NWSL Regular-Season Ratings See Big Surge, Playoffs Up 5%

The NWSL playoffs are seeing continued viewership growth after big audience gains in the regular season.

In the quarterfinals, CBS drew 474,000 viewers for the Washington Spirit–Racing Louisville match. The two quarterfinals on ABC, Kansas City Current–Gotham FC and Portland Thorns–San Diego Wave, earned 435,000 and 391,000 average viewers, respectively. Amazon Prime Video declined to share data for its quarterfinal.

For Saturday’s semifinals, CBS aired the Washington–Portland match, which drew 548,000 viewers. The Orlando Pride–Gotham match averaged 328,000 viewers on ABC.

Overall, viewership is up 5% across the quarterfinals and semifinals this year, the league said. Last season, the NWSL averaged 562,900 viewers for the entire postseason, and 967,900 viewers for the championship game, a new league all-time ratings record.

Washington and Gotham will face each other in the league final Saturday night in San Jose. The Spirit have played in many of the league’s most-watched matches this year, though its star player, U.S. women’s national team striker Trinity Rodman, has missed part or all of several of those games due to back and knee injuries. She only entered Washington’s semifinal win in the 90th minute.

The league is coming off a regular season during which it saw strong audience growth despite some of its biggest stars missing many or all of their matches.

The NWSL said regular-season viewership grew 22% from last year, averaging 214,000 viewers across CBS, Ion, ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2.

By comparison, the WNBA averaged 969,000 viewers in the regular season this summer, which was a 3% increase from a year earlier. It’s difficult to compare the NWSL’s figures to MLS, because MLS’s major media partner, Apple TV, withholds most viewership data. MLS Season Pass—now being folded into the Apple TV deal, averaged about 120,000 viewers per match—commissioner Don Garber said this summer.

Both the NWSL and MLS pull in fewer average viewers in the U.S. than the Premier League and Liga MX. The Premier League averaged 510,000 viewers per match window during the 2024–25 regular season and averaged 850,000 viewers during this season’s opening-weekend matches. Liga MX began its season this summer averaging 501,000 viewers on TelevisaUnivision, and it has twice hit seven-figure viewership.

The NWSL’s regular-season viewership grew 61% from last year on ABC and ESPN platforms. The 17 matches averaged 228,000 viewers, up from 141,000 viewers in 2024. Three of the top five matches featured the Spirit; two were Rodman’s first games back from injury in August. Spanish viewership is up 109% from last year on ESPN Deportes.

CBS averaged 479,000 viewers for the 10 matches it aired, up 20% from last season.

Ion aired 50 matches with an average of 152,000 viewers, up 5% from last year, and also saw 24% growth in total hours viewed on its free ad-supported streaming TV platform, or “FAST” channel.

Sports are seeing a big viewership boost this fall, thanks in large part to Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel, an expanded methodology that now includes set-top boxes and smart TVs. Most of the NWSL season—including all of the top five largest audiences for regular-season games on ABC and ESPN platforms—happened before the Nielsen shift in early September. But an ESPN spokesperson tells FOS that the entire regular-season slate has been retroactively adjusted to use the Big Data + Panel methodology.

Several of the NWSL’s most popular players from last season were absent this year. Mallory (Pugh) Swanson and Sophia (Smith) Wilson both missed the entire season during their pregnancies, while Naomi Girma departed for Chelsea in January. Rodman missed 10 Spirit matches this season with injuries.

Growing its audience while missing stars in Girma, Swanson, Wilson, and Alex Morgan—who abruptly retired last September—is a good sign for the NWSL. But an even bigger departure is looming. Rodman’s contract expires at the end of this season, and her potential departure would be a major blow to the league if she follows Girma’s path and takes more money to play in Europe. Rodman’s agent has spoken directly with commissioner Jessica Berman as part of the contract negotiations. “The league is doing everything we can to keep Trinity in the NWSL,” a league spokesperson said.