The NWSL average this year, for the regular season, was 7,894. Angel City (19,105) and Portland (15,543) skewed NWSL attendance upwards this year. San Diego, once they go to play in the new SDSU stadium, also helped the overall number. With that said, only 3 teams averaged under 5,000 for the season. One of those, Orlando, was slightly up over 2021. https://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2022-nwsl-attendance/ 5,000 is underselling the NWSL norm at this point. Half the teams averaged over 6,000 and KC has a new stadium being built just for the Current that will hold 11,500. The smart move would be USL Championship and NWSL,
Louisville has done it right on both fronts. The stadium/training grounds are both perfect for NWSL and USL teams. They should be model for others to follow. Cleveland doesn't sound anywhere close.
The NC Courage/North Carolina FC setup should also be working, but ownership there has dropped the ball on almost every front. The stadium proposals/plans in New Mexico, El Paso, Memphis, and a few other places are similar to Louisville and I could see those places adding either an NWSL or Super League (if it actually happens) team to fill more stadium dates and make training facilities a more feasible expense.
Ya but I've been to that stadium several times and it's like the Crew stadium of the USL/NWSL. Was certainly ground breaking but has now been left behind. But they just can't seem to get a new stadium built in Raleigh. I think they'd be better off than Louisville if they could.
I don’t know about NWSL, but this group wouldn’t have made it to the next round of expansion if they weren’t legitimate. Same goes for MLSNP - they wouldn’t be moving forward if the group didn’t have the resources. Also telling the political leaders are behind this.
Glad you got some pizza because those scarves… woof It is little things like that which really fuel my skepticism. I mean, I understand it is early but good lord, those remind me of the white cans I used to find in the creek that just said “Beer.”
LA and San Diego are encouraging,,but I feel like NWSL may have just missed the boat in general. Too little too late. European clubs have invested heavily in women’s soccer and the talent is increasingly there. With US players now further untethered from USSF, NWSL is going to have a hell of a battle to keep top domestic talent here. I hope I’m wrong. Even though it does not interest me particularly, having a strong women’s league would be wonderful. But it’s an undeniably easier to sell women’s sports when it’s “best of the best.”
NWSL's final pulled 915,000 viewers on CBS on 10/29, a 71% increase over the 2021 final. That doesn't include the Paramount+ numbers, which haven't been released but CBS has said are the most they've had for a women's soccer game of any kind. TV ratings for the season were up significantly. They're in an exclusive renegotiation window for their next TV deal with CBS Viacom and have other bidders hoping they make it to the open market. Attendance is soaring in the new west coast markets, steadily improving in the established eastern and central markets, and Kansas City is literally getting a 11,500 seat waterfront stadium built with a 50 year sweetheart lease. On top of that, they apparently have had upwards of 20 inquiries into expansion teams, with 6-8 of them considered already fully viable, and are getting superstars to invest in the existing teams. They haven't even hit their first real growth spurt. They're basically where MLS was around 2012 or so, where the franchise moves/folds are done and now everyone is starting to knock on the door to get in.
Oh, and the USL W-League (equivalent of men's League Two) championship game in Minnesota this year drew 6,498 for attendance. If I were an ownership group looking to get into a location like Cleveland, I'd be anchoring it on the NWSL team and USL-1 or USL-C (not MLSNP at all) as the men's team.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/39734205/san-diego-wave-sold-nwsl-record-figure NWSL teams now selling for over $100 million. This NWSL/MLSNP project in Cleveland is deader than a doornail.
At this point the smarter move would be something like the USL Super League on the women's side and either League One (DIII) or Championship (DII) on the men's side.
Isn't Gilbert involved with the NWSL part? I don't think affording the expansion fee is going to be a concern.