During the 8 p.m. Saturday window this week, there was a cavalcade of the usual college football suspects on television.
As you moved up and down the proverbial dial, there were Georgia, Ohio State, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and LSU all battling for touchdowns and eyeballs.
Tucked in among that forest of masculinity was an unusual listing, namely the championship match of the National Women’s Soccer League.
History will note that the New York/New Jersey Gotham football club won the title over the Reign team based out of Seattle 2-1.
It will also note that the match marked the end of the brilliant careers of Megan Rapinoe and Ali Krieger, two of the most decorated players in American soccer history.
But history may also note that the score and outcome of the match were insignificant to what follows.
In conjunction with the championship, the NWSL announced a new four-year media rights deal with four outlets – CBS, ESPN, Amazon and Scripps – worth $240 million.
It’s the largest media rights deal in women’s team sports history and an otherworldly increase from the $1.5 million the league was getting from CBS just last year.
As you might expect, entities are lining up to be a part of this burgeoning enterprise. The league will grow to 15 teams in the next three years, with groups in more than 12 other cities hoping to get on board.
And the league is bringing on one notable prospective owner after another, adding female titans of industry as well as athletes from basketball, tennis, gymnastics, soccer and the other football.
Now, just as every ice cream flavor or musical taste isn’t for every person, so are some sports more interesting to folks than others.
That’s my not-so-subtle way of saying that soccer is not my cup of tea. I appreciate the athleticism and grace associated with the beautiful game and applaud those who play and love it. I’m just not one of them.
That said, you can’t help but be impressed with the steady growth women’s professional sports in general, and soccer in particular, have shown in the U.S.
From the seed planted with the women’s World Cup win in 1998 to now, women’s pro soccer has come along, at times in fits and spurts, but now standing on its own as a viable option for participation, investment and viewership. Much of the credit for the NWSL’s growth must go to its commissioner, Jessica Berman, who, in just 20 months at the helm, has alternately nurtured and dragged the league firmly forward deep into the 21st century.
Berman, who came to the NWSL after stints in the NHL and the National Lacrosse League, has led the charge to clean up the league following a desultory recent history of sexual abuse and misconduct allegations.
As OL Reign defender Lauren Barnes told the Los Angeles Times, quote It’d be dumb not to invest in women’s sports unquote. Indeed, the National Women’s Soccer League has become the very smart play,
And that’s how I see it for this week. You can reach us via email with your questions and comments at Sports at Large at gmail.com. And follow me on Threads and Twitter at Sports at Large.
Until next week, for all of us here, I’m Milton Kent. Thanks for listening and enjoy the games.
