Here's Why The NWSL Is Your Next Obsession
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It’s an exciting time to be a women’s soccer fan. The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) kicked its 2024 season off last month, with 14 teams competing for a championship title. Plus, the league will only continue to grow, as the NWSL has announced it will add two more teams by 2026, per Reuters.
Pretty much everything about women’s soccer is booming, according to the outlet. The league just inked a four-year media deal with ESPN, CBS, Prime Sports, and Scripps’ ION network, reportedly worth $60 million a year, Reuters reports. The NWSL called it the "largest media investment in women's sports history."
So, if you're a newbie to the sport (or just looking to brush up), here's everything to know about the NWSL teams.
How many NWSL teams are there?
There are currently 14 NWSL teams. Each team is allowed a minimum of 22 players and a maximum of 26 players on their rosters, per Soccer Wire.
The 2024 teams include:
Angel City FC — Los Angeles, California
Bay FC — San Jose, California
Chicago Red Stars — Bridgeview, Illinois
Houston Dash — Houston, Texas
Kansas City Current — Kansas City, Missouri
NJ/NY Gotham FC — Harrison, New Jersey
North Carolina Courage — Cary, North Carolina
Orlando Pride — Orlando, Florida
Portland Thorns FC — Portland, Oregon
Racing Louisville FC — Louisville, Kentucky
San Diego Wave FC — San Diego, California
Seattle Reign FC — Seattle, Washington
Utah Royals FC — Sandy, Utah
Washington Spirit — Washington, D.C.
What new teams are coming to the NWSL?
The NWSL plans to add two new teams by 2026. One team will be based in Boston, per Sports Pro Media, with the Boston Unity Soccer Partners ownership group paying an expansion fee of $53 million for the team.
It’s not clear where the other team will be based, but fans will know by the end of 2024, according to NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman.
“We have active due diligence ongoing as we speak with many different groups from many different cities,” she said earlier this year, per Sports Pro Media.
What is the average salary in the NWSL?
There's a large range in salaries for the NWSL, but like everything else in the sport, they're on the rise. At the beginning of this year, the NWSL increased of the salary cap from $1.375 million in 2023 to $2.75 million in 2024, per CBS. The highest-paid player is Maria Sánchez, who signed a three-year, $1.5 million-dollar contract with the Houston Dash in December, reports Forbes.
The women are paid drastically less than men in the American Major League Soccer (MLS), however. For comparison, the MLS' highest-paid male soccer player is Lionel Messi, who makes about $20 million per year, per Statista.
The NWSL's top players typically make about $400,000 per year, but the minimum salary for the league is $36,400. The average player makes about $65,000 per season, according to Essentially Sports.
Who owns the teams?
The list of team owners in the NWSL may be as exciting as the games themselves.
Los Angeles' Angel City is an expectedly star-studded club, with owners including Natalie Portman and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Other investors in the team include celebs like Serena Williams, Jennifer Garner, Eva Longoria, plus women’s soccer icons like Julie Foudy, Mia Hamm, Shannon Boxx, Lauren Holiday and Abby Wambach, per Goal.com.
Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes and his wife Brittany (a former soccer star herself) invest in the Kansas City Current, per The Athletic, and tennis champ Naomi Osaka invests in the North Carolina Courage, according to ESPN.
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