The Equalizer: New NWSL season brings same problems, old solution

Although a powerhouse on the world stage, the U.S. Women’s National Team’s (USWNT) success has not translated to success in domestic club markets.

The first fully professional women’s soccer league, the Women's United Soccer Association started shortly after the USWNT’s 1999 World Cup victory and played its first season in 2001, but folded in 2003 due to financial problems and a lack of public interest. For the rest of the decade, women’s teams bounced around different leagues, with no league surviving more than four years until the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), whose 2018 season kicked off this weekend, was unveiled in 2012.

The Boston Breakers, one of the oldest professional women’s teams in the country, folded earlier this year, while average attendance continues to rise and fall according to proximity from an international tournament. For example, after the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada, the NWSL saw a rise in fan attendance for the next two seasons.But in the 2017 season, the average attendance dropped 8.5 percent to 5,558, well below the the 2017 average MLS attendance rate of 22,106.

U.S. Soccer and its NWSL teams have struggled to develop relationships between fans and teams since its inception, and with so much competition from other professional sports, it’s essentially impossible for NWSL teams to get revenue from television deals.

U.S. Soccer would do well to look to its neighbor, Mexico, to fix professional women’s soccer. Mexico's recently implemented professional women’s league is thriving, and it is structured entirely differently from the NWSL.

Instead of establishing a brand new league, the Mexican Federation worked closely with the Liga MX Femenil, which fields 16 teams associated with respective Liga MX clubs (the first division of men’s professional soccer). When Club América Femenil plays in the same stadium as its male counterpart, fans are more likely to attend because they already have a relationship with the club. It’s akin to every NBA team having a sister-team that plays the same opponents and plays on the same court.

The structure of the Liga MX Femenil allows greater fluidity between fans of the men’s and women’s game. It’s a win-win: The female players and league see more revenue and popularity, while the club brand reaches more fans, growing its own popularity.

It’s no wonder, then, that the most popular women’s team in the United States — the Portland Thorns — is affiliated with the Portland Timbers, an MLS franchise. Clearly the Timbers organization understands the value of having a club fans can identify with.

The Liga MX Femenil averaged 3,500 fans a game in 2017 — not bad for its inaugural season. The second leg of the championship match garnered 32,466 fans — more than most MLS teams manage throughout their whole season.

The U.S. Soccer Federation must not look any further than its southern neighbor to improve women’s professional soccer in the United States. The Mexican Federation’s hands-on approach has paid off for the Liga MX Femenil, and it won’t be long before the U.S. wonders how Mexico caught up so quickly.