North America's premier National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) has announced a multi-year partnership with The Women's Sports Network (TWSN). This collaboration aims to expand the league’s content distribution and athlete storytelling across all platforms, marking a significant step forward in promoting women’s soccer. As part of the agreement, TWSN will become an official media partner for the 16-team league. This new role entails producing weekly NWSL highlight shows, game clips for its YouTube channel, original athlete-led programming, and showcasing archive footage from NWSL games dating back to 2017.
The partnership also involves collaboration around significant moments in the NWSL calendar. Both parties will work together on on-site activations and studio activity during these tentpole events. Furthermore, there will be involvement from NWSL players on TWSN’s show "The World According To."
This announcement comes as the NWSL kicked off its 2026 season on March 13th. The regular campaign runs until November 1st before transitioning into post-season playoffs.
Ruth Hooper, chief marketing officer at WSL Football, said:
"Our priority was to create something that was shaped by the people who love it the most, so fans could have what they wanted in one place. As we continue to evolve the app, we’ll keep responding to their needs and introduce new features to create the most engaging digital home for our leagues.”
Expansion of franchises
Before this season started, Jessica Berman, Commissioner of the NWSL announced that an additional franchise would be awarded later this year. This new team is set to begin play in the 2028 season following Atlanta being named as its seventeenth franchise last November. Domestically speaking, live broadcast rights deals are already in place with ESPN, CBS Sports, Scripps Network and Amazon Prime Video for coverage of matches.
In other top-tier women’s soccer news across the pond; England’s WSL has launched its first mobile app designed by WSL Football organization which manages both Women's Super League and the second-tier WSL 2. The app features live match stories, personalized player and team content, a match center, live streaming (for games shown via YouTube), ticket links, and a dedicated statistics page.
Moreover, the WSL recently announced a partnership with sports technology and data science firm Sportable to implement connected smart ball technology in its match balls. This move signifies an exciting development in the integration of advanced technology within women's soccer. The collaboration between NWSL and TWSN is set to enhance visibility for women’s soccer while providing fans with more engaging content across various platforms. As women's soccer continues to grow globally, partnerships like these are crucial in promoting the sport further.
