For the many who have laid the foundation for the rise of women's soccer, validation comes thick and fast these days. The NWSL and its clubs are not only willing, but able, to share key performance indicators that quantify the growth that was destined to come with adequate investment. The days of worrying about the league's general ability to survive are a thing of the past. There's a degree of normalcy that comes with that stability, but as concerns about durability subside, they pave the way for a new round of existential questions every league faces about supporting the flywheel of growth and maintaining relevance.
The NWSL's batch of existential questions, naturally, make up an eclectic mix, especially in a year marked by instability. The foundation of the league may be set but in a year of transition, the road has been unusually bumpy, the prospect of losing the league's top star, which Berman has already addressed, essentially light fodder compared to the other events of 2025. The NWSL has had to contend with two on-field medical emergencies, a heat delay that reportedly inspired tension over a lost broadcast slot, discriminatory attacks on players – one time by another player – plus an investigation into a head coach for fostering a toxic workplace.
Commissioner Jessica Berman has been busy, not only keeping up with a year's worth of unexpected events but also forcing her to explain herself time and time again. Perhaps a sign that she has made it as the commissioner of a major U.S. sports league, she has received the ire of fans, who have brought signs to matches asking for her removal and even booed her during a trophy presentation. The outrage may be something she survives -- she has reportedly already received a three-year contract extension, her current deal up this season -- but 2025 has forced Berman to apologize and defend herself more than once.
"I have said that it wasn't good enough and other than taking accountability for it and assuring people that we understand where we could have been better and that we're committed to being better, there's not much more I could say to make sure that they have confidence in in how we're going to show up," Berman said in an exclusive sit down with CBS Sports.
The trials and tribulations of 2025 leave the NWSL in a curious predicament and at an inflection point. Are these merely growing pains for a young league, or was this year a signal that the NWSL needs some recalibration to capitalize on the undeniable momentum of women's sports?
'A league that is growing as quickly as we are'
Berman and the league's decision-makers have admittedly not gotten every call right in a testing year but they have shown signs of progress, even if it was belated. Between the medical events experienced by Angel City's Savy King in May and Racing Louisville's Savannah DeMelo in September, the league has improved its procedures and finally implemented a process to suspend matches. The commissioner has also preached for a "collective kindness" for the league's players, a comment inspired by transphobic remarks directed towards some players, while admitting the process is ongoing to establish policy on the topic. Statements like these may have been hard to predict before the season started but the NWSL has had to learn to roll with punches.
"I think you have to expect the unexpected," Berman said. "Certainly, in my role and for the league, it's our responsibility to be ready to meet those moments and to navigate through them. We won't always get every single thing right but hopefully we get the most important things right and in those situations, thankfully – I'm thinking about the medical ones in particular – the things that had to go right went right and so I'm very thankful for that and that's not an accident. Those are the systems and the medical protocols and the medical staff that our teams have hired that were able to show up in the way that they needed to be and in the face of crisis.
"With every season that we grow and become bigger and have more attention on us and more pressure, it requires that we also continue to invest in the foundation that supports the ecosystem. Some of that is governance. Some of that is reform and health and safety. Some of that is operations, policies and protocols and we're continuing to hire and make sure that we have the appropriate expertise and resources to confidently be able to navigate the things that we can't anticipate."
Berman also said the improvement process is ongoing, some of it baked into the natural upgrades a young league would make during a period of rapid growth.
"We, of course, have analyzed a minute-by-minute of every situation that was challenging this year," she said, "and made changes to communication protocol and how those decisions get surfaced and made in real time when there isn't a second to to regroup and and that's the best we could do for for a league that is growing as quickly as we are."
Some of the unexpected events of 2025, though, feel somewhat unresolved. Take, for example, Albertin Montoya, the now ex-Bay FC head coach who was cleared of wrongdoing after a player alleged "emotional distress," or a sexual assault case involving an employee of the San Diego Wave in which an NWSL investigation reportedly revealed that the club "could have done more." The Montoya investigation may inspire issues around encouraging players to report their accounts through the NWSL's processes, while the Wave investigation may leave the alleged victims feeling unresolved and underserved.
"Without specifically commenting on those particular situations, I think I've said this before," Berman said. "We're always looking at our policies to make sure that both drafted and being implemented in the best way possible and specifically consistent with the intent and we do that both internally and we do that with our Players Association in some instances and we'll always continue to do that. I think as an evolving organization, it's our responsibility to always have a mentality of in the aftermath of any situation, to have a practice of reviewing where we can improve and that is our culture at the league office. We come at the growth of this league with both confidence and humility, knowing that we have a strong responsibility to make sure that professional women's soccer is positioned to thrive in this country for the long term and that's going to require a lot of iteration and evolution and self-reflection about how we can show up in the best possible way."
NWSL's mix-and-match business approach
Even outside of the heightened attention of Women's World Cup and Olympics years, the NWSL's growth has trended upwards in a handful of categories – viewership on linear television, for example, is up 20% year over year and digital viewership increased 30% during that time frame. There's a sense of traditionalism to the NWSL's business approach, especially in broadcast – the $240 million deal it agreed with CBS Sports, ESPN, Amazon Prime Video and Ion is a mix and match of exposure of linear television and streaming, a varied package that mirrors most U.S. sports leagues.
The league seems to be casting as wide a net as possible in its pursuit of attracting new fans. While streaming broadcast slots are obviously flexible, the NWSL's linear television slots are almost always during the afternoon hours. Berman attributed that to the availability from the networks as well as individual clubs' attempts to bring fans to stadiums.
"There's a bunch of factors that go into making our schedule," Berman said. "One of them is broadcast availability and the windows, but it's also our clubs and when they want to play their games and we try to have a strategic mix shift of game times and days for our teams. You can imagine that for young families, [the clubs] in some markets really prefer and enjoy having day games and in other markets, maybe less so but most often, those are the games that are more family-friendly. Those are the games that a lot of young kids come to and those are important community relationships for us to invest in and build and cultivate and then at night, you'll probably get a slightly different crowd and we are in this hyper-growth stage where we really want to give as many people an opportunity to discover and sample the NWSL, both on TV and in person, and that means we have to be nimble and flexible and provide a lot of optionality in terms of when and where and how they can attend and watch."
The traditional approach extends to the expansion strategy in some ways. The NWSL granted Atlanta an expansion team last week, continuing a habit of slowly building a presence in the U.S.' top 10 media markets. Existing in those metropolitan areas specifically is a top priority for Berman, even if the situations are somewhat unideal -- 2026 entrant Boston Legacy will not move into their new stadium in time for their inaugural season, resigned to play their opening matches at the suburban Gillette Stadium. The Atlanta team, meanwhile, will also play at an NFL venue with artificial turf in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which may have a cavernous vibe with the capacity reduced to approximately 28,000 when the team kicks off in 2028.
"It's definitely one of the considerations, and I would say it is a primary consideration, but it's not the only consideration," Berman said. "We are keenly aware of the fact that we're going to be in media negotiations as this four year cycle concludes and the base of our geographic footprint being driven by where our teams are located is going to be a key factor in that, so being able to land Atlanta right now in 2025, knowing they're going to be playing in 2028 when our new media cycle becomes effective, is strategic. It's very important, but it isn't the only factor, and thankfully with Atlanta and Arthur Blank, there's lots of boxes that they check and we're really excited that we were able to get that done when we got it done."
The foundation may be imperfect, but it is not unimpressive, though it may all hinge on the NWSL's primary value proposition -- its players. No matter the league's popularity, it has always been right to claim that it is the home of the best athletes in its sport, but Trinity Rodman's potential departure as a free agent magnifies the new realities of the women's game. Rodman will be a free agent at the end of the season, and the Washington Spirit may reportedly be hamstrung by the NWSL's salary cap in their attempts to retain her, prompting arguments that the league is resting on its laurels rather than meeting the moment.
NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman addresses Trinity Rodman's contract talks and defends salary cap structure
Pardeep Cattry
The NWSL's teams are more deep-pocketed than they used to be, which seems opportune as transfer fees grow exponentially, American and European clubs smashing the record on the regular. Berman, who has been at the helm as the league inked its greatest-ever broadcast deal and has watched expansion fees and team valuations skyrocket, was surprisingly conservative in her view of the salary cap.
"We want to make sure that this league is thriving and is the best league in the world, not just in 2026 but in five, 10, 50, 100 years," she said. "There needs to be a long-term lens on how you think about those things and if you look back in history over the last few years, we've quadrupled our salary cap so we're investing. Our owners are investing hundreds of millions of dollars and we want to do that in a way that's smart and supported by revenue growth and is done strategically."
