{"id":308027,"date":"2025-11-26T11:42:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T11:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/308027\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T11:42:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T11:42:08","slug":"womens-soccer-final-draws-record-viewing-figures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/308027\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s soccer final draws record viewing figures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The National Women&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/soccer\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Soccer;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Soccer<\/a> League (NWSL) championship match between Gotham FC and the Washington Spirit on Saturday averaged 1,184,000 viewers across <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/cbs\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:CBS;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">CBS<\/a> and Paramount+, setting a new record.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">This figure makes it the most-watched final in league history, marking a 22 per cent increase on the 2024 final and 45 per cent on the final in 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Gotham FC secured a 1-0 victory thanks to Rose Lavelle&#8217;s second-half goal, as viewership for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/san-jose\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:San Jose;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">San Jose<\/a> match peaked at 1.55 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman stated: &#8220;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\u2019s soccer on the biggest stages.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The NWSL&#8217;s seven postseason matches averaged 550,000 viewers, drawing a cumulative audience of 3.36 million \u2013 an 18 per cent increase on the previous season.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Gotham FC players celebrate their championship win (AP)\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/9f5d32ee67b97cc7e573a04b8e21b749.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Gotham FC players celebrate their championship win (AP)<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The combined playoff attendance reached 114,459, with the final itself drawing a sellout crowd of 18,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The NWSL was founded in 2012 as the successor to Women\u2019s Professional Soccer (WPS), and started with only eight teams.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">That figure has since risen to 14, and there are due to be 16 clubs competing in the league next year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Portland Thorns are the most successful team in the league\u2019s history, having won three championships in 2013, 2017 and 2022, respectively.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Three sides have won two championships, including Gotham FC after their victory on Saturday night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Washington Spirit have now lost three finals after falling short against Gotham FC, having also been beaten in the showpiece event by Orlando Pride last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The regular 2026 season is due to begin on 13 March, with the final weekend concluding on 1 November ahead of the playoffs later that month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The 2026 championship match is scheduled for 21 November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The National Women&#8217;s Soccer League (NWSL) championship match between Gotham FC and the Washington Spirit on Saturday averaged&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,137800,97725,137799,8081,137798,561,82,32763,137797],"class_list":["post-308027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-championship-match","tag-gotham-fc","tag-jessica-berman","tag-nwsl","tag-rose-lavelle","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-washington-spirit","tag-womens-professional-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}