The National Women’s Soccer League has completed a transformative, $240 million set of domestic media rights agreements that will provide an unprecedented level of exposure to women’s pro soccer in the U.S.

Months in development and highly anticipated by leading figures in women’s soccer, the league’s quartet of four-year deals with ESPN, CBS, Amazon, and Scripps Sports provide cross-platform coverage for the NWSL via cable/broadcast television and streaming. 

The collective annual value of $60 million, according to industry sources, beats the league’s prior national TV revenue of $1.5 million per year by a multiple of 40. The NWSL noted on X that it’s the largest media deal in women’s sports history.

“These partnerships fundamentally change the game for our league and the players,” said NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman. “This is the beginning of our future.”

Network Lineups

CBS will have a minimum of 21 games per year, including the NWSL Championship each year on both network television and Paramount+. Added to a recent deal with the USL, the NWSL agreement further establishes CBS as a major destination for soccer fans.

ESPN will carry 20 games per season, including three in the playoffs, and also use sister properties such as ABC, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+ for its coverage. ESPN’s deal also includes multi-language rights in Latin America.

Amazon will carry 27 games per season, including one playoff game and a season opener, and a planned weekly showcase on Friday nights will follow a similar template to its successful “Thursday Night Football.”

“The evolution of women’s sports — and specifically the NWSL — demonstrates that there is a growing audience for remarkable athletes and world-class competition, regardless of gender,” said Marie Donoghue, Amazon vice president of U.S. sports content and partnerships.

Scripps Sports, which is rapidly becoming a major player in U.S. sports media with its focus on over-the-air coverage, will carry 50 games per year, based on 25 exclusive Saturday night doubleheaders on Ion. The company also gains the rights to the 2024 NWSL Draft. 

The media rights deals cap a banner season for the NWSL that has seen record attendance, news of expansion franchises in Boston and the Bay Area, new ownership in Chicago, and unprecedented commercial activity. The 2023 campaign ends Saturday with the high-profile championship match between OL Reign and NJ/NY Gotham FC.

The WNBA garners more than $40 million per year combined through its current deals with ESPN and Ion, plus additional money through a streaming-based deal with Amazon, but is also poised for a massive increase when its current deals expire in 2025.

As the NBA continues its quest to make the league more attractive to fans and future media rights partners, it will look at the most popular sport in the United States as an obvious blueprint for success.

“I see my goal as helping the league… to become more NFL-like,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said on JJ Redick’s “The Old Man and The Three” podcast. Silver said the NBA product should be able to stand on its own — no matter which teams are on the court. 

The NBA’s media rights deals expire in 2025, but negotiations for the next set will begin after this season. The NBA will no doubt look to maximize the value of its broadcast deals. The NFL’s most recent deals garnered $110 billion over 11 years.

Already, the league has introduced the inaugural in-season tournament, and Silver recently laid out his vision for a better All-Star Game experience, telling Redick that the NBA and its media partners can do a better job of showcasing the basketball itself.  

“I think there is this sense that unlike in football — where the coaches are viewed as these field generals going out there with complex schemes — that in basketball, there’s a sense that it’s just about athleticism, or the coach’s job is just to get the guy to play hard,” he said.

NBA Draft Changes?

The NBA is also reportedly exploring taking another page from the NFL by turning its draft into a multi-day event. The league discussed the possibility of extending its format to two days during a meeting with team general managers this week, according to The Athletic.

Currently, the two-round NBA Draft takes place on one night, typically in an arena around New York City. There is no word on whether an expansion of the draft could entice the league to move the event from city to city, like the NFL does, which has become a traveling roadshow that attracts huge crowds and generates big TV ratings.

After a full season of uncertainty for MLB thanks to Diamond Sports Group’s ongoing bankruptcy, the other shoe is dropping for clubs planning for the 2024 season.

The embattled Bally Sports parent told a U.S. bankruptcy court in Texas on Wednesday that it no longer has any ties to the Minnesota Twins, as the company’s rights deal with the club expired with the end of the 2023 season. 

As a result, the AL Central champions said they are planning to retreat — at least to some degree — from this year’s franchise record payroll of $156 million.

“We’ve pushed our payroll to heights that we had never pushed it before with the support, certainty, of ownership,” Twins GM Derek Falvey said at this week’s MLB GM meetings. “We know there is some natural ebb and flow to that. Will it be where it was last year? I don’t expect that.”

Broad Impact

The Twins are not alone. Even as DSG said earlier this week it intends to keep 10 of the 12 MLB teams it aired throughout the 2023 season, the economics surrounding those decisions are murky, and the company still left open the possibility that more MLB club rights could be rejected before the end of the year. 

DSG itself continues to face challenges from its creditors, distributors, pro teams in other sports — even its own parent company, Sinclair Inc. — and it isn’t certain that the company will survive Chapter 11 reorganization. 

As MLB prepares to handle the local rights for as many as 16 teams, as of last year, commissioner Rob Manfred acknowledged teams will suffer at least a short-term revenue hit during this transition period.

“It’s certainly daunting,” Brewers GM Matt Arnold told The Athletic. “We just have to make sure we, as an industry, are aligned with the best ways to generate revenue … It’s certainly a challenge in our industry for sure, especially in the smallest market in the league.”

DSG’s reorganization bid was aided earlier this week by a deal with the NBA, which will regain local rights currently held by Bally Sports at the end of this season.