The NWSL’s Growth Story Is Bigger Than A 5% Attendance Dip
If you’ve seen headlines about a “dip” in NWSL attendance, you might get the impression that the league is in trouble. And while 2025 NWSL attendance is down 5% from last year’s record-breaking mark, considering only this singular stat fails to paint the full picture about the league’s attendance growth story since it held its inaugural game in 2013.
DATA DUMP
Let’s look at the data – because a picture (or in this case, a graph) is worth 1,000 words. When it comes to attendance, the long-term patterns paint a more accurate picture around where the league’s popularity stands today. Over the past decade, the NWSL’s total league attendance has grown by more than 400%, from roughly 375,000 in 2013 to nearly 1.94 million in 2025. Even with this year’s modest 5% decline, 2025 still ranks as the second-highest attended season in league history.
MAJOR MOMENTS
Additionally, while the overall league attendance took a slight dip, the 2025 season has been full of landmark moments that reinforce the league’s ability to drive ticket sales:
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🏟️ The league had its most attended regular season game ever in 2025 when 40,091 fans attended a match-up between Bay FC and the Washington Spirit at Oracle Park, breaking the previous record of 35,038 for a single NWSL match set in 2024 in Chicago.
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🦁 Recently, the North Carolina Courage drew a crowd of 11,170, setting a new record for the most-attended professional women's sports event in the history of North Carolina. The Courage also ended the season with total season attendance of 107,931 fans, setting a new franchise record for season attendance.
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🌹 The Portland Thorns led the NWSL in total regular-season attendance, with 236,263 fans making their presence known at Providence Park.
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📈 Multiple clubs – including the Washington Spirit, Bay FC, Orlando Pride, Gotham FC, and NC Courage – all posted attendance increases in 2025.
THE TAKEAWAY
A 5% decline certainly doesn’t mean the league is faltering or that the NWSL is in trouble. Rather, considering the growth over the last decade paints a far more accurate picture — the NWSL’s attendance trajectory is not defined by a single year, and the second-highest attended season in history is anything but a failure.
MEET CAROLINE FITZGERALD
Caroline Fitzgerald is a contributing writer for TOGETHXR.com and a leading expert in women’s sports business and gender equity. A Sports Business Journal "2024 Power Player in Women's Sports," she covers the forces shaping the industry’s next era of growth.
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