"We're making lemonade out of lemons." That's NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman's framing of a summer where seven of the league's 16 markets are tangled up in men's World Cup logistics — and honestly, it's not just spin. There's a real argument that the 48-team, three-country spectacle descending on the US is the best thing that could happen to women's football right now.
The league wrapped match week 10 of 27 last weekend and has now gone dark for a month — partly per their CBA (which mandates a mid-season break), and partly because stadiums across the country are otherwise occupied. But the NWSL isn't sitting still.
Back on July 3 — and on purpose
Rather than wait for the World Cup final on July 19, the league returns to play on July 3. That timing is deliberate. The round of 32 is winding down by then, match days get less crowded, and the casual fan who's been glued to group stage football suddenly has gaps in their schedule. The NWSL wants to fill them.
The audience they're chasing isn't just women. Research from the 2023 Women's World Cup found men were two to three times more likely to be following the tournament than women, depending on the country. ESPN's VP of women's sports programming Susie Piotrkowski put it plainly: "I think that there was a perception historically that only women were watching women's sports. Actually, it couldn't be more wrong." She pointed to growth among women and men 18-34 alike, with an even split in social engagement.
Berman's pitch reflects that reality. "Our specific focus for the 2026 season is to make sure that our games are in front of people who love elite soccer, agnostic to whether it is men or women." The NWSL housing 22 of the 26 players in Emma Hayes's most recent USWNT squad — including the high-profile return of former Lyon midfielder Lindsey Heaps — gives them genuine product to sell to that audience, not just marketing.
The Summer of Soccer tour
The league's Summer of Soccer initiative is the centerpiece of the push. A branded bus tour will roll through FIFA host cities — New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Kansas City — as well as NWSL markets including Portland, Denver, and Columbus, which joins the league as its 18th team in 2028. The tour kicks off in Columbus, aims to be on the ground for Heaps's debut in Denver, then heads west before finishing in the New York/New Jersey area.
- The Challenge Cup final on June 26 pits reigning champions Gotham against Shield winners Kansas City Current
- The Queen's Classic at Citi Field — a rematch of the 2025 NWSL Championship between Gotham and Washington Spirit — targets an attendance record for women's sports in New York City
- The NWSL will also have a presence at the World Cup final on July 19
Hosting a women's match at Citi Field is a statement in itself. If they hit that attendance record, it becomes a talking point that outlasts the summer. If they don't, the ambition still moved the needle on visibility.
The competition picture matters too. Gotham and Kansas City squaring off in the Challenge Cup — and potentially again at Citi Field — keeps the league's best clubs in the spotlight during the World Cup window. That's the kind of scheduling that turns a casual viewer into someone who actually knows a team name by August. The odds of the NWSL coming out of this summer with a meaningfully larger audience are better than they've been in years. The infrastructure is in place. Now they need the football to deliver.
