The

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

(NWSL) is the top-tier

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

women's soccer Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women only. It is played at the women's professional sports, professional level in multiple c ...

league in the United States and Canada. Founded in 2013, the 2019 season, the last before

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, saw an average 7,337 spectators among the 9 teams, the highest average attendance in league history. Its overall attendance in 2019 was also its highest ever, with 792,409 total. The overall attendance record was broken in the 2022 season, the first since 2019 to be relatively unaffected by COVID-19, with a total of 1,042,063. However, the per-game record from 2019 remains intact; the league had 10 teams in 2019 but expanded to 12 for 2022. The NWSL has the highest average attendance per game among all women's professional sports leagues in the United States. NWSL attendance has grown since the league's inaugural season in 2013. The per-game average attendance of 7,337 in 2019 was a 21.8% increase over the previous record of 6,024 set in 2018. The 2019 average was a 71.8% increase over the 4,270 average in the league's inaugural 2013 season, a growth rate of 9.4% per year. The total attendance in 2019 was a 111% increase over the 375,763 total in 2013, a growth rate of 13.2% per year. Thorns, Oct

Season averages

By team

NWSL attendance vs. other leagues

vs. other North American women's professional leagues

The following table compares the NWSL regular season average attendance against the regular season average attendance for other professional women's sports leagues in North America. Notes: ''Italics'' indicate statistics for the previous season; NPF had 6 teams for its 2016 & 2017 seasons, though attendance numbers for those are not available.

vs. other North American professional soccer leagues

The following table compares the NWSL regular season average attendance against the regular season average attendance for other professional soccer leagues in North America. All attendance figures are from seasons in 2019 or earlier, the last completed seasons unaffected by COVID-19. Today, two other professional man's leagues operate in northern North America, but neither has played a complete season unaffected by COVID-19. The

National Independent Soccer Association The National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States. The league is in the third tier of American soccer and began play in 2019. NISA initially used a fall-to-spring season format with a ...

started play in 2019, but initially played a fall-to-spring season, meaning that its first season was affected by the pandemic. It now uses the same spring-to-fall season used by most other U.S. soccer leagues. MLS Next Pro began play in 2022.

vs. other worldwide women's top-division soccer leagues

The following table compares the NWSL regular season average attendance against the regular season average attendance for a selection other top-flight soccer leagues from around the world; this list is not exhaustive.

Individual game highest attendance

Regular season

* indicates part of a doubleheader with other teams
Sellout

Playoffs

* indicates "home" team in predetermined venue for championship final
Sellout

References

External links

* {{National Women's Soccer League Attendance

Women's association football records and statistics