The storyline of Saturday night’s championship matchup for the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) title could not have been filled more with historic firsts.
First, (no pun intended), the championship took place at the Kansas City Current’s home field, the only stadium in the entire country built exclusively for women’s professional sports, and specifically women’s soccer. In addition, the NWSL centered fans in Kansas City for the weekend featuring a live recording of The Women’s Game podcast hosted by former NWSL and USWNT player Sam Mewis, 2024 Carmax Skills Challenge, and Fanfest taking place before the championship game.
Next, the game itself featured the number one (Orlando Pride) and two (Washington Spirit) teams from the regular season, with the Pride coming off an impressive season where they went from bottom place in the league for the last several seasons to the best record in history at 18-6-2 and a total of 60 points. Putting more blood in the water for the matchup, the Pride already defeated the Spirit to win the NWSL Shield in October, which caused this rematch to be even more high stakes.
Adding to the historic firsts, Marta, the unstoppable goal scorer for the Pride and the Brazilian national team, had yet to make it to the NWSL championship, much less win one. That drought was ended on Saturday night with the Pride defeating the Spirit 1-0, thanks to a goal scored by Barbra Banda in the 37th minute. Marta was highly emotional in her postgame interview, talking about what the championship meant to her.
Finally, Marta is a NWSL Champion.
She believed 😭#NWSLChampionship pic.twitter.com/oiomtm7YL6
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) November 24, 2024
Beyond the pitch, the NWSL broke records and firsts of its own this year. In 2024, the league hit a crucial landmark of 2 million fans in attendance for the regular season. This is an increase of 44% and 96% since 2023 and 2022. In addition, the league recently reported they had 14 million viewers tune into the regular season. Eighty-nine matches this season have seen over 10,000 fans in attendance beating last year’s total of 55 matches and leading to a new attendance average of 11,000 fans.
Media attendance, viewership, and coverage are also shattering records for the NWSL with notable coverage from CBS Sports and ION. In 2020 CBS inked the first major broadcasting deal for the league that had been widely distributed via the streaming service Twitch beforehand. In 2023, when the previous deal ended, CBS once again committed to broadcasting and centering the NWSL signing a multi-year deal ending in 2027 with 118 matches distributed on their channels as well as additional media providers ESPN, Prime Video, and Scripps.
CBS also created the Attack Third podcast, a daily women’s soccer podcast as part of this coverage and contract. According to CBS, this partnership with the NWSL has been extremely fruitful for both parties, as Dan Weinberg, Executive Vice President of Programming for CBS Sports explained, “Throughout our five-year partnership with the NWSL, the league has seen growth across all metrics. We’re proud to showcase the world’s best women’s soccer players across our platforms, and we capped off another successful season this past weekend, as the Orlando Pride were crowned as champions on CBS and Paramount+.”
The landmark 2023 deal also led growth for Scripps ION Sports, which picked up to Saturday night double-headers which made the NWSL available to over 123 million homes. President of Scripps Sports Brian Lawlor feels this partnership has accomplished goals for both the network and the league. He said, “Our partnership with the NWSL accomplished what we all hoped; it quickly broadened exposure for the league and its talented players and helped tell stories to new audiences. It was a solid first year together. We believe we helped make an impact right away but also feel there is much to learn as we continue to improve our studio shows and match coverage and grow the audience.”
Scripps Sports launched their Atlanta studio which provided pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage for NWSL Saturday night doubleheaders as well as Friday night WNBA doubleheaders, again an intentional move on Lawlor and Scripps’ part. Lawlor stated, “Scripps Sports has foundationally chosen to support women’s sports, and I will remind you that decision was made in early 2023, well before the explosion of interest in the past year. It has been good for the company for several reasons. We have engaged with new partners, new advertisers, and new media outlets and have been on the forefront of this amazing renaissance period for women’s sports. We all feel good about that.”
As part of Championship weekend, CBS Mornings was on the ground covering the leadup to the game on Friday featuring a spotlight of Melissa Ethridge who sang the national anthem, former NWSL player now analyst Darian Jenkins, Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe, NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman, and Kansas City Major Quinton Lucas commenting on the city’s preparation for the grounds and hosting the event, as well as the stadium which he believes is “the model rather than the alternative” for women’s sports.
Kansas City is home to the first-ever stadium built for a women’s professional sports team.
Now, the one-of-a-kind arena is preparing to host the @NWSL Championship. @danajacobson got an up-close look at the meaning behind CPKC Stadium: “You want everyone to have a home here.” pic.twitter.com/ejJsA1Oqy6
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) November 22, 2024
Friday’s Washington Post sports front page bolstered a feature on USWNT and Spirit’s superstar forward Trinity Rodman. A feat unheard of in the early years of the NWSL. Recently, award-winning women’s soccer writer Meg Linehan went on Sarah Spain’s podcast Good Game and explained the attention, engagement, and buzz around the league and championship was unheard of in the early years, stating, “Just compared to, I was at the first NWSL championship and it was lame as hell and there was literally nothing. It was literally the game and that was it.”
In comparison to the description from Linehan about NWSL championships of the past, this past weekend in Kansas City saw a city roll out the red carpet to the teams, fans, and media members alike. National corporate sponsorships were front and center, with Adobe sponsoring Tori Kelly’s fanfest concert, Google Pixel sponsoring the championship game, Carmax sponsoring the skills challenge, along with Ally Financial and Nationwide joining the list of weekend sponsors. This level of commitment to the fans was felt throughout the city not just by the sponsored events, but also by the city of Kansas City.
Caroline Fitzgerald, CEO and Founder of Goals Sports, commented on the city’s commitment to the championships but also women’s soccer more broadly stating, “It really seemed like all of Kansas City was bought-in and excited to support women’s sports. The first thing out-of-town visitors encountered when they arrived at the Kansas City airport was KC Current merchandise featured prominently throughout all the shops in the terminal. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
One out-of-town visitor Dr. Jessica Hammond-Graf, President of the Women’s Elite Rugby League, was in attendance for the weekend and said the buzz in the city and from the fans was unmatched. She said, “The fanfest was packed. Longlines for each of the elements, especially for the player autograph tent. Once inside, the KC Current team store had a line out of the store, down the concourse, and they weren’t even playing. That is what you want, returning fans enjoying the experience of the event regardless of the game and who is playing.”
In a year of historic firsts, the NWSL seems to be on the right track and headed toward a strong and solidified future. The league is over a decade old at this point and is starting to see the investment pay off as the current team Angel City FC was sold this year for $250 million and now expansion teams will pay a fee of approximately $100 million to join the league. This stands in comparison to Boston and Bay FC who joined more recently for the price tag of only $53 million up from the $2 million paid by ACFC and San Diego Wave when they joined the league in 2019.
Rumors will swirl in the offseason as to which of the three teased new markets will make the cut and join the NWSL as Denver, Cincinnati, and Cleveland are finalists for the NWSL’s 16th team. With expanding ratings, attendance, and franchises, the league is well-positioned as another member of the women’s sports boom.
