Playing It Forward: NWSL Heads Into 2023 Campaign Alive And Kicking

By Barry Janoff

UPDATED March 27, 2023: The NWSL said it set an opening weekend attendance mark during six games March 25-26, with a total of more than 90,000.

That included 30,854 in San Diego Wave’s Snapdragon Stadium, which is a new NWSL home-opener mark; 22,000 in Los Angeles Angel City’s BMO Stadium; 15,204 in Portland Thorns’ Providence Park; and 11,281 in Washington Spirits’ Audi Field.

The league said its attendance average of 15,002 topped the mark of 10,150 set last year. Games appeared on CBS Sports Network and Paramount-Plus.

March 20, 2023: With its 11th season scheduled to start March 25, NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman held an hour-long media video conference call today, discussing topics including player health and safety, league finances, marketing, domestic and international broadcast deals, the integration of VAR as part of games, expansion and the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Among the highlights:

• A season-long multi-media “We Play Here” campaign featuring first-person stories from NWSL players launches this week.

• The league’s current deal with CBS expires after the 2023 season. Talks are in progress regarding domestic and international media partners with NWSL calling the conversations “robust” and looking to make decisions in Q3 of this year.

• The sale of the Portland Thorns and Chicago Red Star as part of the aftermath of the player abuse scandal is on-going, with no timeline for an ultimate decision.

• Upward of 30% of NWSL players are expected to be part of FIFA Women’s World Cup. The NWSL season runs March 25-Oct. 15 (including the Challenge Cup) but the league will be on hiatus after games on July 9 thru games on Aug. 18.

The World Cup is scheduled for July 20-Aug. 20.

• NWSL will have a presence on the ground during the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand to help expand its visibility.

• After testing VAR (Video Assistant Referee) with Sony-owned Hawk-Eye Innovations during the pre-season, NWSL has made the decision to move forward, with substantial investment including multiple camera views of each game and numerous trained officials needed operate the platform in a video operation room either in each stadium or at a centralized location.

“I’m so excited about this upcoming weekend and the launch of our 11th season. I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since I took this role,” said Berman, who began her four-year tenure as NWSL commissioner on April 20, 2022, taking over from interim commissioner Marla Messing, who assumed the role after the resignation of Lisa Baird (and general counsel Lisa Levine) in October 2021 following numerous allegations of situations regarding verbal, physical and emotional abuse of players by coaches.

“Thinking about my first year on the job there are two primary reflections in the areas where we’ve made the most progress and the things I’m most proud of.

"First, listening to and understanding the first-hand experience of our players and all of those individuals from front-office staff, owners, players, coaches, media, sponsors, partners both current and perspective, all of whom are so passionate about this league,” said Berman, who joined the NWSL after two and a half years as deputy commissioner and evp-business affairs for the National Lacrosse League following 13 years with the NHL as vp and deputy general counsel.

“From a leadership perspective I’d like to believe that we’ve created an open-line of communication and a bilateral communication where I feel comfortable and safe about asking questions and sharing information about our future, and also getting input and feedback from so many people who are so invested in the future of this league.

“Some of what I’ve heard in my communications with players is that they are a bit tired and exhausted from the burdens of having had  to carry the weight of some of the areas of culture challenges and reforms that have plagued the league for some years.

“They are prepared to focus on playing soccer. I think it’s their hope that we at the league through ownership and management can take on the burden and work behind the scenes to offer the playing environment that meets the standard that certainly I have committed to, which is a place that makes the players proud to play.

“The second thing I’m proud of is the investment that we are making in ourselves. As we seek to unlock the future potential of this league, we know a lot of the history that has held this league back and prevented us from reaching our potential is a lack of investment. I’m so proud of the league and our board of governors and our teams in the way we are beginning to invest in ourselves.”

“We have doubled the staff at the league office (in new headquarters in New York) and many teams have also increased their staff.”The NWSL this week launches a multi-media campaign, “We Play Here,” that will be integrated throughout the entire season.

According to Berman, “This will be for the first time a player-first, first-person campaign that is focused on lifting up and supporting our players. Celebrating the joy and excitement that they bring to all of us and our fans.

“That is really apropos as this is a World Cup year and we expect approximately 25%-30% of our players will be featured on the biggest stage internationally this summer in New Zealand and Australia.

“This season will demonstrate that women’s soccer and the NWSL can be the major player in the landscape of entertainment that is available (in the U.S.) and globally.”

Regarding NWSL broadcast rights, “We are in an on-going media process with CBS, which expires at the conclusion of the 2023 season,” said Berman. “This season our championship game will be on CBS in prime time which will give us another opportunity to expand our audience.

“The conversations we’ve had have been robust. There are many interested parties in the media landscape, though I can’t at this time share any of the details. But we are looking at it holistically from a domestic and international perspective and we think there are some interesting opportunities here and overseas to consider as we think about growing our brand globally.

“We want to make sure we provide opportunities for fans to see our game anywhere and everywhere. We don’t have a timeline on when that might happen, but we are hopeful that it will be in the Q3 range when we are in a position to make some announcements.

“We expect to have more visibility with our next media deal and we’re looking at this season as preparation for more offerings in a larger stage.”

In 2023, Ally Financial, the NWSL’s official banking partner, will serve as the title sponsor of all matches across CBS Sports platforms.

CBS Sports’ multi-platfoPhoto: EA Sports FIFA 23rm coverage, presented by CarMax, will include all 176 NWSL matches this season. The season culminates with the 2023 Ally NWSL Championship Presented by CarMax, scheduled for Nov. 11.

Paramount+, Paramount Global’s subscription streaming service, will also stream those six matches live.

Among the alliances signed heading into the 2023 campaign, NWSL unveiled a partnership with Canadian sports broadcaster TSN to distribute NWSL matches, including the 2023 NWSL Championship, across its network in Canada this season.

In total, TSN and TSN+ will stream more than 70 matches throughout the 2023 season.

NWSL players and teams this season will also be part of EA Sports FIFA 23.

NWSL has named the Utah Royals as its 13th club, with planned expansion for the 2024 season.

A report in The Wall Street Journal said Boston and San Francisco are also priorities for league expansion.

“As we think about this season, we are implementing VAR,” said Berman. “This is a really big deal, not just because we have to and are committed to elevating the quality of officiating in our game and that it requires significant investment — and our board has authorized that investment — but also because we are the first women’s professional league to commit to invest in VAR.”

Used by leagues including MLS and the Premier League, VAR reviews decisions made by the on-field referee in specific categories, such as plays that lead to a goal or no goal, penalties and issuing of red cards. The on-field referee can decided to accept or reject a VAR decision if it differs from the on-field referee’s call.

“We know and we’ve talked about ticket sales being the rocket fuel that will feed the growth of this league. Year-over-year as we look ahead from the 2022 to the 2023 season, we are up 20% in season-ticket holders on a league-wide basis. And we’re already surpassed the number of sales for opening weekend.

“With regard to systemic reform, some of the changes we’ve made as we begin to shift the culture of the league, for the first time our Human Resources Dept. visited every club this pre-season to conduct several hour in-person training, to being the dialogue and discussion and learning around all of our policies and what we are committed to, what the lines of reporting are in the event that anyone has a complaint either anonymous or if people wish to self-identify.”

Berman said the league is implementing the results of a player survey that was conducted in the post-season “that has given us the opportunity to really hone in on the areas from a player experience that need improvement, and we are working in partnership with all of our teams on the execution of these very key and strategic priories based on the players’ feedback.”

Regarding systemic changes, Berman said “policies and processes and programs only matter to the extent that there are accountabilities for them. Our clubs are completely aligned with the systemic reform activities that have begun and will continue to remain a priority.

“With respect to staffing, we’ve required that every team a HR professional to be boots-on-the-ground. And with the hiring our our chief culture officer Lauren Lopez at the league office we are facilitating monthly Webinars to make sure there are open lines of communication on best practices and increasing the visibility that the league has with our teams and some of the challenges they are facing.”

"We are excited about how we are elevating the league domestically and internationally. We have begun to crack the code on how we elevate our presence."

Both club ownership transfers are underway with the Portland Thorns and Chicago Red Stars “and are in advanced stages of due-diligence with qualified owners,” said Berman.

“We are working with those current club owners to make sure the teams are put in the hands of the right owners to join the league and support our macro-goals. We are not going to set an artificial deadline. The most important thing is that we have the right ownership in place.

“Some of those perspective investors have reached out to me separately to understand the vision for the league and what we are looking for in an owner as we would ultimately be the ones to recommend the new owner to the board for approval. The process have been very collaborative and moving relatively quickly but at an appropriate pace.

"We are excited about how we are elevating the league domestically and internationally,” said Berman. “We have begun to crack the code on how we elevate our presence and you will begin to see some of that this summer at the Women’s World Cup where the NWSL will have a physical presence, Some of our teams and the league will do activation. We will have a booth on the ground.

“I have made an intentional effort to spend time overseas with some of the key stakeholders and influencers as we think about some of the nuts and bolts that will position the league for success, including the schedule footprint and how we thin about interweaving the priorities of the pro game with the National Team activities.

“We are going to get ahead of the planning cycle so that we are planning one, two three years ahead.”

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