NEW YORK (AP) — The National Women's Soccer League championship match between Gotham FC and the Washington Spirit on Saturday averaged 1,184,000 viewers on CBS and Paramount+, the league announced Tuesday.
The NWSL said it was the most-watched final in league history, and marked a 22% increase in viewership over the 2024 final and 45% over the 2023 final.
Gotham won the championship 1-0 on a second-half goal from Rose Lavelle. The television audience for the match, played at PayPal Park in San Jose, California, peaked at 1.55 million viewers.
"This record-setting audience demonstrates the deepening connection fans have with our players, our clubs and the world-class competition on the field, and it underscores the growing demand for women’s soccer on the biggest stages,” NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman said in a statement released by the league.
The NWSL's seven postseason matches broadcast across ABC/ESPN and CBS averaged 550,000 viewers and drew a cumulative audience of 3.36 million, the league said. That was an 18% increase over the 2024 season.
The combined attendance for the seven playoff matches was 114,459, the league said. The final drew a sellout crowd of 18,000.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
“A dazzling delight for all ages” Read moreRodger's & Hammerstein's Cinderella
Dirk van Ulden said:
Anyone can put a list together, but few can deliver results.
Dirk van Ulden said:
LittleFoot said:
Cultural issues - but in America we like to pretend we are all the same. We are not.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.