I almost titled this "NWSL signs deals with everyone" https://www.sportico.com/business/media/2023/nwsl-media-deals-espn-cbs-amazon-scripps-1234741394/ Highlights: The following companies will air NWSL games over the next four years: ESPN CBS Scripps Amazon Exact terms are unknown, but it will be a money earner for teams (the previous deal that expires this season with CBS was for 1.5 Million a year, but since the League had to produce the games, something the article estimates as in the eight figures a year (IE at least 10,000,000), it was a net money loser. According to the article's sources, it's "significantly more" than 10x the CBS deal (so at least $15 million a year), and it will expire after the 2027 Women's World Cup Well done, NWSL
Hopefully the league can keep their top stars around now that UEFA teams are throwing large sums of money into women's soccer. (Explainer: The previous contract between the women players and USSF had a stipulation that the players needed to stay in the NWSL since USSF was directly funding the league.)
It will be interesting to see how this is distributed among between all of those companies' streaming platforms and linear channels. It will definitely be different from the MLS one-stop shop approach. The NWSL also has had mostly a one-stop shop on Paramount+, with only the CBSSN games missing there, and even those end up on P+ on demand. Are they going to ask fans to subscribe to P+, ESPN+, and Prime Video to get what they currently get from P+? Amazon also owns Twitch, which had a package of NWSL games through 2022. They were free, but they sucked. I don't think the league would want to go back there, but who knows? Scripps owns ION TV, an off-brand broadcast network that has weekly WNBA games, so my guess is something similar for OTA broadcasts of NWSL there.
Soccer TV Viewership 🇺🇸 Last Week:1,14m MX Tigres/América (UNI+T)1,06m PL Chelsea/M City (USA+TEL)841k MX Pumas/Chivas (UNI+T)817k NWSL Reign/Gotham (CBS)600k UCL Milan/PSG (UNI+T)527k PL B'mouth/Newcastle (NBC)513k UCL Arsenal/Sevilla (UNI+T)486k PL Wolves/M Utd (USA) pic.twitter.com/7iclgX1SLp— SE LLAMA SOCCER (@sellamasoccer) November 14, 2023
Two years in, some modifications: ESPN/ABC coverage will be weekly. Victory+ FAST streaming service added as a new partner, with weekly Sunday night game and 57 total matches. https://www.allforxi.com/nwsl/8909/...-soccer-league-boston-legacy-denver-summit-fc
Victory+ is a sneaky good streaming option. The Anaheim Ducks and Dallas Stars have their non national games on there for free in their respective markets, the Texas Rangers ran their in market "RSN" option through them this year with the season costing something like $100, they've got a lot of WHL junior hockey games for free, and a weekly Texas high school football game for free. Throw in NWSL games for free and they're really building something interesting. On the other hand, most stuff on CBS Sports Network still doesn't air on Paramount+ so you've probably got to buy some goofy cable/satellite/live streaming service to get those. Also, still no Android/Google TV option for NWSL+.
It can't hurt, especially if it's free and the broadcasts are on at a predictable time. Unlike NWSL+ it's on all platforms, so that's already a bonus.
It will help NWSL with the money it's paying for the rights and by giving fans a way to watch for free.