NBC to televise 50 Women’s Super League matches in United States this season

For years it’s been practically impossible to watch English women’s football on your television in the United States. However, interest in the WSL has skyrocketed since the 2018 World Cup, which saw the USA win the competition and England make the semifinals. Now, NBC has officially announced a new deal that will see 50 WSL league matches televised on the NBC family of networks this coming season and the NBC Sports app, starting this weekend.

This is great news for woso fans and it makes a ton of sense for NBC, considering the American football stars who have hopped across the pond this season on loan. Thanks to the coronavirus, the NWSL season is in flux, and big-time women’s soccer players have signed temporary loans (that could become permanent) with WSL clubs. USWNT stars Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle both signed with Manchester City this summer, and it’s likely that more American players will sign with other WSL clubs.

The opening weekend matches televised by NBC includes Saturday’s match between Manchester City and Aston Villa at 9:00 a.m. ET, and Sunday’s match between Manchester United vs. Chelsea at 9:30 a.m. ET.

This is a Tottenham Hotspur blog, and as exciting as last season’s seventh place finish in Spurs’ debut season has been, we should be realistic about what that means in terms of the NBC television deal. The reality is that the top four clubs in the WSL — Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United — are still miles better than the rest of the league. That means that American television coverage is going to be focusing on the best teams, and also the teams that feature prominent American players. Spurs are probably going to be televised less than the Big Four this season in the USA, unless they were somehow to land some American players on loan. Currently Spurs have secured the loan signings of Australian defender Alana Kennedy and Canadian utility midfielder Shelina Zadorsky, both from Orlando Pride, for the first half of the season.

However, we should probably expect to see Spurs, with NBC’s coverage, at some point and probably several times over the course of the season. That’s pretty cool. In addition, all WSL matches will again be streamed for free worldwide via the FA Player, the Football Association’s official streaming platform.