NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman left Citi Field on Wednesday night confident she had witnessed a turning point for the 13-year-old women’s soccer league.
Gotham FC’s 1-0 Queens Classic win over the Washington Spirit drew a sold-out crowd of 42,175 fans. It marked New York City’s largest-ever women’s sporting event, as well as the NWSL’s second-largest audience behind 2026 expansion side Denver’s 63,004-strong Empower Field matchup.
For Berman, a packed MLB ballpark on a weeknight in July — during one of the sports calendar’s busiest months — said everything she needed to know about the future of the NWSL and Gotham’s impending move to neighboring Etihad Park.
“My favorite thing about tonight is that it isn’t transactional,” Berman told reporters at halftime. “It’s not a one-and-done. This is the beginning of a new relationship for this team in Queens.”
Of course, pulling off the match took coordination. The game slotted into the league’s Wednesday night ESPN block but competed with the ESPY Awards. Berman said the league office, ESPN, Gotham, and the NWSLPA worked in concert to make the 8 PM ET kickoff happen.
The turnout, she suggested, was proof the product sells itself.
“If you put it on in a place that is professional and makes people want to come, they will come and have a great time,” she said. She went on to note that more than five NWSL games have drawn 40,000+ fans over the past two years.
Queens Classic Serves as Launchpad as Gotham Nears NYC Move
Now in her fourth year at the helm, Berman framed the night as a launchpad. Gotham FC will permanently join MLS team NYCFC in Queens in 2028. And the commissioner asserts that landing in the country’s biggest city only ups the league’s profile.
“When I think about the future state of the NWSL two years from now, we’ll be in our new media rights deal,” Berman said. “We will be an 18-team league, the largest we’ve ever been by a significant margin. And to have a team competing in New York City proper, I think puts us on a map in a very different way.”
The talent keeps flowing in, too. When asked about blockbuster Gotham signing Sam Kerr’s return and USWNT captain Lindsey Heaps’s imminent Denver Summit debut, Berman linked the moves to steadfast investment.
“Anytime an elite player chooses to come and play here, it’s a testament to all of the hard work we’re doing to build the kind of environments that attract and retain top talent,” she said.
“[It’s] the literal hundreds of millions of dollars that are being invested across this league, across 18 cities, to make sure that we’re the best league in the world.”
Jessica Berman Likens NWSL Growth Trajectory to Running a Startup
With that investment comes aggressive growth. The NWSL has gone from eight founding teams in 2013 to 16 this season with two more in the works. That acceleration has raised eyebrows across the industry, as some squads experience attendance drops while others surge. Meanwhile, franchises are bought and sold at rapidly escalating valuations.
But according to Berman’s estimation, it’s right on target.
“I’ve been really fortunate to work at all of the major professional leagues while they’ve been in a growth phase,” she reflected.
“That growth has been more iterative — 5% or 10% year over year. Here, it’s really more like the launch of a startup. We’ve created something that people didn’t know could exist just a few years ago. And we’re here for it.”
The commissioner also signaled demand for more showcase events. She relayed that while converting a baseball diamond or NFL field into a soccer pitch is a tough task, it’s clearly worth it.
“I was in Denver earlier this year when they had 63,000 people in Empower. And there isn’t a single person that I’ve heard of or met who experienced that who didn’t say ‘I want more of that,’” she said. “We’re excited to continue to bring that life.”
Pressed on whether Citi Field could host more Gotham matches before 2028, Berman didn’t hesitate.
“Based on the success of this game tonight, we’d be foolish to not consider it,” she said. “It’s clear that there’s an appetite.”
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