From expansion to to broadcast rights to VAR technology, changes are coming to the NWSL.

League commissioner Jessica Berman provided updates ahead of Thursday’s draft on these and more key topics. Here’s everything NWSL fans need to know to kick off 2023.

Expansion

Two teams are expected to join the league in 2024, with one in Utah and another in one of three locations (Boston, the Bay Area or Tampa, Florida).

Berman did not have any information to share about the second location or the logistics of the new teams joining the NWSL. But she will provide more details soon, she said, likely in “weeks.”

“When we have news to share, we will,” she said. “I think what I can say is that I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunities we have in front of us. And I think when we have news to share, you will all agree that, number one, it was worth waiting for. And number two, it will be a moment where we can all really recognize that the NWSL is a business worth investing in, and will really demonstrate and validate the value that we all know these players and this league deserve.”

Salary cap

The salary cap for the upcoming season has been raised by 25% to $1.375 million, and allocation money has been upped to $600,000.

Teams also are increasing their individual investments in coaching staffs, facilities and “other areas that we know our players need and deserve in order to perform at the highest level,” Berman said. Those investments are doubling and tripling from last year, she said.

Broadcast rights

With the NWSL’s broadcast rights deals set to expire at the end of the 2023 season, Berman and the league are interested in seeing what the market can offer.

That could include re-signing with CBS or reaching deals with other networks. The three factors that could influence a deal are term, reach and dollars, Berman said.

“We have not yet made a decision about what’s the primary driver, because it will depend on the market,” she said. “And the market will tell us whether and how we should balance those three, and oftentimes competing initiatives.”

The league’s current deals — with CBS, worth $4.5 million, and with Twitch, worth more than $1 million — appear to be undervalued compared to other sports broadcast deals. For example, MLS signed a deal with Apple TV in 2022 worth $250 million per season.

Up 71% from last season's championship.

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— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) November 1, 2022

Rebranding

In addition to signing a broadcast deal and increasing salaries, the NWSL will focus in 2023 on renewing its brand and continuing to grow the league’s identity, Berman said. The NWSL will focus on investment into the league, whether that comes from sponsorship, expansion, media deals or “any other perspective.”

“Smart investment, future investment is an indication that the business is worth investing in, and that smart people have determined that it’s an area of growth,” Berman said.

VAR implementation

Video assistant referee (VAR) technology is coming to the NWSL, Berman reiterated Thursday. The league first announced in July that it would introduce VAR in 2023, and the process is already underway.

The investment has been approved by the NWSL board, Berman said, and VAR will be in place for the start of the season.

Still, it’s a challenging undertaking, as it takes extensive resources and training, Berman said. The process will take several months, and in order to properly implement VAR, at least six cameras are needed for each game.

🖥️// With @NWSL implementing video review in the 2023 season, a new cohort of video match officials are being trained to meet the demand.

Find out more >> https://t.co/hrhIM6RGKf.#PRO | #NWSL pic.twitter.com/zdLCrviXBf

— PRO (@PROreferees) November 26, 2022

U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday that the USWNT will play their last home game on July 16th in the lead-up to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

The 2024 Send-Off Match against Costa Rica will take place at Washington, DC’s Audi Field — home to both the Washington Spirit and DC United — at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 16th. The friendly rounds out a four-game Olympic run-up campaign under incoming head coach Emma Hayes’ side, with the last two set to feature the finalized 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team roster.

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Hayes will appear on the USWNT sideline for the first time this June, helming the team as they embark on a two-game series against Korea Republic hosted by Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado on June 1st followed by Allianz Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 4th. 

The team is then scheduled to meet a talented Mexico squad on July 13th at Gotham FC’s Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, where the Olympic-bound lineup will attempt to rewrite February’s shocking 2-0 loss to El Tri Femenil in the group stages of this year’s Concacaf W Gold Cup. And while clear roster favorites have emerged from both of this year’s Gold Cup and SheBelives Cup rosters, a spate of recent and recurring injuries means making it to the Olympics is still largely anyone’s game.

Broadcast and streaming channels for the USWNT's final July 16th friendly at Audi Field include TNT, truTV, Universo, Max, and Peacock.

The USA Basketball Women's National Team is still considering Caitlin Clark for a spot on the Paris Olympics squad, says selection committee chair Jennifer Rizzotti. 

On Monday, Rizzotti told the AP that the committee will be evaluating the college phenom’s Olympic prospects by keeping a close eye on her first few weeks of WNBA play with Indiana.

The move is somewhat unconventional. While Clark was invited to participate in the 14-player national team training camp held earlier this month — the last camp before Team USA’s roster drops — she was unable to attend due to it coinciding with Iowa’s trip to the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

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Judging by the immense talent spread throughout the league in what might be their most hyped season to date, competition for a piece of the Olympic pie could be fiercer than ever before.

"You always want to introduce new players into the pool whether it's for now or the future," said Rizzotti. "We stick to our principles of talent, obviously, positional fit, loyalty and experience. It's got to be a combination of an entire body of work. It's still not going to be fair to some people."

Of course, Clark isn’t the first rookie the committee has made exceptions for. Coming off an exceptional college season that saw her averaging 19.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 4 assists per game for UConn, Breanna Stewart was tapped to represent the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil less than two weeks after being drafted No. 1 overall by the Seattle Storm. Eight years prior, fellow No. 1 pick Candace Parker punched her ticket to the 2008 Games in Beijing just two weeks after making her first appearance for the L.A. Sparks.

In the lead-up to Paris’ Opening Ceremony on July 26th, USA Basketball Women’s National Team is scheduled to play a pair of exhibition games. They'll first go up against the WNBA's finest at the July 20th WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix before facing Germany in London on July 23rd.

While an official roster announcement date hasn’t yet been issued, players won’t find out if they’ve made this year’s Olympic cut until at least June 1st.

For the first time in history, three different WNBA teams have completely sold out of season ticket plans well before the league's May 14th kick-off.

Call it the Caitlin Clark effect, attribute it to this year’s tenacious rookie class, or look to the skyrocketing visibility of veteran players across the board. But no matter the cause, facts are facts: Tickets to the 2024 WNBA season are selling like never before. 

On Monday, the Dallas Wings became the third team to sell out of season ticket memberships in the league’s 27-year history. The announcement from Arlington came shortly after the Atlanta Dream issued their own season ticket sell-out statement, also on Monday, and almost seven weeks after the back-to-back WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces made headlines by becoming the first-ever WNBA team to sell out their season ticket allotment.   

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According to the Wings, season ticket memberships will fill nearly 40% of the 6,251 seats inside their home arena, College Park Center. The club also said that their overall ticket revenue has ballooned to the tune of 220% this year, spanning not just season tickets but also a 1,200% increase in single ticket sales. There’s currently a waitlist to become a Dallas season ticket holder, a status that comes with extra incentives like playoff presale access and discounts on additional single-game tickets. 

In Atlanta, season tickets aren't the only thing flying off the shelves. The Dream also announced that they broke their own record for single-game ticket sales during a recent limited presale campaign. Sunday was reportedly their most lucrative day, with five different games totally selling out Gateway Center Arena. Individual tickets for all upcoming matchups will hit the market this Thursday at 8 a.m., while a waitlist for season ticket memberships will open up next Tuesday at 10 a.m.

"Excitement around women's sports, particularly basketball, is at an all-time high and nowhere is that felt more than here in Atlanta," Dream president and COO Morgan Shaw Parker said in the team’s statement. "We’ve continued a record-setting growth trajectory over the past three years under new ownership — both on and off the court — and 2024 is shaping up to be our best season yet."

As of Tuesday, season ticket sales revenue for Caitlin Clark’s hotly anticipated Indiana Fever debut haven’t yet been announced by the club. But if these numbers are any indication — not to mention the explosive demand for Fever away games felt by teams around the country — it won’t be long before we see some scale-tipping figures coming out of Indianapolis.

25-year-old American pro golfer Nelly Korda secured her spot in LPGA history on Sunday, notching her fifth-straight title at this weekend's Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.

Ranked No. 1 in the world by Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sörenstam (2005) as just the third LPGA player to rack up five consecutive tour wins. She is also the third No. 1-ranked player to capture The Chevron Championship victory since the rankings debuted in 2006, accompanied by Lorena Ochoa and Lydia Ko.

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The Florida native shot three-under 69 in Sunday's final, besting Sweden's Maja Stark despite Stark's valiant come-from-behind attempt in the 18th. Korda finished with a four-day total of 13-under 275, celebrating her two-stroke win by cannonballing into Poppie's Pond, much to the crowd's delight. She left The Club at Carlton Woods with $1.2 million from an overall purse of $7.9 million.

It wasn't long ago that the two-time major champion's current winning streak seemed unimaginable. After maintaining her No. 1 position for 29 weeks, Korda underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from her left arm in 2022. She returned to the course not long after, but failed to win a single tournament in 2023 before seeing a surge in form during the first four months of 2024. As of today, she hasn't lost a tournament since January.

Korda will attempt a record sixth-straight win at next week's JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, where she'll vie for a cut of the $3.75 million purse.