. I should say, we have to get it done without disrupting some part of the fact that we’ve got to run this two-team expansion [draft],” Engelbert said. “We’ve got to get expansion going. We’ve got to get free agency going. We’ve got to get the college draft, which is now a month from today.”
The fact is that for all of the upticks and excitement and support that professional women’s sports is garnering the WNBA is at this point far further along, and the NWSL season at hand is one that will not have either the halo of the Paris Olympics gold medal nor the World Cup (that’s next summer) and will be struggling for attention against the expanded men’s version that will be contested this summer across North America, “excursion” permitting. Soccer moms and weekend competitors can fill a stadium, but they don’t necessarily drive the level of viewership numbers that women’s basketball and, more recently, hockey have produced.
And even with a more recent gold medal in their trophy case women’s hockey beyond international competition is still only beginning to get noticed. The ASSOCIATED PRESS bots delivered a bit of encouragement along those lines early last week:
The Professional Women’s Hockey League is coming to a TV set near you in the United States. The league announced that its neutral-site game at Detroit on March 28 between the New York Sirens and Montreal Victoire will be the first accessible to a national U.S. television audience. The PWHL has chosen Scripps Sports to broadcast the game on ION, which is accessible to 126 million American households, in a one-time deal that could potentially turn into a long-term partnership.
Scripps already has a track record of broadcasting women’s sports as a rights-holder for WNBA and NWSL games. And it has previously aired PWHL games in its NHL TV markets. The agreement also involves Detroit-based Ally Financial, which is the “Takeover Tour” game’s primary sponsor, and has played a significant role in backing the NWSL and other women’s sports.
The PWHL is still very much in the fledgling stage, with just eight teams; half of which are based in Canada. The U.S. quartet is concentrated in the northern metropoli of New York City, Boston, Seattle and Minnesota. But if there was ever a moment for the league to gain traction, this is it. And as the AP story further noted, the seeds for something bigger have already been sown:
The PWHL is already enjoying a post-Olympic surge. It’s first three games following the Olympic break were sold out, including a turnout of 17,335 in Seattle to set a U.S. pro women’s hockey attendance record. On Sunday, the Sirens set a home attendance record of 8,264 fans at the Prudential Center, more than double the team’s average this season. And the league has already sold out upcoming games at Madison Square Garden and Boston’s TD Garden.
“The first-ever national broadcast is a truly historic moment for our league,” PWHL executive VP of business operations Amy Scheer said in a release. “We are continuing to fuel this rocket ship that is the PWHL, as we expand the reach and exposure of our league to new fans.” “The time has to be right, right?” Scheer said, of conversations she had with Scripps Sports president Brian Lawlor in Italy. “It just motivates you to want to do more(“)…With the eight-team PWHL planning to expand by as many as four teams next season, Scheer envisioned the possibility of Scripps becoming the league’s U.S. national broadcaster.
But that’s a limited window of opportunity in the big picture and short term. The more immediate pressure will be on the NWSL to increase relevance, familiarity and popularity. Not just for themselves, but for the platforms and advertisers finally giving women’s pro sports a legitimate chance to play in the historically boys-only sandbox. Consider this musing our own small way of helping them get it.
Courage…