The NWSL remains on track to add two expansion teams for 2024, with the league expecting up to 10 bids by the deadline of next Friday, commissioner Jessica Berman told the Wall Street Journal.

Berman anticipates five to 10 “meaningful bids,” and a decision will be announced in early 2023, she said.

While the Sally Yates report released earlier this month, which detailed systemic abuse in the NWSL, did bring questions from potential ownership groups, “the right groups are still very much engaged,” Berman said.

“We need people around the table who are willing to face down the challenges that women face in society, and are willing to do the hard work to solve those challenges in the NWSL,” she continued.

Still, Berman cautioned that calls for current owners — such as the Red Stars’ Arnim Whisler and the Thorns’ Merritt Paulson — to sell in the wake of the Yates report are premature, as the NWSL and NWSLPA remain in the midst of their own joint investigation into misconduct in the league.

Berman has said the Yates report makes the joint investigation even more important.

“In order for this league and the players to heal, and to rebuild the foundation, credibility and trust in the league, we have to make sure that the player association in particular is comfortable and confident in the process,” Berman told ESPN last week. “And for that reason, the joint investigation is absolutely paramount to our ability to move forward because they have a seat at the table in the sort of oversight, from a process perspective, in how the joint investigation has been carried out since last November.”

Even as the NWSL continues to deal with the fallout from the Yates report, the league also is capping a season in which it has seen significant growth, an attractive prospect for potential owners.

Ahead of Saturday’s championship match between the Portland Thorns and Kansas City Current, ticket revenue is up 125% from last season. And four of the largest crowds in NWSL playoff history have all happened this month, as the four postseason matches have averaged 22,756 fans.

Viewership is increasing as well. Games on CBS drew audiences ranging from 349,000 to 461,000, and streaming audiences on Paramount+ increased 29 percent from 2021.

Sponsorship revenue, too, is soaring, up nearly 90 percent from last season. Sponsors have not pulled their dollars from the league in the wake of the Yates report, Berman said, though some individual teams have seen sponsors redirect funds after the investigation.

Berman hopes the upcoming NWSL championship will focus more on the league’s triumphs than its hardships, she told the Wall Street Journal.

Players on the Current and the Thorns are looking “to focus on their trade, which is what all of us sort of strive for in our work,” Berman said. “And that’s what I hope the championship’s about.”

The 2025 NCAA volleyball season is down to four top teams, as the Division I national championship tournament's Final Four takes the court in Kansas City on Thursday night.

No. 1 seeds Pitt and Kentucky survived a series of high-profile tournament upsets to punch their tickets to Thursday's semifinals, where No. 3 seeds Texas A&M and Wisconsin will join the Panthers and Wildcats.

"The Final Four is just so special, it is so incredible," Wisconsin head coach Kelly Sheffield said ahead of Thursday's action. "You want as many of your players that are committed, that decide to come here, you want them to experience that."

Two teams will look to make history this weekend, with Pitt and Texas A&M both in pursuit of a program-first national championship.

While the Aggies are in uncharted territory, booking their first-ever semifinals berth last weekend, the Panthers are hunting a breakthrough, hoping to claim a first-ever championship final appearance in their fifth consecutive trip to the Final Four.

As for Kentucky and Wisconsin, the Wildcats and Badgers will be looking to add a second trophy to their cases after booking their first program titles in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

How to watch the 2025 NCAA volleyball Final Four

The 2025 NCAA volleyball semifinals begin at 6:30 PM ET on Thursday, when No. 3 Texas A&M takes on No. 1 Pitt before No. 3 Wisconsin faces No. 1 Kentucky at 9 PM ET.

Both Final Four clashes will air live on ESPN.

As the 2028 LA Olympics come into focus, the FIFA Council unveiled the regional allocations for the Summer Games' first-ever 16-team women's soccer tournament this week.

According to the Council's Wednesday report, 2.5 slots will go to AFC (Asia), 2 to CAF (Africa), 3 to Concacaf (North and Central America), 2.5 to Conmebol (South America), 1 to OFC (Oceania), and 4 to UEFA (Europe), with one additional slot reserved, as always, for the host nation — the reigning Olympic gold medalist USWNT.

While the expanded competition allows for greater depth, one AFC and one Conmebol team will ostensibly have to face an inter-continental playoff to determine which region can send an additional team to the 2028 Olympics.

One the other hand, Concacaf's representation will double from 2024, growing from two to four teams given the automatic berth of the USWNT.

Similarly, after host nation France's autobid boosted UEFA'a 2024 allocation to three teams, this week's new distribution doubles the European confederation's previous non-host two-team max for the LA Games — meaning all four of the 2027 UEFA Nations League semifinalists will qualify to compete for gold in 2028.

Notably, CAF and OFC are the only confederations to not see an increase on their previous allocation from the FIFA Council.

The puck dropped on the 2025/26 PWHL Takeover Tour on Wednesday, when the No. 2 Montréal Victoire took down the No. 5 Toronto Sceptres 2-1 in an overtime shootout in front of a sold-out crowd in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Packed into Scotiabank Centre, 10,438 fans watched Team Canada and Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin score the shootout's lone goal, handing Montréal their third straight win.

"It was amazing to see the young girls and boys in the crowd wearing our jerseys, saying our names, and wanting our autographs," said Victoire head coach Kori Cheverie. "It's just extremely special."

The PWHL's 16-stop Takeover Tour is just beginning, with nine games planned for Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Washington DC, Denver, and more before the league pauses for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

"We hope that the impact is a positive one. Everywhere we go, that's the impression we want to leave — for little girls to know that they have a dream and that their dream can become a reality," said Sceptres captain and Nova Scotia product Blayre Turnbull following Wednesday's Tour stop.

Halifax marks the third-year league's fourth sold-out stop, joining fellow Canadian cities Edmonton, Québec City, and Vancouver.

How to attend the 2025/26 PWHL Takeover Tour

The PWHL will next pull into Chicago's Allstate Arena for a Takeover Tour stop on Sunday, when the No. 8 Ottawa Charge will take on the No. 6 Minnesota Frost on at 2 PM ET.

Tickets are currently available for purchase via Ticketmaster.

Months after Napheesa Collier set the WNBA ablaze with her viral exit interview criticizing league leadership, the Minnesota Lynx star said "nothing has changed" at the front office level as CBA negotiations stall.

"The conversation has been had now [and] people are seeing that changes need to be made," Collier said this week from Miami, where Unrivaled 3×3 is gearing up for its second campaign.

"I feel confident in the [union] and where we are internally with our players and the future," she continued.

In her October press conference, Collier publicly called the WNBA front office "the worst leadership in the world," putting commissioner Cathy Engelbert in the hot seat amid tense CBA negotiations with serious implications on next season's play.

The league and the WNBPA are currently sparring over revenue sharing, with diverging compensation expectations further distancing the two sides.

"Obviously, there's frustration in that both sides are trying to get what they want, but we still have that fire within us that we're willing to do what it takes," Collier said. "We're going to do whatever it takes to get what we think we deserve."

As talks drag on, Collier sees Unrivaled — the offseason 3×3 league she co-founded with New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart — as fueling the players' fight.

"Us being here in December and January until March, it's a crucial time in the CBA," Collier acknowledged.

"Having us all in one place is beneficial," she explained. "To have players congregate in that way, where you can have those in-person conversations and updates like that, that does help to get things moving more quickly."