Jessica Berman, commissioner of US soccer’s top-tier NWSL, has announced the league will award its 18th franchise later this year, with the selected team to begin play in the 2028 season.
The decision comes days before the NWSL kicks off its 2026 season, with two new teams, the Boston Legacy and Denver Summit, added to expand the league to 16 teams.
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At the NWSL’s annual season preview last night, Berman said: “Now we will be 16 clubs across this country, firmly establishing the NWSL as a truly national league with incredible demand and interest for professional women’s soccer.
“And in 2028, synonymous with what will be our next media rights deal, we will be 18 teams.”
While the addition of an 18th team for the 2028 season was previously suggested by Berman, no timeline had been given for when it would be awarded.
Last year, the commissioner said the NWSL would move to a “rolling process” for expansion, with no hard deadlines for adding new franchises, to allow more preparation time for teams to launch.
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By GlobalDataBerman said awarding the franchise this year would allow the new organization to prepare for its debut season, adding: “I think we have been intentional about extending the ramp-up period for all of our expansion teams as we move forward. It’s the reason we’re working on team 18 in 2026 and hope to give them a very long runway.
“It is also the reason that we changed to a rolling process, as opposed to having arbitrary deadlines that are based on our timeline, as opposed to their readiness."
Most recently, the league announced Atlanta as its 17th franchise in November.
The Atlanta team, which will also begin play in the 2028 season, is owned by Arthur M. Blank after the US business magnate and multi-sport team owner won rights to launch the NWSL’s 17th franchise to enter the league in 2028.
Blank has reportedly paid a record expansion fee of $165 million, the latest signifier of growing commercial interest in the women's soccer competition.
The team will be operated by Blank’s AMB Sports + Entertainment investment vehicle, through which the billionaire also owns the Atlanta United Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise, the Atlanta Falcons NFL side, and operates the 71,000-capacity Mercedes-Benz stadium in which both teams play.
The new NWSL franchise will also play at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, with modifications to be made at the venue and attendance capped at approximately 28,000.
In terms of interest for the 18th franchise, the previous expansion round has given the league a steer on which cities are viable.
The Haslam family, majority owners of the NFL's Cleveland Browns and the Columbus Crew MLS outfit, have previously indicated their interest in owning an NWSL club based in Columbus.
Cincinnati and Cleveland also missed out on securing a franchise in previous rounds.
The NWSL has seen rapid growth since its inaugural season in 2019, which featured nine teams, and its two expansion sides joining the league this season have already shown signs of success.
Berman announced that Denver Summit have already sold more than 50,000 tickets for their inaugural home match at Mile High Stadium – a record attendance for a US professional sports game, while the Boston Legacy is set to host 25,000 fans at their first home match at Gillette Stadium.
