Within the greatest broadcast deal ever for any girls’s sports activities league, the Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League (NWSL) struck a record-breaking four-year TV rights cope with CBS Sports activities, ESPN, Prime Video and Scripps Sports activities.
The companions will mix to nationally broadcast 118 matches throughout associate platforms starting in 2024—an enormous improve from the 30 that can air in 2023, together with Saturday’s upcoming championship match on CBS.
The deal is price $60 million per 12 months, for a cumulative worth of $240 million over the course of the time period, a supply near negotiations confirmed to Adweek. Endeavor’s IMG and WME Sports activities suggested the NWSL and negotiated on its behalf.
“As a younger league experiencing huge progress, we needed to make sure all our video games had been accessible to our rising and various fan base,” Julie Haddon, the NWSL’s chief industrial officer and advertising and marketing officer, informed Adweek. “These distribution offers guarantee viewing choices throughout each linear and streaming platforms each weekend.
“With every associate contributing vital model funding to advertise and cross-promote, we’re capable of showcase our distinctive league, golf equipment and athletes to each new and present followers.”
The NWSL’s present three-year cope with CBS, price $4.5 million whole ($1.5 million yearly), expires on the finish of the 12 months—and the league is paying for manufacturing prices. The brand new $240 million settlement marks an annual 3,900% improve in worth.
“We have now all the time centered on balancing income, attain and relevance, and these offers with these companions symbolize an unprecedented funding in girls’s sports activities,” stated Haddon. “We have now an actual alternative to carry our recreation nearer to our followers and model sponsor companions in new and revolutionary methods.”
Earlier than the CBS settlement, the NWSL had a string of short-term agreements with ESPN, A&E and Fox Sports activities.
The following comparable girls’s league is the WNBA, which has agreements with Disney, Paramount, Amazon, Scripps, Fb and Twitch. The cope with Disney is its largest, price an estimated $27 million yearly. However when that settlement expires in 2025, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is concentrating on $100 million per 12 months—nonetheless a far cry from the $250 million Main League Soccer rakes in yearly.
Breaking it down
