Berman backs NWSL risk-taking after Victory+ collapse

NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman has defended the decision to partner with failed streaming service Victory+, arguing that pursuing growth requires commercial risks as the league prepares for its next round of media rights negotiations.The league moved matches away from Victory+ during the summer, securing a replacement agreement with Roku for Sunday-night fixtures while retaining other affected games on its own NWSL+ service.Speaking at the Front Office Sports ‘Tuned In’ summit, Berman said: “It happens to be one that didn’t work out the way we wanted them to.”The commissioner described the outcome as “definitely not ideal” but maintained that the league should remain willing to pursue opportunities that could expand its audience.The Victory+ agreement ended amid reports of missed rights payments, with the service subsequently ceasing operations in early September after losing several sports partners.The episode exposed the financial risk attached to emerging distribution platforms, even where free access offers a potentially attractive route to audience growth.Berman said the NWSL responded quickly once it understood the situation, prioritising a replacement platform where supporters were already consuming content.Roku had an existing relationship with the league through its NWSL Zone, which Berman said attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors each month, providing an established audience around which to build the expanded partnership.The Roku Sports Channel package includes eight exclusive Sunday-night matches during the remainder of 2026 and 25 in 2027, available free through The Roku Channel without a subscription.The agreement expires after the 2027 season alongside the league’s other national media partnerships, bringing the rights back to market within the same negotiating window.Berman said competition for the replacement package gave the NWSL an opportunity to test demand for its rights despite the relatively short period covered.The next negotiations will take place against a broader expansion in women’s sports coverage, with the 2028 Olympics and 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup falling within the period potentially covered by future agreements.Berman pointed to the WNBA’s media rights success as an indicator of the sector’s growing commercial value.She said: “When the WNBA wins, we win too.”The NWSL’s distribution strategy also creates a challenge around match discovery, with national coverage spread across Roku, Prime Video, CBS Sports and Paramount+, ESPN and Scripps-owned ION, alongside NWSL+.Berman acknowledged that fragmentation was “not a problem we created, but certainly it’s a dynamic we’re participating in.”She highlighted the potential for platforms such as Prime Video and ESPN to help supporters locate coverage carried by other providers, reducing the difficulty of navigating multiple partners.The distinction between expanding distribution and making matches easy to find will be relevant to the next rights package, with additional outlets offering reach while potentially increasing friction for regular viewers.Berman did not commit to a duration for the next agreement, leaving the league to assess the balance between longer-term certainty and retaining flexibility as the women’s sports market develops.