December 8, 2025 • 42 mins
Let’s kick it!
Welcome to our exciting new series, She’s Not Next She’s Now. We’ll dig into eight different new and emerging women’s sports, discussing the history of how we got here, the current state of the game, and what comes next. And it’s not just co-hosts Ellen Hyslop and Lauren Tuiskula driving the conversation; we’ll also be chatting with the executives, players, and fans who make these leagues and sports what they are today.
For today’s episode, we’re taking it to the pitch for a look at the pro women’s soccer landscape with multiple leagues popping up in the last year. We chatted with Gainbridge Super League President Amanda Vandevort, Gotham FC General Manager Yael Averbuch West, and Chief of Sponsorship Strategy & Activation at Group 1001 Mike Nichols.
Show notes:
More on The GIST: 🎧 Subscribe: thegistsports.com/subscribepod
✉️ Email: pod@thegistsports.com
📷 Instagram: @thegistca @thegistusa
🐦 X: @thegistpod
Welcome to our exciting new series, She’s Not Next She’s Now. We’ll dig into eight different new and emerging women’s sports, discussing the history of how we got here, the current state of the game, and what comes next. And it’s not just co-hosts Ellen Hyslop and Lauren Tuiskula driving the conversation; we’ll also be chatting with the executives, players, and fans who make these leagues and sports what they are today.
For today’s episode, we’re taking it to the pitch for a look at the pro women’s soccer landscape with multiple leagues popping up in the last year. We chatted with Gainbridge Super League President Amanda Vandevort, Gotham FC General Manager Yael Averbuch West, and Chief of Sponsorship Strategy & Activation at Group 1001 Mike Nichols.
Show notes:
More on The GIST: 🎧 Subscribe: thegistsports.com/subscribepod
✉️ Email: pod@thegistsports.com
📷 Instagram: @thegistca @thegistusa
🐦 X: @thegistpod
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
What is upjisters.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Welcome to episode three of our new exciting podcast series,
She's Not Next, She's Now, where we break down the
gist of emerging women's sports and the leagues developing around them.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
We're your co hosts. I'm Ellen Hisislav.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
And I'm Lauren Tuscala, the Just Associate Managing editor. We
are soapoped to be back for episode three of this
a part series, and as you know if you listen
to the first two, each week we'll discuss a different
new and emerging women's sport and really focus on the
leagues that make up that sport, breaking down the history
of how we got to this current state, what's actually
happening right now, and kind of predicting a little bit
(00:45):
of what might come next.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, and a part of the reason why we want
us to do this. Sorry if we sound like we
are beating a drum, but we are witnessing real time
change in women's sports right now, and all of these
changes that were experiencing with mergers and acquisitions and sports
growing and leagues changing, happened honestly centuries ago or decades
(01:08):
ago on the men's sports side, and it feels like
sometimes it can be quite confusing of what is happening
altogether in this broader ecosystem that is women's sports, and
we feel like we can provide the gist and provide
more context on all this landscape shifting as it's happening.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Definitely, and I think today's episode will kind of get
at that confusion part because there's so many new leagues
cropping out that we want to get into. So if
you missed episodes one and two, though, highly recommend going
to listen to those. They dropped the last two Mondays.
Our debut episode was all about the PWHL and the
superstars in that league, so we had some Olympians on there,
Hillary Knight, Sarah Nurse, we got some great guests for
that conversation. Episode two was all about the women's volleyball
(01:49):
landscape and we dug into the various women's indoor pro
leagues that are popping up. We had even more Olympians
on that episode. We got to talk to so many Olympians,
How cool is that?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
And so many Olympic medalists. Every single person that we
talked to has won a gold medal, and if not
a gold medal, a silver medal.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
A silver Yeah. We got we only gold and silver,
only podiums here.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
That's all we want.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Otherwise, don't talk to us. You're not ready for this podcast.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
We're only pulling big people and we brought I think
it was just the in volleyball.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
It was all the Jordans, all the Jordans, Jordan Thompson,
Jordan Larsen, Jorlden Poultz, a great conversations. But if you
aren't an Olympian and you want to come on the podcast,
we do want to talk to you.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
I just want to say that all we're also talking
to executives and fans who are notably not Olympians for
the most part, but who provide really great perspectives from
that business point of view or from that passionate fan perspective.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Yes, everyone's welcome in the conversation, and we just wanted
to make one quick clarification before we get into episode three,
Honor Volleyball episode. So Steph Martin, who we talked to,
chief comms officer at League one Volleyball, she reached out
to us after she said she loved the pod. Thank you, Steph,
but she just wanted to clarify that League one Volleyball
will have a more traditional model in this upcoming year.
(03:04):
So we were talking about how we didn't love the
neutral site game and the way the travel was set up,
and it will be more traditional for twenty twenty six,
where teams will be hosting games that home and away
style that you're used to for traditional sports. So we
just wanted to clarify that at the top here too.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I love that they got that feedback from their audience
and said, you know what, no problem, we'll change it
for next year. And that's just a good startup mentality.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, you got to be responsive to what the fans want.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
So very excited to see Chackly exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
And speaking of being responsive to what the fans want,
we have to talk about the pro women's soccer landscape
because the fans are wanting soccer right now.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
And I feel like that is so so clear.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
You might be thinking, Okay, soccer doesn't sound like an
emerging sport. Why are you guys talking about this. There
is a lot that is involved with the pro women's
soccer picture. I think before we get into everything, we
are not going to be fully diving deep on the staples.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
In the women's soccer space.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
So We're not going to be diving deep on something
like the NWSL or England's Women's Super League or freudan Bundesliga.
So essentially, any of those leagues that have been around
since the twenty thirteen twenty fifteen still very new leagues
in the grand scheme of things, but we consider those staples. Instead,
we're going to focus on the leagues who are kind
(04:25):
of emerging and on their come up. And we're also
going to focus on North America as opposed to anywhere
else in the world because it is such a global game.
So really think about this episode as we are focusing
on emerging leagues in women's soccer within North America.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Yeah, it's a really important distinction because if we looked
at the entire pro women soccer landscape, we need we
need eight episodes of specifically, like, there's too much to
cover there, so we want to focus on those emerging leagues.
As you said, I think the staple leagues will be
a point of a comparison and we can kind of
measure these new and emerging leagues against where those established
leagues are. So so the emerging ones we will be
talking about today are the Gamebridge, Super League or GSL,
(05:04):
and the Northern Super League or the NSL. So those
are our acronyms that we're working with today.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
I'm so excited for this conversation because Laura and I
are going to go through a lot of things, but
we've also had the opportunity to chat with some heavy hitters,
i'd say in this space. We chatted with Gamebridge Super
League President Amanda Vandervoort, the chief of sponsorship, Strategy and
Activation at Group on thousand and one, Mike Nichols, and
Yale avroboch West and this is where the former professional
(05:32):
soccer player comes in. But she's also the current general
manager of the NWSL championship winning Gotham FC. So we
have a lot of people to chat with today and
it's going to be so much fun.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Let's get into it. Okay, let's kick off this soccer conversation.
As we mentioned at the top, we are going to
focus on those emerging women's soccer leagues that we named
and we'll break those down a little bit. So similar
to last week's volleyball episode, we just need to define
(06:04):
things at the top and get those acronyms out there.
I do want to start with some context on soccer
as a whole, because it's such a popular sport. I
know we both played growing up. It feels like the
sport that if you want your kid to be athletic,
you stick them in soccer and they run around and
chase the ball. Is that kind of how Maybe that's
just my perspective.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
That's so funny.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I do think some of the most athletic people played
soccer because there's something about the football coordination I guess
you could say, instead of the han I coordination that
does push through. And I'm yeah, soccer is my number
one sport I love. I'm obsessed with it, love playing it,
love watching it. And so I'm so excited for today's conversation,
(06:41):
I think, or.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Because it is.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
There's all of these emerging links and all of these
emerging leagues are coming up because there's so many people
who love the game and who play the game, and
the way that professional wins soccer is set up right now,
it's not capturing the opportunity completely because of how many
young girls and young boys are playing the sport.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Right and just to really spell out what's happening at
the youth level, it is the fourth most popular sport
in the US high school soccer for girls. So three
hundred and ninety three thousand, forty eight girls played high
school soccer in the US last year and that's an
increase of two point four percent from last year. So
it's growing. It's going to continue to grow. It's already popular,
but it will only continue to grow. So that's just
important if we think about the full landscape and the
(07:23):
opportunity at the youth level.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
And when I say, too, Laura web we grew up,
I feel like soccer was the number one sport that
girls played.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
It seemed like, I don't again, I don't know if
it's just because we did it, but it felt like
that's that's what you did.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
You played soccer.
Speaker 5 (07:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, I'm quite surprised actually by hearing that number.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Of fourth most popular.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
But as we're hearing from all of these other emerging sports,
girls girls are playing just a lot of sports. There's
I think the coolest thing is is that there's so
much more opportunity in sports now and there's so many
different ways to actually feel like you can continue a
path through you through college and then actually into the pros.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
And I think that's where that into the pros.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
We're really talking about today, so when we would have
grown up even for I don't want to age myself.
But I graduated from college in twenty fourteen. NWSL started
in twenty thirteen. When I had to make a decision
as to whether or not I wanted to play soccer
or actually take school seriously. I was like, I'm going
(08:25):
to take school seriously because I don't know if I'm
ever actually going to make money from soccer, versus now
not saying that soccer players don't take school seriously.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
To be clear, it's not like one or the other.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
But over the last you know, ten twenty years or so, lord,
that conversation has been so different because so many girls
across North America have been able to say, Okay, I
can actually go ahead and hopefully make the NWSL. The
NWSL is expanding rapidly, but it still is not capturing
all of the talent and all of the pro opportunity
(09:01):
in the space, and there's still a way for so
many girls to be making that decision in high school
as they're entering college to say, Okay, it's all right
if maybe I'm not going to hit the tier one NWSL,
which will kind of give some context here, but I
do see the NWSL as the top tier in women's
soccer in North America. It's okay if I'm not going
(09:23):
to make the NWSL, because there's an opportunity like the
Gabridge Super League or the Northern Super League that almost
feels even though they're not, but they almost feel like
developmental leagues or farm leagues into something like the NWSL.
So I feel like I still have a place to
land and to continue to play the game that I.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Love, definitely, and that's why we want to capture these
emerging leagues because it's so different and it's pretty recent too,
these changes. These leagues are just starting up and to
have that landscape and like you're saying, to have that
option of I could possibly do this. It's just so
different from what we grew up with. So that brings
us our leagues. We want to define Bridge super League
and Northern Super League a little bit more unpack them.
(10:03):
So we'll start with the GSL, and that is a
new acronym because it was previously known as the United
Soccer League or the USL, and they announced that naming
right sponsorship with Gambridge in April of this year, and
we're going to unpack that a little bit more. But
if you've heard USL before, you're not wrong, You're not,
it's right. It's it recently changed to the GSL.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yes, and it's been the USL since September twenty twenty
one when it was first established, and its intention was
really forming that use to pro pipeline for players within
the USL system, so somewhat similar to League One volleyball
and what.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
We talked about last week.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
There are academies that make up that USL system, and
the academy format for soccer is very much a UK
European thing that they have brought over into North America
i'd say probably.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
For twenty or so years now.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Essentially, as a young kid, you are committing to an
academy team in addition to your club team or your
high school team, and you're really being developed and brought
up throughout that system so that hopefully you can ultimately
play for that team. And it's really worked out incredibly
well in the UK, but there's kids as young as
(11:21):
like eight trying to make a man City academy team
and it's so wild. We are not there in North America.
But that's what would definitely differentiate USL here. But other
leagues are starting to get in the mix of that too.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Yeah, it seems like it's becoming more common. It's like
commonplace like as you said, over there, but it's becoming
more common in North America. And another differentiator with the
GSL that I think is really interesting is they operate
on a fall to summer schedule and that's more in
line with the international soccer landscape. That's what they're used
to for comparison to the NWSL is on that summer
to fall schedule, so it's running there's overlap, but it's
(11:55):
running essentially opposite of the end OFWSL.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yeah, I think NWSL is marched to nove so very
long in comparison.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
To the GSL.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Even with that, though, it's not really like the WNBA
and Unrivaled or Project B, which we'll get.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
To in a later episode I promised teaser.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
It's not like players are playing for the NWSL and
then going to play for the GSL. That's not really
what we're seeing, right. The players are maybe being like transferred,
but they're not necessarily playing in both leagues in the
same year.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Right, and in terms of the timeline of the launch,
So the inaugural season was in August twenty twenty four
and there were eight teams in action during that inaugural season.
The second season is underway as we record this episode,
and they are nine competing teams, so already that increase
and they're looking at even more expansion in the future.
For the twenty twenty seven season, there'll be three additional teams,
(12:49):
So expansion is definitely part of this and they're growing
pretty rapidly and.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
I love seeing the name change, honestly to Gamebridge. I
think we've been seeing that a lot in this emerging
league is ecosystem, and I think we see it a
lot in this developmental league. Ecosystem when we think about
the G League and the NBA, that's for Gatorade Baby,
and Gatorade is all over the G League, and so
you might be like, oh, this feels weird, It really doesn't.
It's a great way to monetize. So we want to
(13:15):
kick it over to Mike Nichols reminder he is the
chief of Sponsorship, Strategy and Activation at Group of thousand
and one, and really provide him the space to share
why they decided to become the naming sponsor of the
Now Gamers Super League.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
I think one we considered it, there were really sort
of three main pillars that sort of informed our decision,
And in the first one, I would say is, you know,
creating more opportunities. You know, the number of young girls,
women who were playing soccer and you know, as a
participation sport, it's just absolutely exploding. And you know, we
knew that by sponsoring this league, we'd be providing three
(13:55):
hundred more opportunities for these players, who you know, elite
college athletes where there might not be spots for them
to play professionally anywhere else. So it was it was
cool to be able to create those opportunities. But the
knock on effect of that is, you know, now that
you have these teams that have these players, it's providing
more opportunities for coaches and executives and trainers and you know,
(14:18):
people to you know, engage with the sport and grow
their careers. So obviously the the on the field opportunities
were huge, but also looking at the opportunities it might
be providing for not only female executives but male executives
to you know, have opportunities to grow their career just
provides that many more employment opportunities in the sport. I
(14:39):
would say secondarily is momentum. You know, we're we're starting
to get the excitement now. But with the you know,
the Men's World Cup being hosted here next year, followed
by the LA Olympics, the twenty twenty seven Women's World Cup,
and then likely the twenty thirty one World Cup here
again back in the US, there's so much excitement around
soccer and women's soccer in particular, given that you know,
(15:01):
three of those four events will be hosted here in
the United States. And then finally, I would say the
community aspect of it for us. You know, our name
is on there in the sort of the in lights
with as the Gamebridge Super League, but we like what
we've been able to do at the grassroots level in
terms of bringing mini pitches to underserved communities and helping
(15:25):
maybe introduce soccer to kids at like a boys and
girls clubs for example in Jacksonville who might not otherwise
have been exposed to soccer. And then you know these teams,
you know, there's you know or nine teams in the
league now and many of them are built on top
of academies that in some cases may have ten thousand
kids who are playing in these academies. So when we
(15:46):
look at sort of growing our Gamebridge brand and our business,
you know, the parents of those kids who are in
those academies, we look at as you know, hopefully future
customers and so hopefully engaging in our brand with them,
you know, sort of where they're you know, enjoying recreation
with their family, will you know, favorably if that's their
(16:07):
feelings about the Gamebridge brand.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
That's really interesting hearing him kind of say that, and
I feel like we'll get into this.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Oh my gosh, we're full of teasers today.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
But I feel like on the lacrosse side as well
as on the rugby side, there's some naming rights with
brands that are very interesting and a lot of it
does tie back to that community side of things, reaching
women and then also reaching to his point that the
parents and growing with the fandom as well.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Yeah, it was really interesting to hear his take and
the opportunity for them to invest to And as you said,
I think at first when the naming came down, I
was like, oh, this feels weird, like to have and
you're kind of tripping over your words a little, but
it doesn't come out. But then as you're saying it
is commonplace and it's it'll just become the acronym and
GSL will become that. That's what we'll say for So
it's not super strange.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
It's not super weird. So that's the GSL.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
I think the best way for us to think about
them is that they are somewhat of a challenger to
the NWSL. But I think more broadly, the way that
people see them is a professional league, but not at
the same caliber or quality as an NWSL, but still professional,
incredible talent, incredible product, and it will be really interesting
(17:25):
to see how it grows and attracts different talent and
how the talent kind of goes back and forth between leagues.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Yeah, definitely. And one more thing into conversation with Mike
he pointed this out too, is I think the NWSL
has a lot of talent from the osman's national team
Canadian women's national team.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Like those bigger.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
National teams, the GSL is taking talent from other countries.
So it's right like people that play for their national teams,
but maybe not like the top five, So it's still
that top level talent. I think that's where they're pulling
most of their players from. So as you're saying, it'll
be interesting.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
To see how it evolves in the years ahead, that's
really interesting. Again, there's just not enough space. Yeah, not
enough space.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
So and that not enough space in one way or
another brings us to the Northern Super League. So that
is the NSL and Gabord Super League is just in
the US. NSL is just in Canada. That launch in
April of this year, giving Canada its first ever domestic
pro women's soccer league. We had Diana Matheson on just
a regular episode of The Gist of It a couple
(18:23):
of weeks ago, and she is one of the co
founders behind NSL, and a big reason why she wanted
to launch the NFL in Canada in particular, is that
from a national team perspective, when you look at the
top teams, all of them have domestic leagues that are
propelling them on that international stage. And the international stage
(18:44):
is really where you're able to have an audience, drive fandom,
drive interest, and then it kind of comes back to
the domestic leagues from there, which then it becomes this
like cycle, I guess in terms of soccer fandom and interest,
and so that really inspired her to be able to
launch something where Canadian players could fully play at home.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Yeah, I remember reading about her inspiration behind it, and
I thought that was really interesting to develop it domestically
and hearing so many Canadian players to talk about the
opportunity to play at home. It was really neat when
the league was first and out to yes, just to
hear that feedback and.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Some an interesting nuance too that we should say, and
this is true across really the entire soccer ecosystem the
domestic leagues really operate with there needs to be base
amount of players that are from that specific country. So
for the NWSL, there has to be a certain amount
of players on each roster that are American. And so
(19:43):
I actually asked her, I was like, why wouldn't the
NWSL just bring a team to Toronto or Vancouver, Montreal
and essentially copy what MLS does. And that's really what
she was saying, is like, that's all well and good,
but it's still a US based league and so you're
only really setting aside those spots for the Americans. Doesn't
really benefit Canadians versus now this is the other way around,
(20:06):
where there's base roster spots for Canadians and then they're
able to bring in international talent, whether that's American or Lord.
To your point, they're kind of going a little bit
more of the GSL route and bringing an international talent.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
That's a really interesting distinction. I'm glad to everyone will
put that interview in the show notes so people can
dive back into that one too, because I think that's
a good compliment to this episode. So let's get into
the NFL inaugural season, which just wrapped up a couple
months this past month yep, November November. The inaugural season
had six teams in it, and the attention is again
(20:38):
expansion is on the minds of everybody. They're intending to
expand further into Canada. There's eyes on a seventh team
for the twenty twenty seventh season, so a little bit
slower than the GSL, but expansion is definitely in the conversation.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
And it's difficult being in Canada because of the geography
and how big it is, and the infrastructure is really
not as good as the American infrastructure. I think GSL
has been really smart with the teams and locations they've
chosen versus the NSL is truly coast to coast, which
is great for driving interest coast to coast but is
(21:11):
exceptionally difficult at the same time from a logistical perspective.
And so it's been great seeing both of these leagues
I think launch an earnest over these last couple of years,
and I think we've kind of set up well or
what the GSL is, what the NSL is. But I
feel like now it's like, Okay, well are they doing well?
What are they doing in this space? And so we'll
(21:31):
take a quick break and then talk about what the
numbers look like and how this is actually impacting the
women's soccer ecosystem. Okay, so the NFL GSL, they're entering
the chat, the Women's Soccer Chat during a period of
(21:53):
rapid growth, But similar to our volleyball episode, it does
big the question of what this crowded landscape will look
like in the years to go, how successful they've been
to date, how they compare to other leagues and operators
I think around the world too, And so we really
wanted to get into that today.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Digging into the numbers. Looking at the data, and I
think we want to use the NWSL as a comparison
as a jumping off point. Again, they're the most established,
they've been around much longer than these other leagues, but
it's a good comparison of where these leagues could get
to and kind of what they're working towards. So look
at the NWSL numbers just to kind of set the table.
This pass championship game, which just happened a couple weeks ago,
(22:34):
there were one point one eight four million viewers for
that championship game. That was on CBS, so it was
on a broadcast that was readily available, but huge viewership number.
The postseason games average five hundred and fifty thousand viewers
across again premiere broadcast channels ABC and CBS, so they're
pulling these huge viewership numbers, but it's on accessible channels.
(22:55):
And in terms of attendance, eighteen thousand people took in
the championship game. It was a sold out crowd. So
those are the marks and it's so impressive, and it's
the NIBUSEIL has these great media rights steals. It's cool
to see their numbers ticking up. But we just wanted
to kind of set that up for these emerging leagues.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
And speaking of those media rights deals, Lord, those are
in the millions and millions and millions of dollar category.
They also work with league partners like Elf, Amazon, Nike, Google,
They're working with these premier partners who are also supporting
the league and investing in the league continuing to grow.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
And the NWUSO, I think the again, they're just here
since twenty thirteen.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Like in the Grand Scheme, they are still quote unquote emerging,
but they're the best anchor that we have to compare
GSL and NSL off.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Of definitely, And to that point, there's been a lot
of progress in the last few years, like a lot
of it's very recent increases, and I just think about
all the work they did with their CBA and all
those changes are very very recent. So yeah, they're the
standard what we're working towards. But it's they're growing too.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
They're changing constantly. So let's talk about the GSL.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
The GSL, so we're pulling out some numbers for them.
They do notably have a media rights deal with Peacock,
so those games are available on Peacock. I think a
really interesting stat for the GSL. One of their teams,
Dallas Trinity FC, they set a record for the most
attended women's pro sporting event in the state of Texas.
Twenty eight hundred and thirty eight people attended one of
(24:28):
the games. So it wasn't a GSL game, it wasn't
GSL versus GSL team they were. It was a friendly match,
and that's an interesting point.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
It was at a big.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Stadium, but it's cool they got that cool attendance record.
It set some headlines and it goes to show you
how much big of a crowd they could pull in.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
I love a friendly in soccer. It's so interesting.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I feel like the friendly of it all would never
happen in any other sport and actually be exciting. But
friendlies are so commonplace on the international side, where the
international teams are simply just practicing and trying to get
in reps against each other. We see it happen with
the US women's national team all the time, the amount
(25:08):
of people that show up to watch them, and it
happens on the club side very often as well. And
this even goes from all the way at the youth levels,
like you have constant friendly and exhibition games, and I
just love that they have found a way to monetize it.
But this game in particular, two, they brought in an
international team, Club America Feminil, and that international side of
(25:31):
things in soccer right now is such a trend in
terms of bringing in men's or women's teams from Europe
over into North America and vice versa, because those European
teams really want to get in front of American audiences,
and so I think that's just like a genius way
for the soccer ecosystem to grow.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Yeah, it's a really cool draw and then be like, oh,
you can see the top European talent right here at home.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Yeah, it's totally or Mexican talent also too. We've seen
that so much with tea teams coming up from Mexico.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
So it just it makes.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Sense definitely when we look at the NSL and their
viewership numbers, more than one point one million Canadians tuned
in for the NFL Final. That's a massive number. The
average audience was one hundred and eighty five thousand, but
that one point one million is really a massive mark.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
I was, honestly, I'm going to say it, quite surprised
seeing that number, especially seeing that the NWSL hit that one.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Point one this year.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
But I think there's a lot of Canadian pride and
national pride and people really wanting to tune in and
support and be like, what the heck is going on here?
Speaker 1 (26:37):
What have people been doing?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
They also generated four point five to eight million impressions
across social media during that NFL final week, so it
feels like they made such a smart.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Push to do so.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
I think the biggest thing for me, the lord that
I am the most impressed about for the NFL is
that they have quickly become one of the longest commercial
properties in women's professional sport. Per their website, they have
approximately thirty million dollars in league wide revenue, and that
has happened in the first season.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
And when you look at the way that they've.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Raised money, they've definitely raised money and have investors and
things like that, but they're certainly relying on these brand
partnerships at the beginning to be able to prove a point,
prove a use case, and then hopefully have Jersey sales
and ticket sales and media rights deals and everything like
that support more with the funding from there. But that
to me is really remarkable because that puts them in
(27:35):
a top eight revenue place globally. And I think the
one thing too, Lord, that I'd say with the NSL,
we talked about the leagues that are staples in France
and Germany and Spain and England. What I didn't really
properly realize, and I'd be curious if you did, too, Lor,
But what I didn't properly appreciate is that there's a
(27:57):
lot of small pro domestic leagues around you up as well,
like an Ireland or a Scotland that never get actually
on the mainstream and they don't have all the top players,
so they don't get a lot of.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Interest.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
But that's what I was kind of comparing the NSL too,
is like, Okay, they're more so at that level than
at a German kind of level, but with commercial numbers
like this, they're going to extend from you know, these
Irish pro leagues that have been around for a while
that still have this ecosystem going into a staple league
very quickly.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Yeah, I didn't realize that either, and seeing these marks
and really digging into the data, it was pretty shocking
to see because I think being in America it's more
anecdotal for me and kind of seeing our team travel
the games and seeing the response from like our Canadian coworkers,
so to see the numbers like this, I was pretty
pleasantly surprised to see how much they pulled in this
first year.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
And we don't need to talk about the Canadian USD conversion.
That's fine, that's not that. But I think this is
a perfect time too.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
We have our takes, but I think we want to
give space, hold space. As we like to hold space,
we want to hold space for our esteemed guests to
share a little bit more about their thoughts on like
where the spaces is going to.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Yeah, so we'll kick it off with Mike Nichols and
he when we asked him about the next five years
for the GSL, he was really eager to see that
awareness really increase over the next few years.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
You know, I think we're just trying to find ways
to improve and grow the sort of the general awareness
of the league.
Speaker 5 (29:32):
You know.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
The obviously, like you mentioned, the NWSL has had roughly
a fifteen year head start, and so you know, they
have more sort of name recognition and have the majority
of the established name players in their League, so I
said open in five years from now, we will have
beyond sort of equal footing in terms of the recognition
that the game Bridge Superhead League has and the ultimately
(29:55):
that players. You know, the fact that the super League
Game super League is on the international schedule, I think
is going to allow us to continue to attract top
players that want to be able to go back and
play with their respective national teams. So we're you know,
I think the opportunity is incredible for where women's sports
(30:16):
is today, and we're super optimistic about the leadership of
everything that the folks of the Game Super League, under
the umbrella of all the excitement of what's happening in
the USL. I think it's just an incredible opportunity for
Gamebridge and soccer in this country.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
And then when we talked to Amanda van Dervoort, she
was really speaking about the upcoming opportunities in North America
for soccer. So she was looking at both the Men's
World Cup, which is somehow next year, I can't believe that,
and of course all the women's opportunities with the Olympics
Women's World Cup in the future. So she was looking
at all those opportunities and how the GSL will show
up at these international tournaments.
Speaker 6 (30:55):
Yeah yeah, well, I mean if we knew where the
Gamebridge Super League was going to be today five years ago,
that would have been an incredible feat of I don't know,
imagination and luck, but what I would say is the
runway ahead of us here in the United States for
soccer is a little more clear than maybe it was
five years ago.
Speaker 7 (31:15):
So next year we've got the World Cup, the Men's
World Cup here in the United States, Canada and Mexico,
which is such a cool opportunity to engage in the
sport broadly, and I think we have to embrace and
understand that women are equally a part of the sport
here in the United States, and the Men's World Cup
will equally impact fandom around women's soccer, and so embracing that.
(31:36):
Next year, of course, the Olympics in la in twenty
twenty eight, and we all know that we were the
last to win the Olympic gold medal a US women's
national team, So to see us defend that title here
on on home soil, I think it's such a cool
moment and opportunity. And then of course twenty thirty one.
The United States is the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica,
(31:58):
and Jamaica have combined for the soul bid for the
Women's World Cup here in the United States in twenty
thirty one, which hasn't been awarded yet, But like I said,
with a soul bidder, so we expect to have that
here on home soil and that runway. So five years
from now will be twenty thirty we'll just be on
the cusp of the twenty thirty one Women's World Cup.
And one of the things I think one of the
(32:21):
misconceptions that we have is that legacy starts when the
tournament's over. For me, a legacy starts now for the
Women's World Cup in twenty thirty one. So what is
the Gambridge Super League doing not only for ourselfs. I
think we could easily say we'll be in more communities,
more cities across the United States, But how are we
taking this incredible moment in time, this opportunity to really
(32:43):
drive and look ten years down the line, not just
five to ten, and say, what's the legacy that we're
building with all of these inputs for twenty thirty twenty
thirty one to be a launch pad really to even
more opportunity for women's sports, women's soccer specifically, So you know,
I think the Gamebridge Super League is set to be
(33:06):
a leader in that space. The specifics of what it
looks like looks like I think, I think it's the
moment is now to learn and optimize and adjust and
make sure that we're doing right by the players, by
the fans, and by the sport as a whole.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
And then lastly we had Yale who kind of just
summarized everything of what she's seeing in the landscape right now.
Speaker 8 (33:32):
You know, when I played an end of USL and
when I started as a general manager at Gotham, really,
if you weren't a mainstay on your national team, or
if I hadn't, I mean this sounds over simple time,
but if we hadn't heard of your name, there was
not a high likely we bet you could come into
TERBUSL and succeed.
Speaker 9 (33:51):
And that's just that's completely changed over the last you know,
especially i'd say the last three years, we're seeing I
think invest and women's soccer develop talent in a really unique.
Speaker 8 (34:03):
Way worldwide, and players are attracted to coming to play
in and to be sold but now also the.
Speaker 7 (34:08):
Game Bridge super League in the Northern Super.
Speaker 8 (34:10):
League, and there are so many top players that there
can be an exciting on field product in all of
those leagues and all those teams and player movement too,
I think is really interesting.
Speaker 10 (34:23):
But really it all comes down to the.
Speaker 8 (34:25):
Depth of talent. You know, coming out of the development
pathway in the US right now is still goes through
the college system, and coming out of college there are
now so many more opportunities than what was possible.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
When I came out of college as a player into.
Speaker 8 (34:42):
What was WPS at the time in the form of
professional league.
Speaker 10 (34:45):
So I think it's just it's fascinating as competitive opportunities
continue to grow, the investment in developing players and the
number of players who are ready to take those opportunities
is growing so significantly.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
And I know we said we want to leave space
for our Steam guests to me Ellen when we talk
about wom's soccer. You are one of our Steam guests too,
and I know you've been so deep in the space
for so long, so I'm curious for you. What's your
hot take? How do you feel about all these leagues?
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
I definitely want to put my level at a steamed
guest level, because admittedly I am that international soccer girly.
I'm so obsessed with international tournaments on both the men's
and women's side, and then I tune in when I
want to on the domestic side of things. I honestly
just find the seasons quite long and hard to stay
up to date on everything. But I think I am
(35:39):
really excited for women's soccer period across the world, across
North America. I think more opportunities for women to play
professional sports the better.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Where I get a little bit.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Nervous is the sustainability of leagues, especially from a fandom
perspective where we are trained and conditioned. From the men's
sports side of things, you mostly be watching the top
leagues and the top talent. And what I get really
nervous about is do we find ourselves in a position
like the women's hockey landscape found itself in in that
(36:12):
there's a clear number one league and then the number
two league is kind of limping behind, and ultimately there
needs to be a merger acquisition.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
And maybe that's the plan here, or is it?
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Because soccer is just so different and it's a sport
that is so different that it's okay and it will
do well from a Tier one league versus Tier two league.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
And I think that part of the reason why soccer
could be different more.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
But also what makes me so nervous is that in
North America, across all of our pro leagues, the team
is set.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
If you're in.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
The WNBA, you are in the WNBA. If you're in
the NBA, you're in the NBA. You're not getting pushed
down to the G League. If you're in MLB or NMLB,
your team is not getting pushed down to the minor leagues.
In European soccer, there's the promotion and delegation system, So
if you are the top two within your division, you're
getting promoted into the next division. If you're the bottom two,
(37:08):
you're getting relegated. And that has serious impacts on your revenue.
It has serious impacts on the team that you could
bring in, but also it has serious impacts on fandom.
But it doesn't have serious impacts on fandom in the
same way that you would think about it because you're
almost brought up following your team regardless. You are brought
up honestly watching and playing and cheering for teams all
(37:33):
the way from the fourth division to the top division.
And if anyone has seen ted Lasso, they do it's.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
A great job explaining all of this.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
And that's kind of where things are going with that
on the like ted Lasso side of things, right. And
so I think part of that rationale of why a
tier two or tier A, Tier one and Tier two
thing could work in North America is because it has
one hundred and ten percent been successful in the UK
in Europe altogether, because that's the way that they've been
(38:02):
set up. But I wonder if with soccer, we're trying
to like force this new system or developmental system into
an audience that is so used to something that is
very basic and straightforward and no promotion or relegation, so
your loyalty doesn't really change, even though I'm like, you know,
(38:23):
there's some teams in the NFL, I'd love to see
them get relegated.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
They need to even start over.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
And so that's where's that's my only sense of nervousness
right now, is like I do see these leagues having
a hard time challenging something like the NWSL. So if
they are always being referred to as that Developmental League.
Do we as North Americans have that fandom capacity to
(38:50):
still lean in in the same way that we would
lean into our regular best teams in leagues.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
Yeah, it's super interesting in the next few years if
they'll be at that tier of where they want to be,
where it's more of a compliment and they're working. The
schedules aren't conflicting, so they're working in tandem versus as
it's seen right now, where it's like, oh, the best
talents in the NFSL. If I have a chance to
watch a match, I'm going to watch that match. So
it'll be interesting. Maybe we'll get some friendlies between GSL
(39:19):
and NWSL teams and we can see something like that in.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
The future NSL potentially too.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
I mean Quinn moved from NWSL to NSL and is
one of the top players in the NFL. Desire Scott
move from the NWSL to the NFL to play out
her final few games before she retired. So we are
seeing some of that movement for sure, But I just
don't know if.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
It's big enough or when will it be big enough?
Is the question.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
Yeah, a lot will play out over the next few years,
because again, there are those so many North American soccer opportunities,
both men's and women, so it'll be interesting to see
how it all shakes out.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Yeah, and with that, I think that marks the end
of today's episode.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Thank y'all so much for tuning in and chatting all
things pro women's soccer with us.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
We'll be back in your feed with another edition of
our She's Not Next, She's Now series next Monday. In
the meantime, we would love for you to rate, review, subscribe,
and share this podcast with your favorite soccer friends.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Yes, and let us go to your hot takes.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
I know that we have that personal training such a
moment in our regular episode of the gist of it,
but I'd say there was a lot of hot takes
in this soccer podcast, and I don't know.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
I'm a big fan of other people's opinions and so
I'd love to learn from you all. Send them, send
them away.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
This episode was edited by Savanna Held and produced by
myself and Ellen Again.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
I'm Lauren Tuscala and I'm Ellen Hslap and we will
chat with you again next Monday. Event an.
Speaker 7 (41:38):
As English English Eminent speaking English instead Instea
What is upjisters.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Welcome to episode three of our new exciting podcast series,
She's Not Next, She's Now, where we break down the
gist of emerging women's sports and the leagues developing around them.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
We're your co hosts. I'm Ellen Hisislav.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
And I'm Lauren Tuscala, the Just Associate Managing editor. We
are soapoped to be back for episode three of this
a part series, and as you know if you listen
to the first two, each week we'll discuss a different
new and emerging women's sport and really focus on the
leagues that make up that sport, breaking down the history
of how we got to this current state, what's actually
happening right now, and kind of predicting a little bit
(00:45):
of what might come next.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, and a part of the reason why we want
us to do this. Sorry if we sound like we
are beating a drum, but we are witnessing real time
change in women's sports right now, and all of these
changes that were experiencing with mergers and acquisitions and sports
growing and leagues changing, happened honestly centuries ago or decades
(01:08):
ago on the men's sports side, and it feels like
sometimes it can be quite confusing of what is happening
altogether in this broader ecosystem that is women's sports, and
we feel like we can provide the gist and provide
more context on all this landscape shifting as it's happening.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Definitely, and I think today's episode will kind of get
at that confusion part because there's so many new leagues
cropping out that we want to get into. So if
you missed episodes one and two, though, highly recommend going
to listen to those. They dropped the last two Mondays.
Our debut episode was all about the PWHL and the
superstars in that league, so we had some Olympians on there,
Hillary Knight, Sarah Nurse, we got some great guests for
that conversation. Episode two was all about the women's volleyball
(01:49):
landscape and we dug into the various women's indoor pro
leagues that are popping up. We had even more Olympians
on that episode. We got to talk to so many Olympians,
How cool is that?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
And so many Olympic medalists. Every single person that we
talked to has won a gold medal, and if not
a gold medal, a silver medal.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
A silver Yeah. We got we only gold and silver,
only podiums here.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
That's all we want.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Otherwise, don't talk to us. You're not ready for this podcast.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
We're only pulling big people and we brought I think
it was just the in volleyball.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
It was all the Jordans, all the Jordans, Jordan Thompson,
Jordan Larsen, Jorlden Poultz, a great conversations. But if you
aren't an Olympian and you want to come on the podcast,
we do want to talk to you.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
I just want to say that all we're also talking
to executives and fans who are notably not Olympians for
the most part, but who provide really great perspectives from
that business point of view or from that passionate fan perspective.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Yes, everyone's welcome in the conversation, and we just wanted
to make one quick clarification before we get into episode three,
Honor Volleyball episode. So Steph Martin, who we talked to,
chief comms officer at League one Volleyball, she reached out
to us after she said she loved the pod. Thank you, Steph,
but she just wanted to clarify that League one Volleyball
will have a more traditional model in this upcoming year.
(03:04):
So we were talking about how we didn't love the
neutral site game and the way the travel was set up,
and it will be more traditional for twenty twenty six,
where teams will be hosting games that home and away
style that you're used to for traditional sports. So we
just wanted to clarify that at the top here too.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I love that they got that feedback from their audience
and said, you know what, no problem, we'll change it
for next year. And that's just a good startup mentality.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, you got to be responsive to what the fans want.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
So very excited to see Chackly exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
And speaking of being responsive to what the fans want,
we have to talk about the pro women's soccer landscape
because the fans are wanting soccer right now.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
And I feel like that is so so clear.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
You might be thinking, Okay, soccer doesn't sound like an
emerging sport. Why are you guys talking about this. There
is a lot that is involved with the pro women's
soccer picture. I think before we get into everything, we
are not going to be fully diving deep on the staples.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
In the women's soccer space.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
So We're not going to be diving deep on something
like the NWSL or England's Women's Super League or freudan Bundesliga.
So essentially, any of those leagues that have been around
since the twenty thirteen twenty fifteen still very new leagues
in the grand scheme of things, but we consider those staples. Instead,
we're going to focus on the leagues who are kind
(04:25):
of emerging and on their come up. And we're also
going to focus on North America as opposed to anywhere
else in the world because it is such a global game.
So really think about this episode as we are focusing
on emerging leagues in women's soccer within North America.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Yeah, it's a really important distinction because if we looked
at the entire pro women soccer landscape, we need we
need eight episodes of specifically, like, there's too much to
cover there, so we want to focus on those emerging leagues.
As you said, I think the staple leagues will be
a point of a comparison and we can kind of
measure these new and emerging leagues against where those established
leagues are. So so the emerging ones we will be
talking about today are the Gamebridge, Super League or GSL,
(05:04):
and the Northern Super League or the NSL. So those
are our acronyms that we're working with today.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
I'm so excited for this conversation because Laura and I
are going to go through a lot of things, but
we've also had the opportunity to chat with some heavy hitters,
i'd say in this space. We chatted with Gamebridge Super
League President Amanda Vandervoort, the chief of sponsorship, Strategy and
Activation at Group on thousand and one, Mike Nichols, and
Yale avroboch West and this is where the former professional
(05:32):
soccer player comes in. But she's also the current general
manager of the NWSL championship winning Gotham FC. So we
have a lot of people to chat with today and
it's going to be so much fun.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Let's get into it. Okay, let's kick off this soccer conversation.
As we mentioned at the top, we are going to
focus on those emerging women's soccer leagues that we named
and we'll break those down a little bit. So similar
to last week's volleyball episode, we just need to define
(06:04):
things at the top and get those acronyms out there.
I do want to start with some context on soccer
as a whole, because it's such a popular sport. I
know we both played growing up. It feels like the
sport that if you want your kid to be athletic,
you stick them in soccer and they run around and
chase the ball. Is that kind of how Maybe that's
just my perspective.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
That's so funny.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I do think some of the most athletic people played
soccer because there's something about the football coordination I guess
you could say, instead of the han I coordination that
does push through. And I'm yeah, soccer is my number
one sport I love. I'm obsessed with it, love playing it,
love watching it. And so I'm so excited for today's conversation,
(06:41):
I think, or.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Because it is.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
There's all of these emerging links and all of these
emerging leagues are coming up because there's so many people
who love the game and who play the game, and
the way that professional wins soccer is set up right now,
it's not capturing the opportunity completely because of how many
young girls and young boys are playing the sport.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Right and just to really spell out what's happening at
the youth level, it is the fourth most popular sport
in the US high school soccer for girls. So three
hundred and ninety three thousand, forty eight girls played high
school soccer in the US last year and that's an
increase of two point four percent from last year. So
it's growing. It's going to continue to grow. It's already popular,
but it will only continue to grow. So that's just
important if we think about the full landscape and the
(07:23):
opportunity at the youth level.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
And when I say, too, Laura web we grew up,
I feel like soccer was the number one sport that
girls played.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
It seemed like, I don't again, I don't know if
it's just because we did it, but it felt like
that's that's what you did.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
You played soccer.
Speaker 5 (07:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, I'm quite surprised actually by hearing that number.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Of fourth most popular.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
But as we're hearing from all of these other emerging sports,
girls girls are playing just a lot of sports. There's
I think the coolest thing is is that there's so
much more opportunity in sports now and there's so many
different ways to actually feel like you can continue a
path through you through college and then actually into the pros.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
And I think that's where that into the pros.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
We're really talking about today, so when we would have
grown up even for I don't want to age myself.
But I graduated from college in twenty fourteen. NWSL started
in twenty thirteen. When I had to make a decision
as to whether or not I wanted to play soccer
or actually take school seriously. I was like, I'm going
(08:25):
to take school seriously because I don't know if I'm
ever actually going to make money from soccer, versus now
not saying that soccer players don't take school seriously.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
To be clear, it's not like one or the other.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
But over the last you know, ten twenty years or so, lord,
that conversation has been so different because so many girls
across North America have been able to say, Okay, I
can actually go ahead and hopefully make the NWSL. The
NWSL is expanding rapidly, but it still is not capturing
all of the talent and all of the pro opportunity
(09:01):
in the space, and there's still a way for so
many girls to be making that decision in high school
as they're entering college to say, Okay, it's all right
if maybe I'm not going to hit the tier one NWSL,
which will kind of give some context here, but I
do see the NWSL as the top tier in women's
soccer in North America. It's okay if I'm not going
(09:23):
to make the NWSL, because there's an opportunity like the
Gabridge Super League or the Northern Super League that almost
feels even though they're not, but they almost feel like
developmental leagues or farm leagues into something like the NWSL.
So I feel like I still have a place to
land and to continue to play the game that I.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Love, definitely, and that's why we want to capture these
emerging leagues because it's so different and it's pretty recent too,
these changes. These leagues are just starting up and to
have that landscape and like you're saying, to have that
option of I could possibly do this. It's just so
different from what we grew up with. So that brings
us our leagues. We want to define Bridge super League
and Northern Super League a little bit more unpack them.
(10:03):
So we'll start with the GSL, and that is a
new acronym because it was previously known as the United
Soccer League or the USL, and they announced that naming
right sponsorship with Gambridge in April of this year, and
we're going to unpack that a little bit more. But
if you've heard USL before, you're not wrong, You're not,
it's right. It's it recently changed to the GSL.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yes, and it's been the USL since September twenty twenty
one when it was first established, and its intention was
really forming that use to pro pipeline for players within
the USL system, so somewhat similar to League One volleyball
and what.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
We talked about last week.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
There are academies that make up that USL system, and
the academy format for soccer is very much a UK
European thing that they have brought over into North America
i'd say probably.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
For twenty or so years now.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Essentially, as a young kid, you are committing to an
academy team in addition to your club team or your
high school team, and you're really being developed and brought
up throughout that system so that hopefully you can ultimately
play for that team. And it's really worked out incredibly
well in the UK, but there's kids as young as
(11:21):
like eight trying to make a man City academy team
and it's so wild. We are not there in North America.
But that's what would definitely differentiate USL here. But other
leagues are starting to get in the mix of that too.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Yeah, it seems like it's becoming more common. It's like
commonplace like as you said, over there, but it's becoming
more common in North America. And another differentiator with the
GSL that I think is really interesting is they operate
on a fall to summer schedule and that's more in
line with the international soccer landscape. That's what they're used
to for comparison to the NWSL is on that summer
to fall schedule, so it's running there's overlap, but it's
(11:55):
running essentially opposite of the end OFWSL.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yeah, I think NWSL is marched to nove so very
long in comparison.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
To the GSL.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Even with that, though, it's not really like the WNBA
and Unrivaled or Project B, which we'll get.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
To in a later episode I promised teaser.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
It's not like players are playing for the NWSL and
then going to play for the GSL. That's not really
what we're seeing, right. The players are maybe being like transferred,
but they're not necessarily playing in both leagues in the
same year.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Right, and in terms of the timeline of the launch,
So the inaugural season was in August twenty twenty four
and there were eight teams in action during that inaugural season.
The second season is underway as we record this episode,
and they are nine competing teams, so already that increase
and they're looking at even more expansion in the future.
For the twenty twenty seven season, there'll be three additional teams,
(12:49):
So expansion is definitely part of this and they're growing
pretty rapidly and.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
I love seeing the name change, honestly to Gamebridge. I
think we've been seeing that a lot in this emerging
league is ecosystem, and I think we see it a
lot in this developmental league. Ecosystem when we think about
the G League and the NBA, that's for Gatorade Baby,
and Gatorade is all over the G League, and so
you might be like, oh, this feels weird, It really doesn't.
It's a great way to monetize. So we want to
(13:15):
kick it over to Mike Nichols reminder he is the
chief of Sponsorship, Strategy and Activation at Group of thousand
and one, and really provide him the space to share
why they decided to become the naming sponsor of the
Now Gamers Super League.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
I think one we considered it, there were really sort
of three main pillars that sort of informed our decision,
And in the first one, I would say is, you know,
creating more opportunities. You know, the number of young girls,
women who were playing soccer and you know, as a
participation sport, it's just absolutely exploding. And you know, we
knew that by sponsoring this league, we'd be providing three
(13:55):
hundred more opportunities for these players, who you know, elite
college athletes where there might not be spots for them
to play professionally anywhere else. So it was it was
cool to be able to create those opportunities. But the
knock on effect of that is, you know, now that
you have these teams that have these players, it's providing
more opportunities for coaches and executives and trainers and you know,
(14:18):
people to you know, engage with the sport and grow
their careers. So obviously the the on the field opportunities
were huge, but also looking at the opportunities it might
be providing for not only female executives but male executives
to you know, have opportunities to grow their career just
provides that many more employment opportunities in the sport. I
(14:39):
would say secondarily is momentum. You know, we're we're starting
to get the excitement now. But with the you know,
the Men's World Cup being hosted here next year, followed
by the LA Olympics, the twenty twenty seven Women's World Cup,
and then likely the twenty thirty one World Cup here
again back in the US, there's so much excitement around
soccer and women's soccer in particular, given that you know,
(15:01):
three of those four events will be hosted here in
the United States. And then finally, I would say the
community aspect of it for us. You know, our name
is on there in the sort of the in lights
with as the Gamebridge Super League, but we like what
we've been able to do at the grassroots level in
terms of bringing mini pitches to underserved communities and helping
(15:25):
maybe introduce soccer to kids at like a boys and
girls clubs for example in Jacksonville who might not otherwise
have been exposed to soccer. And then you know these teams,
you know, there's you know or nine teams in the
league now and many of them are built on top
of academies that in some cases may have ten thousand
kids who are playing in these academies. So when we
(15:46):
look at sort of growing our Gamebridge brand and our business,
you know, the parents of those kids who are in
those academies, we look at as you know, hopefully future
customers and so hopefully engaging in our brand with them,
you know, sort of where they're you know, enjoying recreation
with their family, will you know, favorably if that's their
(16:07):
feelings about the Gamebridge brand.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
That's really interesting hearing him kind of say that, and
I feel like we'll get into this.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Oh my gosh, we're full of teasers today.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
But I feel like on the lacrosse side as well
as on the rugby side, there's some naming rights with
brands that are very interesting and a lot of it
does tie back to that community side of things, reaching
women and then also reaching to his point that the
parents and growing with the fandom as well.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Yeah, it was really interesting to hear his take and
the opportunity for them to invest to And as you said,
I think at first when the naming came down, I
was like, oh, this feels weird, like to have and
you're kind of tripping over your words a little, but
it doesn't come out. But then as you're saying it
is commonplace and it's it'll just become the acronym and
GSL will become that. That's what we'll say for So
it's not super strange.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
It's not super weird. So that's the GSL.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
I think the best way for us to think about
them is that they are somewhat of a challenger to
the NWSL. But I think more broadly, the way that
people see them is a professional league, but not at
the same caliber or quality as an NWSL, but still professional,
incredible talent, incredible product, and it will be really interesting
(17:25):
to see how it grows and attracts different talent and
how the talent kind of goes back and forth between leagues.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Yeah, definitely. And one more thing into conversation with Mike
he pointed this out too, is I think the NWSL
has a lot of talent from the osman's national team
Canadian women's national team.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Like those bigger.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
National teams, the GSL is taking talent from other countries.
So it's right like people that play for their national teams,
but maybe not like the top five, So it's still
that top level talent. I think that's where they're pulling
most of their players from. So as you're saying, it'll
be interesting.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
To see how it evolves in the years ahead, that's
really interesting. Again, there's just not enough space. Yeah, not
enough space.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
So and that not enough space in one way or
another brings us to the Northern Super League. So that
is the NSL and Gabord Super League is just in
the US. NSL is just in Canada. That launch in
April of this year, giving Canada its first ever domestic
pro women's soccer league. We had Diana Matheson on just
a regular episode of The Gist of It a couple
(18:23):
of weeks ago, and she is one of the co
founders behind NSL, and a big reason why she wanted
to launch the NFL in Canada in particular, is that
from a national team perspective, when you look at the
top teams, all of them have domestic leagues that are
propelling them on that international stage. And the international stage
(18:44):
is really where you're able to have an audience, drive fandom,
drive interest, and then it kind of comes back to
the domestic leagues from there, which then it becomes this
like cycle, I guess in terms of soccer fandom and interest,
and so that really inspired her to be able to
launch something where Canadian players could fully play at home.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Yeah, I remember reading about her inspiration behind it, and
I thought that was really interesting to develop it domestically
and hearing so many Canadian players to talk about the
opportunity to play at home. It was really neat when
the league was first and out to yes, just to
hear that feedback and.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Some an interesting nuance too that we should say, and
this is true across really the entire soccer ecosystem the
domestic leagues really operate with there needs to be base
amount of players that are from that specific country. So
for the NWSL, there has to be a certain amount
of players on each roster that are American. And so
(19:43):
I actually asked her, I was like, why wouldn't the
NWSL just bring a team to Toronto or Vancouver, Montreal
and essentially copy what MLS does. And that's really what
she was saying, is like, that's all well and good,
but it's still a US based league and so you're
only really setting aside those spots for the Americans. Doesn't
really benefit Canadians versus now this is the other way around,
(20:06):
where there's base roster spots for Canadians and then they're
able to bring in international talent, whether that's American or Lord.
To your point, they're kind of going a little bit
more of the GSL route and bringing an international talent.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
That's a really interesting distinction. I'm glad to everyone will
put that interview in the show notes so people can
dive back into that one too, because I think that's
a good compliment to this episode. So let's get into
the NFL inaugural season, which just wrapped up a couple
months this past month yep, November November. The inaugural season
had six teams in it, and the attention is again
(20:38):
expansion is on the minds of everybody. They're intending to
expand further into Canada. There's eyes on a seventh team
for the twenty twenty seventh season, so a little bit
slower than the GSL, but expansion is definitely in the conversation.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
And it's difficult being in Canada because of the geography
and how big it is, and the infrastructure is really
not as good as the American infrastructure. I think GSL
has been really smart with the teams and locations they've
chosen versus the NSL is truly coast to coast, which
is great for driving interest coast to coast but is
(21:11):
exceptionally difficult at the same time from a logistical perspective.
And so it's been great seeing both of these leagues
I think launch an earnest over these last couple of years,
and I think we've kind of set up well or
what the GSL is, what the NSL is. But I
feel like now it's like, Okay, well are they doing well?
What are they doing in this space? And so we'll
(21:31):
take a quick break and then talk about what the
numbers look like and how this is actually impacting the
women's soccer ecosystem. Okay, so the NFL GSL, they're entering
the chat, the Women's Soccer Chat during a period of
(21:53):
rapid growth, But similar to our volleyball episode, it does
big the question of what this crowded landscape will look
like in the years to go, how successful they've been
to date, how they compare to other leagues and operators
I think around the world too, And so we really
wanted to get into that today.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Digging into the numbers. Looking at the data, and I
think we want to use the NWSL as a comparison
as a jumping off point. Again, they're the most established,
they've been around much longer than these other leagues, but
it's a good comparison of where these leagues could get
to and kind of what they're working towards. So look
at the NWSL numbers just to kind of set the table.
This pass championship game, which just happened a couple weeks ago,
(22:34):
there were one point one eight four million viewers for
that championship game. That was on CBS, so it was
on a broadcast that was readily available, but huge viewership number.
The postseason games average five hundred and fifty thousand viewers
across again premiere broadcast channels ABC and CBS, so they're
pulling these huge viewership numbers, but it's on accessible channels.
(22:55):
And in terms of attendance, eighteen thousand people took in
the championship game. It was a sold out crowd. So
those are the marks and it's so impressive, and it's
the NIBUSEIL has these great media rights steals. It's cool
to see their numbers ticking up. But we just wanted
to kind of set that up for these emerging leagues.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
And speaking of those media rights deals, Lord, those are
in the millions and millions and millions of dollar category.
They also work with league partners like Elf, Amazon, Nike, Google,
They're working with these premier partners who are also supporting
the league and investing in the league continuing to grow.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
And the NWUSO, I think the again, they're just here
since twenty thirteen.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Like in the Grand Scheme, they are still quote unquote emerging,
but they're the best anchor that we have to compare
GSL and NSL off.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Of definitely, And to that point, there's been a lot
of progress in the last few years, like a lot
of it's very recent increases, and I just think about
all the work they did with their CBA and all
those changes are very very recent. So yeah, they're the
standard what we're working towards. But it's they're growing too.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
They're changing constantly. So let's talk about the GSL.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
The GSL, so we're pulling out some numbers for them.
They do notably have a media rights deal with Peacock,
so those games are available on Peacock. I think a
really interesting stat for the GSL. One of their teams,
Dallas Trinity FC, they set a record for the most
attended women's pro sporting event in the state of Texas.
Twenty eight hundred and thirty eight people attended one of
(24:28):
the games. So it wasn't a GSL game, it wasn't
GSL versus GSL team they were. It was a friendly match,
and that's an interesting point.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
It was at a big.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Stadium, but it's cool they got that cool attendance record.
It set some headlines and it goes to show you
how much big of a crowd they could pull in.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
I love a friendly in soccer. It's so interesting.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I feel like the friendly of it all would never
happen in any other sport and actually be exciting. But
friendlies are so commonplace on the international side, where the
international teams are simply just practicing and trying to get
in reps against each other. We see it happen with
the US women's national team all the time, the amount
(25:08):
of people that show up to watch them, and it
happens on the club side very often as well. And
this even goes from all the way at the youth levels,
like you have constant friendly and exhibition games, and I
just love that they have found a way to monetize it.
But this game in particular, two, they brought in an
international team, Club America Feminil, and that international side of
(25:31):
things in soccer right now is such a trend in
terms of bringing in men's or women's teams from Europe
over into North America and vice versa, because those European
teams really want to get in front of American audiences,
and so I think that's just like a genius way
for the soccer ecosystem to grow.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Yeah, it's a really cool draw and then be like, oh,
you can see the top European talent right here at home.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Yeah, it's totally or Mexican talent also too. We've seen
that so much with tea teams coming up from Mexico.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
So it just it makes.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Sense definitely when we look at the NSL and their
viewership numbers, more than one point one million Canadians tuned
in for the NFL Final. That's a massive number. The
average audience was one hundred and eighty five thousand, but
that one point one million is really a massive mark.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
I was, honestly, I'm going to say it, quite surprised
seeing that number, especially seeing that the NWSL hit that one.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Point one this year.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
But I think there's a lot of Canadian pride and
national pride and people really wanting to tune in and
support and be like, what the heck is going on here?
Speaker 1 (26:37):
What have people been doing?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
They also generated four point five to eight million impressions
across social media during that NFL final week, so it
feels like they made such a smart.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Push to do so.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
I think the biggest thing for me, the lord that
I am the most impressed about for the NFL is
that they have quickly become one of the longest commercial
properties in women's professional sport. Per their website, they have
approximately thirty million dollars in league wide revenue, and that
has happened in the first season.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
And when you look at the way that they've.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Raised money, they've definitely raised money and have investors and
things like that, but they're certainly relying on these brand
partnerships at the beginning to be able to prove a point,
prove a use case, and then hopefully have Jersey sales
and ticket sales and media rights deals and everything like
that support more with the funding from there. But that
to me is really remarkable because that puts them in
(27:35):
a top eight revenue place globally. And I think the
one thing too, Lord, that I'd say with the NSL,
we talked about the leagues that are staples in France
and Germany and Spain and England. What I didn't really
properly realize, and I'd be curious if you did, too, Lor,
But what I didn't properly appreciate is that there's a
(27:57):
lot of small pro domestic leagues around you up as well,
like an Ireland or a Scotland that never get actually
on the mainstream and they don't have all the top players,
so they don't get a lot of.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Interest.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
But that's what I was kind of comparing the NSL too,
is like, Okay, they're more so at that level than
at a German kind of level, but with commercial numbers
like this, they're going to extend from you know, these
Irish pro leagues that have been around for a while
that still have this ecosystem going into a staple league
very quickly.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Yeah, I didn't realize that either, and seeing these marks
and really digging into the data, it was pretty shocking
to see because I think being in America it's more
anecdotal for me and kind of seeing our team travel
the games and seeing the response from like our Canadian coworkers,
so to see the numbers like this, I was pretty
pleasantly surprised to see how much they pulled in this
first year.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
And we don't need to talk about the Canadian USD conversion.
That's fine, that's not that. But I think this is
a perfect time too.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
We have our takes, but I think we want to
give space, hold space. As we like to hold space,
we want to hold space for our esteemed guests to
share a little bit more about their thoughts on like
where the spaces is going to.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Yeah, so we'll kick it off with Mike Nichols and
he when we asked him about the next five years
for the GSL, he was really eager to see that
awareness really increase over the next few years.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
You know, I think we're just trying to find ways
to improve and grow the sort of the general awareness
of the league.
Speaker 5 (29:32):
You know.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
The obviously, like you mentioned, the NWSL has had roughly
a fifteen year head start, and so you know, they
have more sort of name recognition and have the majority
of the established name players in their League, so I
said open in five years from now, we will have
beyond sort of equal footing in terms of the recognition
that the game Bridge Superhead League has and the ultimately
(29:55):
that players. You know, the fact that the super League
Game super League is on the international schedule, I think
is going to allow us to continue to attract top
players that want to be able to go back and
play with their respective national teams. So we're you know,
I think the opportunity is incredible for where women's sports
(30:16):
is today, and we're super optimistic about the leadership of
everything that the folks of the Game Super League, under
the umbrella of all the excitement of what's happening in
the USL. I think it's just an incredible opportunity for
Gamebridge and soccer in this country.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
And then when we talked to Amanda van Dervoort, she
was really speaking about the upcoming opportunities in North America
for soccer. So she was looking at both the Men's
World Cup, which is somehow next year, I can't believe that,
and of course all the women's opportunities with the Olympics
Women's World Cup in the future. So she was looking
at all those opportunities and how the GSL will show
up at these international tournaments.
Speaker 6 (30:55):
Yeah yeah, well, I mean if we knew where the
Gamebridge Super League was going to be today five years ago,
that would have been an incredible feat of I don't know,
imagination and luck, but what I would say is the
runway ahead of us here in the United States for
soccer is a little more clear than maybe it was
five years ago.
Speaker 7 (31:15):
So next year we've got the World Cup, the Men's
World Cup here in the United States, Canada and Mexico,
which is such a cool opportunity to engage in the
sport broadly, and I think we have to embrace and
understand that women are equally a part of the sport
here in the United States, and the Men's World Cup
will equally impact fandom around women's soccer, and so embracing that.
(31:36):
Next year, of course, the Olympics in la in twenty
twenty eight, and we all know that we were the
last to win the Olympic gold medal a US women's
national team, So to see us defend that title here
on on home soil, I think it's such a cool
moment and opportunity. And then of course twenty thirty one.
The United States is the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica,
(31:58):
and Jamaica have combined for the soul bid for the
Women's World Cup here in the United States in twenty
thirty one, which hasn't been awarded yet, But like I said,
with a soul bidder, so we expect to have that
here on home soil and that runway. So five years
from now will be twenty thirty we'll just be on
the cusp of the twenty thirty one Women's World Cup.
And one of the things I think one of the
(32:21):
misconceptions that we have is that legacy starts when the
tournament's over. For me, a legacy starts now for the
Women's World Cup in twenty thirty one. So what is
the Gambridge Super League doing not only for ourselfs. I
think we could easily say we'll be in more communities,
more cities across the United States, But how are we
taking this incredible moment in time, this opportunity to really
(32:43):
drive and look ten years down the line, not just
five to ten, and say, what's the legacy that we're
building with all of these inputs for twenty thirty twenty
thirty one to be a launch pad really to even
more opportunity for women's sports, women's soccer specifically, So you know,
I think the Gamebridge Super League is set to be
(33:06):
a leader in that space. The specifics of what it
looks like looks like I think, I think it's the
moment is now to learn and optimize and adjust and
make sure that we're doing right by the players, by
the fans, and by the sport as a whole.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
And then lastly we had Yale who kind of just
summarized everything of what she's seeing in the landscape right now.
Speaker 8 (33:32):
You know, when I played an end of USL and
when I started as a general manager at Gotham, really,
if you weren't a mainstay on your national team, or
if I hadn't, I mean this sounds over simple time,
but if we hadn't heard of your name, there was
not a high likely we bet you could come into
TERBUSL and succeed.
Speaker 9 (33:51):
And that's just that's completely changed over the last you know,
especially i'd say the last three years, we're seeing I
think invest and women's soccer develop talent in a really unique.
Speaker 8 (34:03):
Way worldwide, and players are attracted to coming to play
in and to be sold but now also the.
Speaker 7 (34:08):
Game Bridge super League in the Northern Super.
Speaker 8 (34:10):
League, and there are so many top players that there
can be an exciting on field product in all of
those leagues and all those teams and player movement too,
I think is really interesting.
Speaker 10 (34:23):
But really it all comes down to the.
Speaker 8 (34:25):
Depth of talent. You know, coming out of the development
pathway in the US right now is still goes through
the college system, and coming out of college there are
now so many more opportunities than what was possible.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
When I came out of college as a player into.
Speaker 8 (34:42):
What was WPS at the time in the form of
professional league.
Speaker 10 (34:45):
So I think it's just it's fascinating as competitive opportunities
continue to grow, the investment in developing players and the
number of players who are ready to take those opportunities
is growing so significantly.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
And I know we said we want to leave space
for our Steam guests to me Ellen when we talk
about wom's soccer. You are one of our Steam guests too,
and I know you've been so deep in the space
for so long, so I'm curious for you. What's your
hot take? How do you feel about all these leagues?
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
I definitely want to put my level at a steamed
guest level, because admittedly I am that international soccer girly.
I'm so obsessed with international tournaments on both the men's
and women's side, and then I tune in when I
want to on the domestic side of things. I honestly
just find the seasons quite long and hard to stay
up to date on everything. But I think I am
(35:39):
really excited for women's soccer period across the world, across
North America. I think more opportunities for women to play
professional sports the better.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
Where I get a little bit.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Nervous is the sustainability of leagues, especially from a fandom
perspective where we are trained and conditioned. From the men's
sports side of things, you mostly be watching the top
leagues and the top talent. And what I get really
nervous about is do we find ourselves in a position
like the women's hockey landscape found itself in in that
(36:12):
there's a clear number one league and then the number
two league is kind of limping behind, and ultimately there
needs to be a merger acquisition.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
And maybe that's the plan here, or is it?
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Because soccer is just so different and it's a sport
that is so different that it's okay and it will
do well from a Tier one league versus Tier two league.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
And I think that part of the reason why soccer
could be different more.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
But also what makes me so nervous is that in
North America, across all of our pro leagues, the team
is set.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
If you're in.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
The WNBA, you are in the WNBA. If you're in
the NBA, you're in the NBA. You're not getting pushed
down to the G League. If you're in MLB or NMLB,
your team is not getting pushed down to the minor leagues.
In European soccer, there's the promotion and delegation system, So
if you are the top two within your division, you're
getting promoted into the next division. If you're the bottom two,
(37:08):
you're getting relegated. And that has serious impacts on your revenue.
It has serious impacts on the team that you could
bring in, but also it has serious impacts on fandom.
But it doesn't have serious impacts on fandom in the
same way that you would think about it because you're
almost brought up following your team regardless. You are brought
up honestly watching and playing and cheering for teams all
(37:33):
the way from the fourth division to the top division.
And if anyone has seen ted Lasso, they do it's.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
A great job explaining all of this.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
And that's kind of where things are going with that
on the like ted Lasso side of things, right. And
so I think part of that rationale of why a
tier two or tier A, Tier one and Tier two
thing could work in North America is because it has
one hundred and ten percent been successful in the UK
in Europe altogether, because that's the way that they've been
(38:02):
set up. But I wonder if with soccer, we're trying
to like force this new system or developmental system into
an audience that is so used to something that is
very basic and straightforward and no promotion or relegation, so
your loyalty doesn't really change, even though I'm like, you know,
(38:23):
there's some teams in the NFL, I'd love to see
them get relegated.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
They need to even start over.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
And so that's where's that's my only sense of nervousness
right now, is like I do see these leagues having
a hard time challenging something like the NWSL. So if
they are always being referred to as that Developmental League.
Do we as North Americans have that fandom capacity to
(38:50):
still lean in in the same way that we would
lean into our regular best teams in leagues.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
Yeah, it's super interesting in the next few years if
they'll be at that tier of where they want to be,
where it's more of a compliment and they're working. The
schedules aren't conflicting, so they're working in tandem versus as
it's seen right now, where it's like, oh, the best
talents in the NFSL. If I have a chance to
watch a match, I'm going to watch that match. So
it'll be interesting. Maybe we'll get some friendlies between GSL
(39:19):
and NWSL teams and we can see something like that in.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
The future NSL potentially too.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
I mean Quinn moved from NWSL to NSL and is
one of the top players in the NFL. Desire Scott
move from the NWSL to the NFL to play out
her final few games before she retired. So we are
seeing some of that movement for sure, But I just
don't know if.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
It's big enough or when will it be big enough?
Is the question.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
Yeah, a lot will play out over the next few years,
because again, there are those so many North American soccer opportunities,
both men's and women, so it'll be interesting to see
how it all shakes out.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Yeah, and with that, I think that marks the end
of today's episode.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Thank y'all so much for tuning in and chatting all
things pro women's soccer with us.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
We'll be back in your feed with another edition of
our She's Not Next, She's Now series next Monday. In
the meantime, we would love for you to rate, review, subscribe,
and share this podcast with your favorite soccer friends.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Yes, and let us go to your hot takes.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
I know that we have that personal training such a
moment in our regular episode of the gist of it,
but I'd say there was a lot of hot takes
in this soccer podcast, and I don't know.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
I'm a big fan of other people's opinions and so
I'd love to learn from you all. Send them, send
them away.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
This episode was edited by Savanna Held and produced by
myself and Ellen Again.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
I'm Lauren Tuscala and I'm Ellen Hslap and we will
chat with you again next Monday. Event an.
Speaker 7 (41:38):
As English English Eminent speaking English instead Instea
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