Unique Identity Key to NWSL's Success and Progression

UNIQUE IDENTITY KEY TO THE NWSL’S SUCCESS AND PROGRESSION

Victoria Rich, Head of Operations for the NWSL discusses the objective of building the most successful and respected professional women’s sports league in the world.

While many other professional sports leagues around the world have struggled to attract eyes during the pandemic-induced lockdowns, the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) – North America’s top professional women’s soccer league – fared quite well comparatively. Now coming to the end of its ninth season of operation (In 2020, the league suspended the season before it started because of the Coronavirus pandemic), the league continues to attract the most prolific domestic and international players from around the world and is committed to building the most successful and respected professional women’s sports league in the world.

While the UEFA Champions league final is consistently the most-viewed annual sports event and European soccer leagues garner more attention, more views and more dollars than either the NWSL or Major League Soccer (MLS) in North America, interest in US soccer is growing both domestically and overseas at a steady pace, helped by back-to-back victories at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2015 and 2019.

“The NWSL was formed [in 2012] when the previous two organisations had folded we received a lot more backing than the other two had, so the investment is up,” began Victoria Rich, Director of Operations at NWSL.

“Part of the reasoning behind this is because of the increased interest in the women’s game so in turn that has meant a higher financial return.

“We have seen a lot of high-profile owners, investors and multi-broadcast deals come into play since we formed. Our slow and steady approach ensures growth of the league, focusing on making the league a sustainable organisation, which has been a huge factor to our success.”

The NWSL has now expanded into 12 teams with the introduction of Angel City back in July 2020 and then San Diego in May 2021, both scheduled to join in 2022, in addition to recent new investors that include Serena Williams and Billie Jean King (Angel City) and Naomi Osaka (North Carolina Courage).

“The league is continuing to engage in meaningful conversations, and we’re excited about that constant interest towards our group,” Rich explained. “There are several markets around North America that would be great candidates for expansion clubs.

“There’s a high calibre of talent in the States and abroad so we’re excited to expand the footprint of the league, but really having that consideration of the slow and steady approach and the timeline to ensure that is does not diminish the quality of the competition.

“The NWSL has really earned the title of the best professional women’s league in the world, so we are able to bring in talent globally, which makes the clubs diverse and well-rounded.

“We have a strong focus on parity of the league with the clubs to maintain the high level of competitiveness in the league, there is a great level of talent available in the women’s game, so our teams can take advantage of that and create a high number of teams that can dominate.

“We have recently increased the number of teams in the play-offs from four to six. The post season play in the NWSL has always been very exciting ➡

and is progressing every season, so we wanted to expand the size of it to get more teams involved and to continue to grow the attraction around it.”

With the recent growth of the Women’s Super League which has seen a gamechanging new broadcast deal for the English league that will see matches shown on Sky Sports and BBC One and Two over the next two season, there are elements from Europe that the NWSL

can look to implement into their game. The NWSL, however, are taking a slightly different approach in hope for a similar outcome in terms of success.

“We definitely look across the globe to see what others are doing, and obviously the WSL is a great league and its fantastic what they’re doing,” Rich asserted. “They are growing a lot, but we as a league are motivated naturally by doing the best for our staff, players, fans, and stakeholders so that goal has always driven us going forward and will do in the future.”

The NWSL could also take advice from the MLS, but Rich added further emphasis on the importance of taking the slow and steady approach whilst maintaining the ‘independent league’ having previously been under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federation until 2020.

“We work closely with the MLS and look to them for guidance, because they have been around for much longer.

“We can learn from their downfalls and experience but in the same vein we take

pride in being an independent league and take pride in navigating the process in a unique way.

“Whilst saying this, we can look for guidance on what they’re doing as a business and look at any mistakes they make and how they go through that process will help us understand how we can stop those mistakes from happening in our league.”

“We have definitely seen a bump in the audience in the past years when the national team have been successful, for example, coming out of the 2019 World Cup we saw a huge spike in attendance,

“We have a huge following from Brazil over here and that’s exactly what we want because the increase in viewership means we can increase investment as well.”

and viewership. Nevertheless, it is not just the American national team’s success that drives us.

“We have 38 players who competed at this summer’s Tokyo Olympics, so the success of other national teams also boosts the success of our viewership which sees an increase on the back of specific players doing well. If the players do well, and the word gets out that the players play in our competitions, then that creates traction for our league.”

“The talent for us is coming from everywhere, players want to come here, and the fans know that, so they come here with them to watch the players and in turn they are watching the NWSL which is a huge benefit for us.

“We have that competitive edge, which is attracting the talent globally, and we see more and more people watching it because of the high standard of players that come over. For example, we get big stars coming over from France which means we get more eyes on the league and the same with England and even Brazil.

“We have a huge following from Brazil over here and that’s exactly what we want because the increase in viewership means we can increase investment as well.”

For the 2021 season, the NWSL expanded its partnership with Twitch to livestream all of its matches. All 18 matches are being streamed on Twitch internationally (excluding the US).

Meanwhile, seven games will be streamed globally to include access for US-based Twitch users, marking the first time that NWSL matches will appear on Twitch’s US platform. All of the leagues’ matches are now accessible for the league’s global fanbase.

“Twitch allows us to have that outreach to grow our fanbase,” explained Rich. “We have obtained a huge new fan base from South Korea which we would not have been able to have had without Twitch.”

It has not always been a straightforward road for those at the NWSL, and like others especially in the last 18 months due to the pandemic.

“Obviously the global pandemic has been a difficult situation for every sport to navigate where they stand and how to progress. The silver lining for us is that we were able to put forward a quality tournament, that pulled in a lot of viewers and a greater engagement. This is a testament to the league’s ability to be flexible and nimble.

We also had a buy-in from key sponsors, which was an integral part to its success and even making that tournament feasible. The motivation behind this was to be able to get the players to play and to keep the league going basically.

“It basically let the players know that they would be competing on the world stage the following year, which is something that they wanted, and we wanted, whilst obviously keeping safety as a priority. I think it was easier for us because we are a bit smaller so we have that flexibility, and we can be agile and make sure it all can run smoothly.”

The NWSL has now started a rebranding process to its visual identity to be unveiled later this year, in time for the league’s tenth anniversary season in 2020. The decision – aimed at reaching a wider audience around the world – comes amid a number of decisions by top sports leagues, teams and brands to position their causes as more inclusive and diverse. The league is now working with stakeholders to conduct in-depth research to shape the brand strategy, with a primary objective of improving the league’s global image and supporting its future growth. U