Why NWSL's business expansion creates tension betw...
Key takeaways
- To borrow Silicon Valley lexicon -- as the NWSL tends to do -- the league finds itself somewhere in between the growth stage and the expansion stage of its booming business.
- Rapid expansion and commercialization are both necessary to the NWSL's long-term growth and the very characteristics that will challenge its core identity.
- This is an existential question, but not in the way it once was when two previous professional women's soccer leagues failed, or when the NWSL launched on relatively shoestring budgets in 2013.
Why this matters: a sports story that could shift standings, legacies, or fan conversations.
To borrow Silicon Valley lexicon -- as the NWSL tends to do -- the league finds itself somewhere in between the growth stage and the expansion stage of its booming business.
Rapid expansion and commercialization are both necessary to the NWSL's long-term growth and the very characteristics that will challenge its core identity. Nothing about this Catch-22 is unique to successful sports leagues or businesses, but the decisions made by NWSL leadership right now all center around a simple question: What does the NWSL want to be?
This is an existential question, but not in the way it once was when two previous professional women's soccer leagues failed, or when the NWSL launched on relatively shoestring budgets in 2013. The days of fearing the league's imminent demise have long passed. The NWSL now operates as a big business with mostly billionaires sitting at the board table.