Finding & Watching NWSL Matches Shouldn’t be a Problem

Do you listen to the RE—CAP Show hosted by former U.S. Women’s National Team players Tobin Heath and Christen Press?

I started listening recently and to me, Heath and Press provide the best in-depth analysis on the USWNT and the NWSL that I’ve heard.  So go listen to their podcast if you haven’t.

In the RE—CAP Show episode #12 there was a topic - the frustration they have as fans at finding and watching NWSL matches - that left me

😖🤯🤬

Not at them, but at the current state of things that leaves two of the NWSL’s biggest fans / players sighing and accepting mediocrity.

In the same spirit of betterment that Heath and Press are using on the RE—CAP Show to advocate for better field conditions and better TV production quality of NWSL games, let’s dig in to how the NWSL should be making it so much easier to discover their matches.

The Problem

In November, the NWSL signed a new four-year media deal that guarantees the league $60M per year - a 40x increase over the $1.5M the league received in 2023.  Yay!!!

The problem: Games will be aired on a multitude of platforms and good luck keeping track of which game is on which platform on which day at what time.

The details available to us now with more coming shortly when the full 2024 regular season match schedule is released:

• Amazon Prime Video will air matches on Friday nights during the regular season plus one quarterfinal match.
• Scripps’-owned ION network will broadcast doubleheaders on Saturday nights during the regular season.
• A package of regular season matches will air on The CBS Television Network and stream live on Paramount+, with additional matches airing on CBS Sports Network.  No word yet on whether these will be appointment viewing - same day / time weekly - or scattered viewings.  Additionally, CBS will televise one quarterfinal, one semifinal and the NWSL Final.
• ESPN will also broadcast a package of games across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes with all of these matches also available on ESPN+.  Ditto the question on whether or not this will be appointment viewing.  Plus ESPN/ABC will air two quarterfinals and a semifinal during the playoffs.
• Matches not included in the above will be available as part of a direct-to-consumer package produced & packaged by the NWSL.  (Baseball fans, think MLB.TV)

Heath’s reaction on the RE—CAP Show: “This is completely unfair to any fan.  This is going to destroy me.”

Press then went on a deserved rant about the complexity of finding NWSL games via the Paramount+ App vs CBS during the 2023 season, and Heath wondered how many fans search on Google for where to watch NWSL matches.

“You know it’s a problem when players in the league can’t find their own games,” Press said with Heath chiming in a resigned “oh well” and Press concluding, “It’s going to be tough.”

Me

😖🤯🤬

Why did I react this way?

1. This shouldn’t be a problem.
2. It really sucks that fans and players (i.e. Heath & Press) feel that there is no getting around this problem when there are clear ways to address this problem.
3. Heath & Press’s conversation on their podcast highlighted how the solution to this problem isn’t even on the radar - And this blows my mind because to me, the solution is obvious and it isn't hard. Other leagues are already doing it.

The Solution

First, the NWSL needs to own this problem and solve it.  The NWSL is the authority on its broadcast schedule.  The league needs to make it not only simple, but delightful to find and watch their games.  

While media partners, search engines like Google and the NWSL’s social media accounts should all be able to answer the question of when and where to watch the league’s games, the authority needs to be the media properties the NWSL 100% owns: the NWSL App and NWSLsoccer.com.

In my next post, I’ll go into why and how the NWSL needs to quickly evolve its digital products to work harder and drive more impact.  For now, let’s dive into what needs to improve on the NWSL App and NWSLsoccer.com to help fans and players find the matches they want to watch.

Current State

The NWSL lists each and every match on its schedule page on both its website and app including where to watch each game.  The media partner’s logo links to where the game can be watched online assuming the viewer either has an active subscription to the provider or will sign up for one.

How to Get to Good

Currently the NWSL is largely relying on its fans to figure out when and where to watch its matches.  Fans have to go to NWSLsoccer.com, the NWSL App, NWSL’s social media accounts, Google, etc. to learn when and where the games will be played.  True, the NWSL and its clubs are sending out emails to fans with these details, but emails aren’t a real-time, “turn the TV on now” / “start streaming now” communication channel.

The NWSL needs to get their matches in fans' faces with a robust push notification strategy.  Fans who use the NWSL App and turn push notifications on should at minimum receive reminders of where to watch upcoming matches, notifications when games start with where to watch and in-match notifications teasing the game action and encouraging them to tune in.

How many push notifications have I received from the NWSL since downloading their app and enabling push notifications in mid-November?

0

Zilch

Nada

That’s right - Nothing for the draft, nothing for free agent signings, nothing for trade alerts.  Crickets.

(Kansas City Current, I see you ✅ - the only NWSL club who has an app and is regularly sending out push notifications for key moments and announcements.)

No league has a better push notification offense than the NBA right now.  I’m signed up for only league-wide news & alerts and I receive 20+ push notifications on many game days with the vast majority telling me where to watch.  On Christmas Day - the NBA’s biggest one-day slate of regular-season games - I received 60+ push notifications. 

That’s right, the NWSL has sent me 0 push notifications in over two months while the NBA sent me 60+ pushes on Christmas Day.

This is table stakes.  Multiple times a day I’ve got the NBA lighting up something I look at 50+ times a day - my phone.  I don’t have to go to the NBA App or NBA.com or the NBA’s social media accounts.  The NBA’s digital marketing is staring me in the face on my phone’s lock screen and in my phone’s notification center.

I downloaded the NBA's app at the same time I downloaded the NWSL app in mid-November. Without even trying, I now know many NBA storylines.  And with the NBA’s push notifications telling me where to watch, I can count on two hands the number of NBA games I’ve tuned into this season already … which is the most regular season games I’ve watched since I was a teenager and Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman were playing for the Chicago Bulls.

Again, this is just the basics for push notifications.  Going above and beyond would entail giving fans the ability to sign up for push notifications related to their favorite teams including team news, match updates and promotions & offers.  Every major men’s league (NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, MLS) offers team related push notifications.  The NWSL (plus the WNBA) would benefit from this.

How to Get to Great

To get to great, the NWSL should look to the NFL for inspiration.  Both leagues play roughly once a week and like the NWSL, the NFL has a number of media partners:

• CBS for AFC games plus playoffs
• FOX for NFC games plus playoffs
• NBC / Peacock for Sunday Night Football plus playoffs
• ESPN / ABC for Monday Night Football plus playoffs
• Amazon Prime Video for Thursday Night Football
• The NFL Network for a handful of games (internationally hosted games, Saturday games, Christmas Eve game)
• NFL+ which is the league’s subscription streaming service that offers access to local and primetime regular season and playoff games regardless of broadcast partner

How does the NFL make it easy for fans to watch their games?  Just connect your TV provider and streaming accounts in the NFL App or NFL.com's settings and simply open the NFL app or go to NFL.com to watch any game you’ve got a subscription for.  Once you have connected your accounts, there is no linking out to another platform.  The game plays right in the NFL App or on NFL.com.

Now envision a world where the NWSL has both push notifications and their matches playing right in the NWSL App.  You receive a push when your favorite team’s match is starting, you tap it, the match opens and plays in the NWSL app.  

So simple.  So seamless.  So delightful.

Can you imagine if the NWSL did this?

🤯🥳🤩

Not only would it be an amazing fan experience, it makes business sense for the NWSL to do this.  The league needs fans coming to its app and website to find and watch games so it can up-sell them by encouraging them to purchase a subscription to the yet-to-be-named direct-to-consumer package the NWSL will be providing to watch even more matches.

Why doesn't the NWSL do this?

Coming back to reality, there are prerequisites the NWSL has to address before the league can tackle either of these recommendations to make watching its matches easier via the NWSL app and NWSL.com.  What are these prerequisites?  I’ll cover them in my next post.

Update: With NWSL just announcing NWSL+, I first posted on the league's decision to offer their new streaming service for free. I'll be posting about the NWSL's digital strategy next.