AAs a player, Ali Krieger came into NWSL Decision Day focused on one outcome. She captained Gotham FC in 2023, the first time the league played all of the final matches of the regular season simultaneously. The job, she recalls, was to not worry about other games going on.
Three years later, Krieger spent Decision Day with his eyes set on not one match but eight. For the first time, all final matches of the NWSL season were broadcast on the same network. Krieger, now a senior analyst for ESPN, and host Kelsey Riggs Cuff anchored coverage from Bristol headquarters with a show that was part whip, part watch and ultimately entirely new to the 14-year-old league.
There was no shortage of intrigue. With 16 teams in action, the number of simultaneous kickoffs was the most in league history. San Diego and Gotham were fighting for the Shield; four teams were playing for home advantage; three were vying for the final playoff spots. The league simulated Sunday’s games 50,000 times and found more than 200 possibilities for the playoffs, with 6,561 ways the results could change.
How do you prepare for the way the story do rotation? The network has deployed more than 60 cameras and more than 150 employees in the United States, plus around 20 in Bristol. Cuff and Krieger met with researchers, reviewed matches and put together a 12-page Google document of notes.
“You know it’s going to be chaos. You look at the mood of the breaking news,” Cuff said in the green room, about an hour before the games started. “And then sit back and enjoy it, because it’s the biggest day we have on the calendar right now, with so much on the line from top to bottom.”
Gotham’s home game against Utah first headlined ESPN’s main channel, with the other seven on the streaming service ESPN+ and Krieger and Cuff’s in-studio show on ESPN2. This wasn’t the first time ESPN produced a whiparound-style soccer show — the network did it for the Bundesliga and the U.S. Open Cup — but it was the first for the NWSL.
“It’s like a new canvas,” said Manuel de la Fe, vice president of production at ESPN. “We’re going to paint and we’re going to see how it comes out. »
A mantra for live television is to expect the unexpected, and the hosts quickly learned Sunday that the unexpected includes surprises in women’s college volleyball. A five-set Tennessee-Missouri match meant that the start of the Gotham match was pushed back to the ESPN2 slot, and the studio broadcast didn’t actually begin until about 25 minutes after the games began.
By the time it kicked into high gear, there was a lot to talk about. San Diego, second and facing Bay FC in San Jose, scored the first goal of the day in the ninth minute; Gotham scored in its own game seconds later.
For those who prefer their shows to have the roller coaster pace of NFL RedZone, this wasn’t exactly that. Earlier Sunday, Krieger mentioned Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird’s women’s basketball games as inspiration for this show, and she brought in special guests Manningcast-style.
Although the interviews sometimes pushed the game action itself off-screen, they also provided some of the highlights of the day. Senior reporter Jeff Kassouf added a look at the changing table. Olivia Moultrie, who is recovering from an ACL injury, reacted live as her Portland Thorns scored their first goal. Megan Rapinoe called from a suite at Lumen Field in Seattle. (“I’m not in the closet, but I’m in the bathroom,” Rapinoe joked.)
There were still some problems. During the Portland game, the feed cut out as Sophia Wilson was on the verge of a penalty, switching to an interview with Heather O’Reilly and a feed of the North Carolina game. Some viewers online have talked about audio sync issues in some games.
But after just six first-half goals in the eight games, the second half saw more action. Angel City scored three goals on Boston Legacy; Washington scored as their game played out in a three-box display. The show popped up during the Seattle match and captured Reign’s goal, vital to their playoff hopes. A poignant moment came 14 minutes later, when Jess Fishlock subbed in and a national audience witnessed the farewell of an NWSL icon.
“When you’re in there, there’s so much pressure to be able to perform and apply everything you’ve worked for,” said Krieger, who, like Fishlock, played the final minutes of his regular-season career on a make-or-break day. “There is a different fire that is awakened in players when there is something to fight for more than just a victory.”
It’s been a mixed time for the NWSL’s media deal, which was valued at $60 million per season when it signed in 2023 and will run through 2027. The league had to drop a partner, Victory+, due to missed payments from the streamer, and the fragmented roster forces viewers to pay for many platforms. But there has also been marked growth. Across the four Sunday broadcasts of women’s sports on ESPN, football games averaged 255,000 viewers, up 106% from last year’s regular season average. NWSL viewership is up on all three of ESPN’s linear platforms.
Of the possible scenarios, the one that unfolded wasn’t the most dramatic, but the conclusion was satisfying. Gotham became the winner of the Shield for the first time; Kansas City and Washington secured their quarterfinals at home; Seattle clinched the final playoff spot; and Utah got theirs for the first time in club history.
Gotham’s Shield elevator, set against the backdrop of fireworks and their home fans at Sports Illustrated Stadium, made for a fitting closing visual. (If San Diego had skipped Gotham to win, they would have received medals in San Jose and then the sterling silver trophy next week.)
The ESPN team signed off, posed for a few photos, then got to work on the next mission: preparing plans for the playoffs, which begin Friday.
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