The NWSL attendance is struggling this season, and numbers don’t lie. In 2024, the English-language coverage of the MLS championship clash between LA Galaxy and NY Red Bulls drew just over 427,000 viewers on Fox Sports. Meanwhile, the NWSL final, featuring the Orlando Pride’s narrow win over Washington Spirit, pulled in 967,900 viewers on CBS — approx 126% higher viewership than MLS. Hearing those numbers, you’d imagine that NWSL must have a thriving fanbase packing the stands week in and week out. However, while the viewership numbers looked good for NWSL, the crowd attendance in the stands looked way more concerning for the league.

In 2024, the MLS championship clash drew just over 26,812 fans at Dignity Health Sports Park. On the other hand, the NWSL final pulled in 11,500 fans at Kansas City’s CPKC Stadium. Indeed, the difference between MLS and NWSL spectators attendance had a wide gap last year. This season too, the NWSL has struggled to draw audience to the stadiums.

Take, for instance, Matchday 23 of the NWSL season. Despite some exciting scorelines across the weekend, the audience turnouts were alarmingly modest in several venues. The clash between Portland Thorns and Bay FC recorded the highest attendance at 21,104, followed by the Washington Spirit’s home game that drew 17,422 fans. However, beyond those two, the numbers dipped steeply: Angel City FC attracted 11,147 on Monday night, Gotham FC brought in 9,752, while North Carolina Courage and Houston Dash saw 7,218 and 6,406, respectively.

The lowest of the round came from Chicago Red Stars, who barely managed 3,710 spectators despite an exciting 2-2 draw against Utah Royals. This only led renowned ESPN journalist Jeff Kassouf to shed light on the alarming attendance situation in the American women’s league via X, highlighting that while a few clubs, notably the Spirit, Gotham, Pride, and Courage, have recorded positive attendance trends, the shocking reality is that the overall league average is trending downward.

Kassouf certainly didn’t rule out the external factors that caused this unfortunate attendance trouble, like scheduling. After all, the clash between Angel City and Kansas City Current held at BMO Stadium on a Monday is definitely bound to bring in not more than an attendance of 11,147. Broader sports attendance patterns could explain part of the dip, but one thing is clear by now: attendance is down in more than half of the NWSL markets, some significantly.

This is quite concerning, especially considering how crucial the involvement of the audience is for the United States. Already, in just a few months’ time, the 2026 World Cup will be on the horizon, and given how its own domestic leagues are struggling with attendances, it speaks volumes. It also poses tough questions about sustainability, marketing, and fan engagement within the women’s game, something that the NWSL has always tried to give a priority. Not to mention that the US has a promise to live up to!

Can the NWSL and MLS uphold the spirit of the 2026 FIFA World Cup?

According to Tourism Economics, part of Oxford Economics, about 1.2 million international visitors are expected to bring in around $3.3 billion during the eight World Cup games set to take place at MetLife Stadium next year. Meanwhile, FIFA revealed that the Club World Cup has already sold nearly 1.5 million tickets, and they anticipate that the upcoming matches will break all previous attendance records at the venue.

Then again, the domestic response regarding the game is far from what it is anticipated to hold next summer. At least Sports Business Journal’s Alex Silverman believes that all such effects on America’s domestic league turnouts are perhaps due to the growing interest in international soccer, which, in reality, should have been the opposite.

Like at the end of July 2025, MLS averaged 21,838 fans per game, marking a 5.9% drop from the same period last season. This comes even after San Diego FC’s strong debut, which apparently ranks fourth in attendance with 28,049 fans per match. In fact, the situation is so bad for the men’s side of the domestic game in the States that 21 of the league’s 29 clubs have recorded declines.

The trend extends to the NWSL as well, which has averaged 10,603 fans per game through its midseason break, a 4% decrease, to be precise, as per Alex Silverman. These figures suggest that the country’s own leagues are struggling to maintain their crowds, even though they dream as high as setting attendance records in the international market.

Perhaps the domestic might hold different sentiments for the American fans, unlike when it actually comes to them supporting their nation. Either way, share your views in the comments below.