Carolyn Tisch Blodgett remembers a time when the women’s professional soccer landscape in the United States was barren.

“I grew up in sports, and I spent my life in and around sports, but I sort of assumed that being in sports meant men’s sports,” Tisch Blodgett recalled while speaking to South Ward Central at Tuesday’s announcement for the Queens Classic.

“My grandfather became co-owner of the New York Giants in 1991 when I was six years old. I literally didn’t know that women’s sports existed. It was never something that I could dream about. It was never something that was in my decision set. It didn’t exist.”

NWSL Growth Has Been Built on Lessons From the Past

Though Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, Brandi Chastain and the rest of the United States women’s national team World Cup-winning “99ers” had planted the seeds for a women’s soccer boom, a sustainable top-tier professional league requires a fertile ecosystem that stretches far beyond the pitch to grow.

The NWSL’s predecessors, the WUSA (2000-03) and WPS (2009-12), each launched and folded within a span of three years. Now, in its 14th season, the NWSL has avoided a similar fate thanks to careful planning and increasing fan interest.

As governor of Gotham FC and the first chair of the NWSL’s executive committee, Tisch Blodgett is playing an active role in partnerships, media rights and a story-driven focus that has seen the NWSL blossom from a stable league into a thriving one.

Expansion and Investment Fueling the League’s Rise

With expansion sides Boston Legacy FC and Denver Summit FC playing in their inaugural seasons and an Atlanta-based club set to become the league’s 17th team in 2028, the NWSL is on a secure financial footing.

More teams spread across the league from coast to coast means more opportunities for fans to sample a taste of the exciting on-field action and get hooked on women’s soccer.

“Soccer is the highest sport in terms of youth participation,” Tisch Blodgett said. “Typically, then young families they go watch their child’s soccer game on the weekend, and they don’t really have a local team to root for. This is an opportunity to bring that product home, bring that to them. They can take that grassroots experience that they’ve had with their kids and experience an elite version of it.”

Why Live Matches Are Key to Capturing New Fans

Tisch Blodgett knows that when first-time fans attend NWSL matches, they often become dedicated followers of Gotham and the league as a whole, especially when given the opportunity to witness stars like Rose Lavelle and Esther González of Gotham FC and Trinity Rodman and Leicy Santos of Washington up close.

The upcoming July 15 Queens classic will feature last year’s NWSL championship finalists, Gotham and Washington, under the bright stadium lights of Citi Field.

“There’s nothing more powerful than being able to experience the product live,” Tisch Blodgett stated. “So for people that may have heard of Gotham and seen us on TV and don’t know what Gotham is to be to come out, experience the product live, our hope, our dream is that really converts people into lifelong fans.”

Several decades ago, there wasn’t a Gotham FC or an NWSL, but ten years from now, there will be a rich history of NWSL rivalries, classic matches and signature moments that will feel nostalgic to both present-day fans and the next generation.

“When I look at my daughter having a similar trajectory, she watched her mother come in and become a Gotham owner when she was eight,” Tisch Blodgett said. “Now, there’s no difference to her. She doesn’t think differently about going to a Gotham game than she thinks about going to a Giants game.

“What we are creating is for the next generation. We’re creating a group of models that young girls and boys can look up to and dream to want to be one day.”

What was once unimaginable is now happening. Women’s soccer is taking the center stage.

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