North America’s top-tier National Women’s Soccer League will see a boost in its domestic coverage after expanding its rights agreements with sports broadcaster ESPN and national network CBS Sports, while adding streaming service Victory+ as a new partner.
The agreements, brokered by sports marketing giant IMG, cover the 2026 and 2027 campaigns, and come as the NWSL prepares to add expansion clubs Boston Legacy FC and Denver Summit FC next year, bringing the league to 16 clubs and adding 32 games to its schedule.
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Under the deals, Disney-owned ESPN and its sister channel ABC will increase their coverage from 20 games this season to 36 in 2026 and 2027, including all ‘Decision Day’ games.
Paramount-owned CBS Sports’ coverage will increase from 24 to 38 matches, with 13 games aired on CBS (including the league’s championship game), 20 on the CBS Sports Network, and five games on a platform yet to be decided.
Victory+, the free ad-supported streaming TV channel, meanwhile, becomes the league’s fifth domestic rights partner and will gain 57 games per season, including 25 weekly Sunday primetime matches.
Due to the new rights deals, the number of games offered on the league’s free direct-to-consumer (DTC) service, NWSL+, will be reduced from 63 this year, to 40 annually in 2026 and 2027.
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By GlobalDataThe new and expanded deal comes in the middle of the league’s wider four-year domestic rights agreement, which started in 2024 and runs through 2027, involving ESPN, CBS, Amazon, and Scripps.
Amazon Prime Video, the streaming service of the e-commerce giant, will continue to show 27 matches, while US media company Scripps will show 50 regular-season Saturday night matches.
The aforementioned deal sees the networks pay a combined $240 million over the four seasons – $60 million annually – with CBS retaining the rights to the league’s season finale.
Financial terms of the new deal have not been disclosed.
NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman has now said: “We are expanding the discoverability and reach of NWSL matches because the demand is there.
“These additional media packages will help us reach new audiences and build a new generation of fandom. The expanded commitments from CBS Sports and ESPN, paired with a new national Sunday night showcase with Victory+, bolster the NWSL's trajectory of unprecedented growth.”
ESPN’s side of the deal comes shortly after launching its new DTC service, which gives subscribers access to all of its allocated NWSL games, as well as its portfolio of other live sports rights.
