NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman speaks to media before a 2024 NWSL playoffs quarterfinal match. Russell Lansford
The National Women’s Soccer League’s four-person executive committee voted to give commissioner Jessica Berman a three-year contract extension, according to sources with knowledge of the negotiations.
The committee retained the vote because they were concerned it would not pass in front of the full 16-team board of governors, according to the sources, who said it was not unanimous. The deal is not yet final.
Berman’s current contract was set to end at the end of this year.
The NWSL did not immediate respond to request for comment.
Earlier this week, Sportico reported that the Houston Dash are nearing a $120 million sale to the 24-year-old Chinese tech mogul Richard Hsiao.
Last month, the league announced a mid-cycle expansion of its media-rights package — building on existing agreements with CBS Sports and ESPN while adding a new partnership with Victory+ through the 2026-27 seasons. The league also unveiled plans to host its first pair of NWSL Combines in December ahead of the 2026 season, and introduced Canon as its newest corporate partner.
When Berman accepted the job of commissioner in April 2022, it wasn’t a glamorous offer. The league was engulfed in scandal, reeling from revelations of sexual misconduct and systemic abuse across multiple teams.
Berman was the first commissioner in the league whose hiring process included player interviews, following Lisa Baird’s controversial departure the year before. Baird resigned from her post in October 2021, two months after reports from The Athletic and The Washington Post exposed years of abuse of players. Longtime soccer executive Marla Messing served as interim CEO between Baird’s departure and Berman’s arrival.
While the NWSL and the NWSL Players Associated reached their first Collective Bargaining Agreement just one month before Berman was hired, the league reached another historic milestone when it renegotiated their latest contract early. This time, the league did away with its drafts, and allowed free agency for all, setting up this year’s busy transfer window. The NWSL’s four-year media deal reached in 2023, valued at a combined $60 million per year across the league’s four partners, CBS Sports, ESPN, Prime Video and Scripps Sports, made matches more readily accessible to fans.
But the NWSL required more than a cultural repair and visibility. As the longest-running Division I professional women’s soccer league in the U.S., it also needed to grow as a business. In 2022, the league had 12 franchises and new ones were selling between $1 million to $2 million.
Berman was tasked with ensuring the NWSL’s faith did not resemble that of its predecessors, Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) and Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), which both failed financially and folded in 2003 and 2012, respectively.
The current NWSL season has seen the commissioner’s public perception take a noticeable plunge in relation to player safety. In May, Angel City’s Savy King collapsed on the pitch, and the league’s decision to continue the match yielded fierce backlash.
Then, in August, most notably, Berman threatened to fine the Kansas City Current for postponing a match for 3.5 hours during extreme heat. The game missed its national CBS broadcast window.
In September, Racing Louisville midfielder Savannah DeMelo — who was diagnosed earlier in the year with Graves’ disease and hyperthyroidism — collapsed during a match and was rushed to the hospital.
This time, the game was halted and rescheduled, a sharp contrast to the league’s handling of King’s earlier incident. Berman later told reporters that the decision to stop play was hers.
The three year extension would see Berman oversee the league through the 2026 men’s World Cup, which the league will pause during the group stage before picking back up during the knockouts, and the 2027 women’s World Cup in Brazil. Her final year would coincide with the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
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