The National Women’s Soccer League will spread its media rights to four partners for the next four years, Sportico reported on Friday.
Per the report, ESPN, CBS, Amazon and Scripps will be part of the new deal, which is expected to be signed this month.
Financial details of the agreements weren’t stated, but according to Sportico, the figure will be “significantly” more than 10 times larger than the NWSL’s current deal with CBS.
In the existing contract, the NWSL is receiving $1.5 million annually from CBS, but the league is paying all production costs, which top $10 million annually, per Sportico.
The new deal would run through 2027, the year that the next Women’s World Cup will be held.
The partnership with CBS hasn’t always been popular with NWSL players, particularly when the network dictated that the league’s 2021 championship match be played at noon ET. That would have meant a 9 a.m. local time start in Portland, Ore., the scheduled venue. The game eventually was moved to Louisville, where the Washington Spirit beat the Chicago Red Stars for the championship.
This year, the NWSL has 12 teams, with the latest two — Angel City FC in Los Angeles and the San Diego Wave — having joined as expansion teams in 2022. Two more teams, Bay FC in San Jose and the Utah Royals, will begin play in 2024, and a new Boston club is due to join the league in 2026.
Earlier this year, NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman told the Washington Post that a 16th team will join the league by 2026.
According to Sportico, Angel City is the most valuable team in the NWSL at $180 million, followed by San Diego at $90 million and the Kansas City Current at $75 million. The lowest evaluation among the 12 existing sides is $40 million for the Red Stars.
–Field Level Media
