Yesterday, Gotham FC hosted the Washington Spirit at Citi Field in Queens, NY, marking the first NWSL game at the venue, which is more accessible for many New Yorkers. The game sold over 40K tickets, beating the club’s single-game attendance record and NYC’s record for a women’s sports event. Let’s look at the marketing that helped this game stand out.

Last month, retired women’s soccer stars and lifelong friends Julie Ertz and Kealia Watt launched their Style of Play podcast in what seems like a perfect moment. Not only is this undoubtedly the “summer of soccer” on U.S. soil, but everyone seems to be thinking about how to build momentum ahead of the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The NWSL’s Gotham FC made a huge announcement this week: In 2028, the team will move from New Jersey’s Sports Illustrated Stadium to Etihad Park, the massive, all-electric stadium being built in Flushing, Queens.

It’s a rare and special moment when soccer is the mainstream sport in North America, one American soccer (specifically, the NWSL) wants to sustain after the crowds head home. In May, the women’s soccer league announced its Summer of Soccer initiative to capitalize on WC fervor. In June, we spoke to NWSL CMO Rachel Epstein about why the league has “locked arms” with FIFA and how the tourney can be an entry point for sustained footy fandom.

The men’s FIFA World Cup is right around the corner, and the U.S. is hosting the global soccer tournament (alongside Canada and Mexico) for the first time in 32 years. A lot has changed since then — for starters, the sport’s fanbase is more diverse than ever, especially in younger demographics. Let’s explore soccer’s changing audience and how this tourney is an unbeatable opportunity for brands to reach and engage diverse audiences.

In March, we interviewed Courage COO Ralph Vuono about winning fans in an atomized regional culture, and how the club plans to further energize Courage Country — and prospective sponsors.

FIFA men’s World Cup tickets are expensive: Fans know it, Gotham FC knows it, and NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani knows it. So in an initiative to make local soccer more affordable, the NWSL club teamed up with Mamdani to sell 1K tickets for its May 9th home game for $5 each, and they sold out in under an hour — and Gotham’s working to offer another 500 more at this price.

On Tuesday, the NWSL awarded its 18th franchise to Columbus, Ohio for a record $205M expansion fee, up from Atlanta’s $165M fee in 2025. NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman cited the region’s affinity for soccer as a key factor, but so was the money the ownership group put down: $300M between the expansion fee and a new bespoke training facility.

On Monday, Mesirow Capital Markets — an independent, employee-owned financial services firm — arranged a $40M private placement (or private bond financing plan) for Denver Summit FC, the Denver-based NWSL expansion club set to break attendance records at its home opener this weekend.