189,000—that’s how many viewers per game the National Women’s Soccer League garnered this season, according to a stat shared by Togethxr earlier. Quite remarkable, considering the American women’s league also surpassed Major League Soccer (MLS), which drew fewer than 120,000. Then again, talk about a meteoric rise followed by a meteoric fall, as we are at a time when the entire NWSL attendance is lower than a few teams that have reached the semifinals.

Sounds unreal, but that’s what the esteemed sources of Front Office Sports are claiming. According to reports, the league-wide NWSL attendance has shockingly fallen 5% this year. The factors that have contributed to this fall are still unknown. But so far, only the drop remains the headline.

Then again, on the positive side, at least three of the four NWSL teams that have made the playoffs semifinals, i.e., Washington Spirit, NJ/NY Gotham FC, and Orlando Pride, as well as the ninth-seeded North Carolina Courage, have surprisingly managed to break remarkable records this season as they all reached new attendance highs in 2025.

While one can expect such news from top-performing sides like Pride, Spirit, and Gotham, the fact that a ninth-seed Courage managed to make this list is something that hardly anyone would have anticipated. Perhaps factors like personal fanbase and popularity might also come into play. But with this theory, it should have been other teams making the cut in this list, too.

Consider last year’s attendance, where the NWSL closed its regular season by crossing the 2-million fan mark for the first time in league history. In fact, it was the league’s third consecutive season in which they managed to surpass the overall attendance by a million mark, breaking the previous record of just over 1.42 million set the year before. This data suggested that in over 89 matches, more than 10,000 spectators were drawn.

And guess what, the aforementioned four teams weren’t the ones who garnered such numbers. The San Diego Wave, ladies and gentlemen, had topped the chart with an average of 19,575 fans per game for the second straight year. Angel City and Portland weren’t far behind, each attracting crowds above the 18,000 mark. Furthermore, the Chicago Red Stars delivered a new single-game attendance record, packing 35,038 fans into Wrigley Field for their showdown with Bay FC.

Yet, this season, the entire dynamics changed, seeing the likes of Spirit, Pride, Gotham, and Courage keeping things alive in what has been termed as a bit slow business for the NWSL. But surely, one can hope that the league keeps its promise for the biggest thing yet to come!

NWSL has a promise to keep

Consider it a mere obligation, more than just a promise. To recall, last year offered a striking comparison in U.S. soccer viewership. The MLS title match, where LA Galaxy edged the NY Red Bulls 2–1, attracted a little over 427,000 viewers on Fox Sports. In contrast, the NWSL Championship clash between the Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit almost doubled that audience, drawing 967,000 viewers on CBS.

Consider it a staggering 126% jump over the men’s final. Now, some might point out that the absence of Lionel Messi and Inter Miami hurt the MLS numbers, but even with that caveat, the gap was difficult to overlook. Such has to be the case for the upcoming NWSL championship finals. Things look quite exciting, as one can hope for, but they should note that the MLS also witnessed a good attendance turnout this season.

Do you think the NWSL would be able to finish strong in terms of attendance and viewership? Let us know in the comments below.