"The Women's World Cup in Brazil, the Olympics in '28, and the Women's World Cup being here in the U.S. in 2031" — NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman isn't hiding her ambitions. She's stacking them in order.
The league is riding genuine momentum right now. Average match attendance sits at 11,174 year-to-date, second only to 2024, powered by expansion clubs in Denver and Boston drawing new fanbases in from day one. Last month, Gotham FC vs. Washington Spirit sold out the New York Mets' stadium — 42,000 tickets — off the back of buzz still lingering from the men's World Cup final in New Jersey. That's not a women's soccer attendance record you get by accident.
Three windows, one strategy
Berman's logic is straightforward: the men's tournament this summer proved the American public will show up for soccer. But the club-to-country pipeline didn't exist in real time. The USWNT wasn't playing. The NWSL players weren't the story. That changes in 2027, 2028, and 2031 — three back-to-back-to-back moments where domestic stars become international ones on home soil or in neighboring territory, and fans can follow them from league weekends to World Cup knockout rounds without switching context.
The 2031 Women's World Cup is expected to be co-hosted by the U.S. alongside Costa Rica, Jamaica, and Mexico, which effectively means the NWSL gets four consecutive years of international spotlight amplifying its product.
To get a head start, the league is launching its 2026 season a month early — deliberately steering into Super Bowl weekend in Los Angeles. The NWSL's TV deal with ABC and ESPN, the same broadcasters carrying the NFL championship, gives them real estate inside the biggest sports weekend on the American calendar. Advisory board member Eli Manning will be in town. So will hundreds of industry figures. Berman wants the NWSL in that room.
The players are coming back
It helps that the on-field product is getting sharper. Sam Kerr has returned from Chelsea. U.S. captain Lindsey Heaps has come back from OL Lyonnes in France. The pull is partly financial, partly cultural — Berman points to brand-building opportunities in the U.S. that European leagues simply can't replicate, from sponsorship deals to social media reach to career longevity off the pitch.
Infrastructure is catching up too. Roughly two-thirds of NWSL clubs have either built or are actively constructing dedicated training facilities. That's the kind of detail that matters to players weighing a move — not just wages, but whether the operation feels professional from day one.
Atlanta and Columbus join as the 17th and 18th teams in 2028, timed almost perfectly to drop into an Olympic year. The league's social media numbers on Instagram and YouTube are already climbing. The three-event window hasn't even opened yet.
