The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) is finding new fans in more places than the field.
According to new data from the leaguecomments throughout YouTube channels increased 41.7 percent through the first 10 weeks of the 2026 season, reaching 11.2 million. Watch time rose by nearly 50 percent, while subscribers increased by 17.9 percent.
The success is part of the first half of the season NWSL. Attendance has increased, the league’s social following has increased, and merchandise sales have increased. New clubs and a wider mix of broadcast and streaming options also create more ways for people to follow the league.
So, who are these new fans, how are they discovering the NWSL, and what turns their interest into a lasting connection with the league?
Who watches NWSL?
The NWSL’s audience is much broader than the young, mostly female fans who are often associated with women’s sports.
Nielsen rated that the league had 39.3 million fans in the United States in 2025, up from 30.8 million in 2023. ESPNwomen accounted for nearly half of the NWSL’s audience for the second consecutive season, while viewership among women aged 18 to 34 increased by 30 percent year over year. The league’s average audience on ESPN Deportes also more than doubled from 2024, increasing by 109 percent.
Women now count around half of the league’s audience on ESPN, while women ages 18 to 34 are among its fastest-growing audience groups. Spanish language viewing is also growing, introducing the league to more fans across the United States.
That growing audience is increasingly seen in stadiums. Mashable’s senior reporter Matt Binder attended Gotham FC’s recent match at Citi Stadium, where more than 40,000 people came to watch the team play – a major women’s sporting event in New York history.
“There were more young girls than even young boys at any NYCFC game I’ve been to,” Binder said.
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For young fans, following a team is far more than attending matches. NWSL clubs and players share highlights, interviews, training videos, and behind-the-scenes content across YouTube, TikTokand Instagram. This allows fans to stay connected between games while drawing new followers.
YouTube and social media are becoming a bigger part of the NWSL
The NWSL’s recent takeover of YouTube is part of a massive increase in viewership across its media lineup. Through Week 10, coverage of the match generated more than 1 billion minutes watched across broadcast, streaming and digital platforms.
Mashable Trend Report
The platform has played a similar role in other women’s sports, giving leagues and athletes an additional way to reach younger audiences. Matt Hochberg, who runs Hochberg Sports Marketing, a FIFA-licensed women’s soccer agency, described the platform as a major growth driver for several women’s leagues.
“Female sports fans are skewing younger (and) digital first,” Hochberg wrote in X’s post about the benefits of YouTube for the NWSL, adding that the audience is also attractive to brands trying to reach the same demographic.
That league a wider social audience is growingtoo. Its combined following grew 24 percent year over year to 3.1 million across six major platforms. According to the NWSL, fans engage with highlights, behind-the-scenes access, player-focused stories, and other league content.
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Individual players also bring a large audience of their own. Trinity Rodman, Rose Lavelle, Sophia Wilson, and Mallory Swanson have each built social followings of hundreds of thousands of fans that reach far beyond their NWSL clubs.
The US national team players are only part of that equation. The NWSL included players from 55 national teams in 2025, allowing clubs to reach fans who already follow the athletes in their home countries. Current Kansas City forward Temwa Chawingafor example, he represents Malawi and has become one of the NWSL’s biggest stars after winning back-to-back league MVP awards.
More fans attend the match
NWSL’s digital growth comes as attendance is also increasing. Clubs averaged 11,044 fans per match in the first half of the 2026 season, up 10 per cent from the same period last year. The league reached one million members faster than any previous season and is on pace to average more than 10,000 fans for the fourth straight year.
The biggest crowd of the season came to Denver back in March 2026, when expansion club Denver Summit FC hosted the Washington Spirit at Empower Field at Mile High. The match drew 63,004 fans, setting a league record for attendance and becoming the largest crowd for a women’s professional event in the United States.
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Denver Summit and Boston Legacy FC both joined the league in 2026, expanding the NWSL to 16 teams. The additions created local fan clubs in two new markets and gave the league more matches, players and stories to feature across its systems.
Matches are available through CBS Sports, ESPN, Prime Video, ION, Victory+, and the NWSL+ league service. Highlights and other clips then extend the life of those games on YouTube and social networks.
Fans are also buying more merchandise
The league’s retail numbers provide another sign of increased participation.
Combined merchandise sales across NWSL clubs rose 72 percent in the first half of the season compared to the same period in 2025. Sales via NWSL Store increased by 207 percent.
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The league did not disclose total revenue, but attributed the growth to increased demand for club merchandise, player merchandise and league-branded apparel.
There are also a lot of fans following the stadium. Every NWSL club has beaten a top division opponent at least once this season. At the midpoint, the league has recorded 10 percent more upsets than it did in the same period last year, and twice as many games have been decided in the final 15 minutes.
Those late goals and twists create a steady stream of highlights you can’t miss. With the growing number of NWSL fans, sometimes one important thing is all it takes to get the ball rolling.
