![]() In an interesting move, the NWSL decided to keep about 38% of its games for itself, opting to show them on its own streaming platform. The new media rights partners will only air about 60% of the NWSL’s games. “In lockstep with the NWSL, they are going to transform the ways in which fans can discover and engage with the games, assuring deserved exposure for these world class athletes on the broadest stage,” said Hillary Mandel, executive vice president of IMG Media, which brokered the sale on behalf of the NWSL. In the NWSL’s previous deal, worth just $1.5 million a year for three years, the league was on the hook for production costs associated with its broadcasts, meaning it effectively lost money because it was footing a bill greater than the value of the agreement, according to The Athletic. A growing leagueĪll four media partners also made commitments to promote the league, each other's broadcasts-critical for consumer awareness in a non-exclusive media deal-and up their investments in production. ![]() “There is no fundamental reason why a women’s soccer league like the NWSL can’t be as successful as the NBA,” she said in a May interview with Fortune. In the past, Berman has cited the NBA as a model for the NWSL. While the NBA, whose media contract is set to expire in 2025, has deals with Warner Bros. The NFL, for instance, has signed an 11-year, $110 billion deal with NBC, CBS, Fox, ESPN, and Amazon. It’s not uncommon for sports leagues to work with multiple partners. The NWSL opted to spread out its game broadcasts across several different partners, unlike Major League Soccer, which signed a 10-year $250 million exclusive deal with Apple. “We have taken great care to ensure our games are discoverable by increasing our reach in order to expose new audiences to everything that makes our league special, without compromising the economic value of our product” NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman said. CBS and ESPN will air games on both their linear networks and respective streaming services, Paramount+ and ESPN+. Amazon, CBS, ESPN, and the Scripps-owned ION network, will broadcast a portion of the regular season and playoff games between them. Games will be broadcast across a medley of different platforms. The new deal will pay the NWSL about $60 million a year for four years, a person familiar with the deal told Fortune. It's a landmark deal that is 40 times larger than the previous, paltry agreement the recently revived league had before. The National Women’s Soccer League has secured a $240 million domestic broadcast deal with four major streaming and cable partners, the league has announced.
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