NATIONAL WOMEN’S SOCCER LEAGUE KICKS OFF 2023 SEASON SATURDAY, MARCH 25 Rematch of ’22 NWSL Championship Featuring Kansas City, Portland to air on CBS Television Network April 1st League Debuts First-Ever Integrated Brand Marketing Campaign
NEW YORK (March 21, 2023) - The National Women’s Soccer League kicks off the 2023 season this Saturday, March 25 in Cary, North Carolina. Now in its 11th year, the NWSL continues to feature the best and brightest players in women’s professional soccer underscored by unmatched competitiveness, intense rivalries and all the excitement the beautiful game has to offer.
KICK US OFF
All 12 teams will be in action during kickoff weekend, with six teams hosting their home openers. Opening the 2023 campaign Saturday, March 25, goalkeeper Adrianna Franch and the Kansas City Current, last year’s NWSL Championship runner-up, head east to take on veteran midfielder Denise O’Sullivan and the 2022 UKG NWSL Challenge Cup Champion North Carolina Courage at WakeMed Soccer Park. In the club’s first full season at Snapdragon Stadium, forward Alex Morgan and San Diego Wave FC host Mallory Swanson (née Pugh) and the Chicago Red Stars in a star-studded matchup to close out opening night.
Action continues Sunday, March 26 with a quartet of matches across the country. Headlined by reigning league and championship MVP Sophia Smith, Portland Thorns FC begins their title defense with a contest against Marta and the Orlando Pride at Providence Park.
Former teammates Abby Erceg, Diana Ordóñez and Carson Pickett reunite as the Houston Dash host regional foe Racing Louisville FC in the team’s home opener at Shell Energy Stadium, while the Washington Spirit, led by USWNT mainstays Ashley Hatch, Trinity Rodman and Ashley Sanchez begin their home slate at Audi Field, hosting a veteran-lined OL Reign featuring Lauren Barnes, Jess Fishlock and Megan Rapinoe.
Rounding out the weekend, Angel City FC, who averaged more than 19,000 fans in their inaugural season, kick off the club’s second year in the league with a battle of the coasts against NJ/NY Gotham FC and club newcomers Kelley O’Hara and Lynn Williams at BMO Stadium.
Kickoff continues next weekend with a rematch of the 2022 NWSL Championship as defending champion Portland travels to Kansas City for an April 1 matinee at Children’s Mercy Park. The Thorns edged the Current, 2-0, in last year’s season finale which drew a crowd of over 17,000 at Audi Field and a record 915,000 viewers on the CBS Television Network.
NEW FACES
Thirty-four players selected in the most recentNWSL Draft have signed contracts with their respective clubs this season, ushering in a new era of talent across the league. Headlining the new class of signees is No. 1 overall pick Alyssa Thompson, who agreed to a deal through 2025 with Angel City. The team also signed goalkeeper Angelina Anderson to a one-year contract. Elsewhere around the league, the Orlando Pride signed three picks from its 2023 draft class, inking contracts with Messiah Bright (Rd 2, #21), Emily Madril (Rd 1, #3), and Summer Yates (Rd 4, #39). In addition, the Kansas City Current signed five of its draft picks, including first-round selections Michelle Cooper (Rd 1, #2) and Alex Spaanstra (Rd 1, #10), to contracts. Teams have through the CBA-mandated 60-day signing window to sign draft picks.
In a historic signing, San Diego today agreed to a a three-year deal with Melanie Barcenas, making the forward the youngest-ever contracted NWSL player at 15 years and 138 days. Earlier this month, the Washington Spirit signed Chloe Ricketts, now the second-youngest player to be signed to an NWSL contract, to a three-year deal with a fourth-year option.
NEW PLACES
The NWSL’s first official free agency period kicked off in December and saw some of the league’s most accomplished players in new threads for the 2023 campaign. Perhaps most notably, Brazilian international Debinha, who spent the six seasons of her NWSL career in Cary, North Carolina with the Courage, left the coast and headed for the heartland, signing a two-year deal with the Kansas City Current, including an option for an additional year. Chicago mainstays Vanessa DiBernardo and Morgan Gautrat also joined the Current’s talented midfield corps as part of offseason free agency moves. Former Washington defender Kelley O’Hara took advantage of the new mechanism, joining neighboring NJ/NY Gotham FC as one of the team’s key offseason roster moves.
This offseason also featured a number of blockbuster trades, including a draft day transaction that saw former Kansas City forward Lynn Williams dealt to Gotham FC in exchange for the second overall pick in the draft. Elsewhere this offseason, North Carolina and Racing Louisville swapped defenders, sending Emily Fox to Courage Country in exchange for veteran center back Abby Erceg and outside back Carson Pickett to the Derby City. North Carolina also traded forward Diana Ordóñez, who enjoyed a breakout rookie season with the Courage, to the Houston Dash in exchange for allocation money, a 2024 first-round pick and a 2023 international slot.
AND NEW BRAND SPACES
The NWSL kicked off its WE PLAY HERE campaign today, signaling the return of the NWSL for its 11th year. A season-long, player-first initiative, the campaign captures the electricity and excitement around this season’s unmatched competition, top tier rivalries and matchups, and a host of young new draft picks making their debut, all with the added anticipation of this summer’s World Cup quickly approaching. The campaign will harness the joy of the game and the energy of the players through powerful brand messaging that will be bolstered and expanded upon by each of the clubs, who are committed to engaging current fans while expanding and growing new fanbases.
The campaign launched with the league’s first-ever ad campaign narrated by Gotham FC forward Midge Purce. Highlighting the league’s diverse fanbase, the spot was also dubbed in Portuguese and Spanish, with narration from Kansas City forward Debinha and Houston forward María Sánchez. The campaign will also feature digital and social, advertising, paid media and partner support from CBS.
RIVALRIES + RECORDS MEANT TO BE BROKEN
This NWSL’s rivalries, both old and new, are back all season long, including:
The storied Cascadia Rivalry between Seattle-based OL Reign and Portland Thorns FC. The battle of the Pacific Northwest has a long history, dating back to the 1970s, when the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers of the MLS faced off in the North American Soccer League. Naturally, when the NWSL began operations, the same rivalry formed naturally and has since pitted some of the NWSL’s all-time greats, including Christine Sinclair, Rocky Rodriguez, Bethany Balcer and Phallon Tullis-Joyce, against one another. The Reign currently hold a 14-12-8 advantage over the Thorns in 34 all-time meetings.
The BBQ Derby, or simply the DerbyQ, pits Houston against Midwest rival Kansas City. The two markets, each known for their barbecue, have squared off in several heated matches since the Current began play in 2021. Most recently, the two teams met in the quarterfinals of the 2022 NWSL Playoffs. Kansas City earned a 2-1 result over the Dash to advance to the semifinals.
The newest rivalry in the league features expansion sides Angel City and San Diego. The fixture between the two southern California clubs already holds an NWSL record after breaking the NWSL single-match attendance mark when a sellout crowd of 32,000 filled the stands for a meeting between the pair last September at Snapdragon Stadium.
The NWSL smashed attendance records across a number of categories during the 2022 season.
For the first time since the league’s inception, more than one million fans attended NWSL matches over the course of the season.
On September 17, 2022, the league achieved its most-attended match of all time with a sellout crowd of 32,000 during San Diego Wave FC’s inaugural match at Snapdragon Stadium against Angel City FC.
The league also surpassed its postseason attendance record four times last season. The new number to beat is 26,215, set by San Diego Wave FC in last year’s NWSL Quarterfinal matchup against the Red Stars at Snapdragon Stadium.
Already this year, the league has surpassed last season’s ticket sales for Week 1 home openers, having sold over 60,000 tickets for this weekend’s slate of matches alone.
WHERE TO WATCH
CBS Sports’ multiplatform coverage of the 2023 season, presented by CarMax, will include all 176 NWSL matches this season. The CBS Television Network will air six matches, including both the broadcast of the 2023 UKG NWSL Challenge Cup Final and the 2023 Ally NWSL Championship Presented by CarMax. Paramount+, Paramount Global’s subscription streaming service, will also stream those six matches live. CBS Sports Network will air 23 matches across the regular season, playoffs and the Challenge Cup. Paramount+ will exclusively stream all additional NWSL matches live in the U.S, with a select number of those matches also streaming live on the CBS Sports Golazo Network, which launches on Tuesday, April 11.
Last week, the NWSL announced itsbroadcast team for its season. The roster includes a pool of veteran announcers and analysts with experience calling matches on soccer’s grandest international stages, including the FIFA World Cup, CONCACAF Gold Cup, UEFA European Championship and Olympic Games.
