Jessica Berman, commissioner of the NWSL, has said that the league could reach 30 teams, mirroring that of North America’s existing ‘big five’ leagues: NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and MLS.
Speaking at Leaders Week London at Stamford Bridge, Berman was discussing the league’s growth and future expansion.
“We’re actually about to open our data room for teams 19 and 20 because we do intend to continue to expand,” Berman said. “When people in other places in the world ask questions about the size of the league, I always say, ‘you have to look at the geographic footprint of America to really understand why continued expansion makes sense’.
“Our country is the size of a continent so in order for us to really amalgamate audience and to really build on the foundation that we’ve created in the last few years we really need to scale out presence across communities in all of America. There are that many DMAs (designated market areas) that could support a professional women’s team.
“The reason we know that is because the ‘big four’ or the ‘big five’, I think we can now say thanks to Don [Don Garber, MLS commissioner]. The big five are 30-plus teams and so there’s nothing that should stand in the way of the NWSL being that size, its not going to happen tomorrow, but it is our vision to be able to compete on a national basis. In order for us to do that, we need to have a presence across the country.”
She added: “Investors know the horizon in front of us is bright. The foundation of the sport of soccer is strong. The participation for girls in our country has never been bigger. The most important thing that we’ve done in the last four and a half years is built the foundation with quality ownership.
“I like to remind people that in just four and a half years — in a league of 16 teams —we’ve sold six expansion teams, and we’ve sold incumbent teams nine times…15 new ownership groups have come into the league.”
This season, the NWSL added two new sides as Denver Summit and Boston Legacy joined the league.
In 2028, the NWSL will add two more franchises, with Atlanta City FC and a new side in Columbus taking the league to 18 for the very first time.