Jessica Berman, commissioner of US women’s soccer’s elite NWSL, has reportedly been handed a three-year contract extension, one that will see her continue in the role through the 2028 campaign.
The league’s executive committee, a four-person body separate from its 16-member board of governors, has reportedly approved the new contract, first noted by the Sportico publication, based on terms that the board of governors approved by a super majority (though it was not unanimous) earlier in 2025.
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Berman has courted controversy in 2025 after a number of public player welfare concerns stemming from an incident in May when the league elected to resume play to a match after player Savvy King collapsed on the pitch, as well as an August debacle wherein Berman threatened to fine the Kansas City Current for electing to delay a game that took place during a period of intense heat, causing it to miss its broadcast window, after rejecting appeals from both competing teams to restage the match.
Further questions remain surrounding the future of the league and its ability to compete in the international sphere given its current stringent salary cap legislation, with multiple high-profile names departing for European leagues that are also growing in stature.
Despite this, Berman, who boasts experience with the National Hockey League and National Lacrosse League properties, does retain much support.
Having joined the league in April 2022, she has since overseen a period of strong commercial growth for the competition, which has become one of the most prominent leagues in women’s soccer globally.
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By GlobalDataWhen she joined, the competition was mired in controversy after Lisa Baird stepped down as commissioner in October 2021, after a widespread culture of sexual abuse, racism, harassment, and other misconduct across multiple levels was revealed at the NWSL, a scandal that reared its head in the 2021 campaign but had been brewing for years.
With Berman having instituted reforms across the league, including a new collective bargaining agreement with the players' union, the NWSL has gone from strength to strength off the pitch in recent years, best exemplified by its recently agreed $240 million media rights deal.
In 2022, Michelle Kang’s acquisition of the Washington Spirit made waves for the $35 million acquisition fee, but as of 2025, Forbes has valued all 14 NWSL franchises (not including the two 2026 expansion teams) as being worth a minimum of $70 million, with the most valuable, Angel City FC, standing at $280 million, and over half the league surpassing the nine-figure mark.
This is especially relevant given reports emerging last week (October 9) that Ted Segal, owner of the Houston Dash franchise, is in “advanced talks” to sell the team.
The interested party is led by US-born businessman Richard Hsiao, the 24-year-old founder of China’s RHC Group, and son of controversial Chinese businessman Jianhua Xiao – who is currently serving jail time in that country for financial crimes.
Hsiao is reportedly set to pay as much as $120 million for the Dash franchise, though his acquisition would be subject to NWSL scrutiny, as well as the approval of the board of governors.
Alongside RHC Group, Hsiao also owns investment company J17 Capital, which is invested in Overtime Sports, a US sports leagues creator and digital network that is already in partnership with the NWSL, and elsewhere has invested in the tech-focused sports startup TMRW Sports (owner of golf’s TGL), and owns a Greek basketball side – Aris B.C.
Segal, for his part, will retain control of the MLS' Houston Dynamo franchise, having acquired both the Dynamo and the Dash in a joint deal for $400 million in 2022.
