On Saturday, 1,000 lucky NJ/NY Gotham FC fans will get to see the reigning champions take on Boston Legacy FC for $5.

It is a small fee for a premium sports experience that feels almost out of place in today’s sports economy, especially for the National Women’s Soccer League, packed with global stars and nine-figure franchise valuations. The deal was part of a team promotion with the New York City government to highlight affordability issues, in sports and beyond.

It is also an example of why the NWSL is still the best deal in sports, especially when many leagues are looking to squeeze more revenue from loyal fans. However, rising valuations and interest threaten that affordability.

Across the sports landscape, especially in the women’s game, the math is changing quickly. Often called “fanflation”, the cost of being a fan is rising faster than the franchise valuations.

Another professional women’s sports league, the WNBA, is a cautionary tale.

The WNBA is, by just about every metric, a runaway success. Attendance is climbing, it recently agreed to a historic collective bargaining agreement with the players and franchise values are soaring, including the expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries, which became the first women’s team to be valued at $1 billion, according to CNBC. More expansion is on the horizon, with three new franchises expected by 2030 (combining to pay $750 million in fees to join). It’s easy to frame the league as a textbook growth story.

However, demand is outpacing supply, causing prices to climb fast. For example, the New York Liberty, in the same market as Gotham FC, is reportedly valued at $600 million and sold $2 million of tickets for a game against the Indiana Fever in May 2024. In some cases, the fans are feeling that increase in their own wallets. One Liberty season ticket holder told The Athletic she paid $600 for a Section 3 seat in 2023. By 2024, that figure had nearly doubled to just under $1,200, despite only two additional regular-season games. By 2025, as the team pushed toward another title run, her renewal quote for the 2026 season had ballooned to nearly $1,700. That’s an increase of roughly $1,100 over three seasons, a 183 percent jump.

So while the WNBA’s rise is real, and arguably overdue, it’s also creating a familiar tension: The more valuable the product becomes, the harder it is for the everyday fan to afford it.

When this article was published, the cheapest ticket available for Liberty’s home opener against the Connecticut Sun in the Barclays Center on Friday was around $50 for nosebleeds.

More than a dozen fans sitting on or near courtside tonight are wearing these bright orange shirts to protest the Liberty’s skyrocketing ticket prices for the playoffs and next season. pic.twitter.com/n95w5SPqL7

— Madeline Kenney (@madkenney) September 10, 2025

The NWSL isn’t immune to these growing pains — it’s just two decades younger. In fact, it’s entering its own growth phase.

Expansion fees have exploded, climbing from $2 million in 2022 to more than $200 million for Columbus, the latest addition. A $240 million media rights deal has reset expectations. Owners are investing heavily in infrastructure, from dedicated stadiums to state-of-the-art training facilities.

But here’s where the NWSL has diverged from the script: It hasn’t fully passed those costs onto fans in the form of higher ticket prices — at least not yet, and not uniformly. The NWSL’s argument has always been that it offers something rare in modern sports: Elite-level competition without the inflated price tag.

Average ticket prices rose from $38 in 2024 to $43 in 2025, a measured increase reflecting what league executives describe as a focus on long-term fan strategy rather than aggressive price hikes.

Gotham’s $5 ticket initiative, in partnership with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, aligns with the league’s larger premise: If soccer is supposed to be for the people, then the price of entry shouldn’t feel like a luxury tax — even if it’s a limited or special offer from time to time, like this one.

Perhaps another reason the tickets are still affordable is that the league is struggling to fill seats in some markets. On one hand, the NWSL is hitting unique attendance records: 40,091 fans filled San Francisco’s Oracle Park last August, Denver Summit FC’s opener saw over 60,000 fans in Empower Field at Mile High and Gotham is aiming to break their attendance record in July at Citi Field. All of those venues were one-off experiences outside the teams’ normal homes. Overall, there has been a dip in attendance in 2025, nearly 10 percent in comparison to the 2024 season.

Still, the early signs in 2026 suggest renewed momentum. Through the first five weeks of the 2026 season, the league is averaging 11,510 fans per regular-season match, up from 10,670 in 2025 and on pace for a fourth consecutive season averaging more than 10,000 attendees per game, the league said.

With lots of seats to fill, many NWSL fans can still find many affordable ticket options, especially compared to other major leagues. In some markets, a family of four can attend a match for less than the cost of parking at an NFL game. Take Racing Louisville’s $5.02 offering, an ode to the city’s area code 502. It is one of the most economical ticket options this year for the supporters for each home game.

Racing hasn’t seen the sort of demand that would lead to increased prices, but even the most popular teams are not squeezing fans. Instead, they are experimenting with different ticket offerings that limit sticker shock.

“Myself and everybody in my circle, we’re talking about things being unaffordable. We’re all very intentional. Accessibility is not an afterthought, it’s a requirement, and it always will be,” Kim Stone, the CEO and co-governor of Washington Spirit, told The Athletic.

The Spirit averaged more than 15,000 fans per home match at Audi Field during the 2025 NWSL regular season. For 2026, the club did not increase ticket prices in the supporter section and 70 percent of season ticket members in non-premium locations saw less than a 6 percent increase over last year. They also continued their ‘First Match on Us’ program, giving those who are looking to attend their first Spirit match two complimentary tickets. More than 1,700 tickets have been claimed this year, up 201 percent year over year, creating 860 new accounts, up 213 percent year over year.

However, Stone does not deny there will be a moment when ticket prices have to go up, but she said the key is to spread the price hike where the impact would be felt the least acutely.

“What’s changing is not that games are becoming unaffordable, but we’re offering more options,” Stone said. “As the game grows, so does our responsibility to invest in our players, but the way we do that is by building a model where stands at every level can participate. So whether that’s a $20 ticket or a premium experience, they’ll have the choice.”

Similarly, the league’s other attendance heavyweights, such as Seattle Reign, Portland Thorns and Angel City FC, also said they kept their supporter-level ticket prices the same this season. On Tuesday, Orlando Pride launched their own “First Match on Us” campaign, giving away two complimentary tickets to first-time attendees.

“Accessibility is a huge part of how we think about it, and a big driver of how our ticketing model has evolved,” Alexis Lee, Portland Thorns’ president of business operations, told The Athletic.

With fans paying closer attention to what things cost and what they’re getting for it, affordability is at the core of Portland’s ticket strategy. The Thorns diversified their offering with half-season plans, partial packages and mini-packages where fans can pick matches, all the way down to single-game tickets.

“We’ve led the league in attendance nine out of 13 seasons, and our average ticket price is still below the league average,” Lee said. “That’s not an accident; that’s the strategy working. We’re putting world-class athletes on that field, genuinely the best players in the world, and we’re doing it in a way that keeps Portland one of the most accessible pro sports experiences in the market. That combination is why people keep coming back.”

This sweet spot won’t last forever. If the NWSL continues to grow, it will eventually face the same dilemma as the WNBA — and that includes potentially higher prices that risk alienating the very audience that built the league.

“Filling seats is not about chasing the highest possible price in a hot market, it is about creating such a compelling experience and sense of belonging that fans want to keep coming back and feel good about the value they are getting,” Julie Haddon, the interim CMO of Angel City, told The Athletic. “Our goal has been to make Angel City games feel unmissable without making them unattainable.”

NWSL’s top markets seem to align with Haddon’s approach in southern California. NWSL clubs are trying to fill seats without breaking the bank.

Gotham’s $5 ticket initiative is, in many ways, a unique test case.

On one level, it’s a clever marketing play. Fill the stadium, create atmosphere, generate goodwill. On another, it’s a philosophical stance: Fandom shouldn’t be gated by income.

Mamdani’s involvement adds a political dimension, framing affordability as not just a business decision but a public good. His criticism of FIFA’s pricing — particularly ahead of the men’s World Cup, where tickets are prohibitively expensive — taps into a broader frustration among fans who feel priced out of the very sport they love.

For now, the league remains a bargain, relative to the WNBA or the larger men’s pro leagues. The real test isn’t whether the NWSL can grow — it’s whether it can grow without becoming the very thing it once disrupted.

The NWSL isn’t immune to fanflation, but now is the time for it to get ahead of the curve.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Portland Thorns, Gotham FC, Washington Spirit, Angel City, NWSL, Sports Business, Women's Soccer

2026 The Athletic Media Company

In late March, Tina Charles traveled to China to play in a best-of-five series with Henan Phoenix, a Chinese women’s basketball club looking to move into its league’s top tier. Through four games, Charles, 37, averaged 22 points and eight boards while playing 29 minutes a game. Henan won, and Charles celebrated with teammates before boarding a flight back to New York.

Through the festivities, merriment and jet lag, Charles also felt something different — a true sense of clarity.

She had gone into that decisive Game 4 knowing it could be her last basketball game she played. She put on and took off her uniform that day understanding it could be the final time she ever did that. Ultimately, it was.

After a storied career that included 14 seasons in the WNBA, two national championships at UConn, three Olympic gold medals and hundreds of games overseas, Charles’ final points came in a small gymnasium in central China.

Charles told The Athletic she has retired from professional basketball and is at peace with moving away from the hardwood.

“I’m very thankful for the career that I’ve been able to have, the experiences I was able to have,” Charles said. “I gave everything to this game, and the game gave me everything that I needed to become who I am. So now, it’s just time to apply that same standard of what I held myself to on the court to what’s next.”

Charles is considered one of the WNBA’s silent megastars, the most talented player who never won a WNBA title. She leaves as one of the preeminent — and one of the last — back-to-the-basket posts who also revolutionized her own game, expanding her range to the 3-point line after attempting just 17 3s through the first six seasons of her career.

She retires atop the WNBA leaderboard in career rebounds (4,262) and field goals made (3,364), and second in points scored (8,396). Charles, an eight-time All-Star who’s undoubtedly headed to the Hall of Fame someday, led the league in scoring twice during her career and was named the 2012 MVP. She was most recently a first-team all-league player in 2017. She was still considered a free-agent option during this offseason cycle, though the likelihood of being an immediate impact player has diminished.

Charles was the No. 1 pick in the 2010 WNBA Draft, after leading UConn to NCAA Tournament titles in 2009 and 2010 to cap undefeated seasons. In 2010, as a rookie with the Connecticut Sun, she led them in points and rebounds. She spent four seasons there before moving to the New York Liberty, her hometown team, in 2014. In 2020, New York traded Charles to the Washington Mystics, and she then journeyed to four teams during five seasons, culminating with a return to the Sun last season.

It was a new role for her, and ultimately, a clarifying season. As she did as a rookie with the Sun, she led Connecticut in scoring last season. But in 2025, her position and the space she occupied had changed.

“Playing around the younger players gave me perspective,” said Charles, who averaged 17.8 points and nine rebounds per game during her WNBA career. “They pushed me in a different way. It wasn’t just about competing, it was about adapting and learning and understanding where I fit in a new version of the game. It’s like they brought the energy, I brought the experience, and somewhere in that I was able to gain clarity. It’s just a full circle moment — you remember when you were in their shoes, when you were them, and you recognize when it’s their time to grow into the space you once held.”

The thoughts of retirement began to linger last season for Charles. She still opted to play in Athletes Unlimited this past offseason and travel to China for the series with Henan. Even in July, on an episode of Sue Bird’s podcast, Charles said, though with a laugh, that she thought about retirement “every day.”

“When you do the things that nobody sees, you’re going in to go work out, to strengthen your body and do all those little things — that started to escape me. I always showed up, but just the intention and why I’m doing it, it started to feel like work versus like what it used to,” Charles told The Athletic. “Once that started creeping in, that’s when I knew, like, all right, I’ll see if I want to give this a go this summer.”

But after that trip to China, Charles knew it was the right time to retire. Charles — who was born and raised in Queens and attended Christ the King Regional High School — will continue to live in New York while bouncing between home bases in Connecticut and Jamaica, where she feels a deep connection to her mother’s birthplace.

Charles is currently earning her master’s degree in sports management at UConn, and sees herself possibly working in a front office of the WNBA or NBA, or for a college team. This past semester, she worked as a graduate assistant for UConn athletics’ chief operating officer, learning about revenue share, name, image and likeness, scheduling and operations.

Charles has also founded and owns 78 Brewing Co., named for the Huskies’ 78-game win streak during her junior and senior seasons, joining the less than one percent of Black-owned American breweries. She will also continue her involvement with Hopey’s Heart Foundation, a non-profit she founded in 2013 that has placed more than 500 free automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in schools and communities.

“I’ve always had an entrepreneurship spirit. I’ve always had the mindset, and this chapter allows me to grow more into it,” Charles said. “I’ve never wanted to stay in one version of myself.”

Charles said she’s looking forward to this next stage of her career and life. After 20 years — between the WNBA, overseas play and UConn — of year-round basketball, she’s excited to reflect on her career and spend time with her family and friends.

The WNBA Charles leaves is far different from the one she joined in 2010. She earned a rookie salary of $45,827. The No. 1 pick this season, fellow UConn alum Azzi Fudd, will earn $500,000. The WNBA’s growth, represented by its groundbreaking collective bargaining agreement, has been significant as salaries, benefits, franchise valuations and television deals have skyrocketed. Though Charles ultimately won’t be a part of this next iteration of the league, she’s proud of the part she played in getting women’s basketball to this point.

“If I’ve done anything, I hope it’s that I made the path a little clearer and a little wider for the next generation,” Charles said. “Just having a tiny thing to do with that since entering the league in 2010 — making the league more exciting, expanding players’ minds to what they should be doing actively while playing off the court, and how to use the platform of the WNBA to elevate their beliefs and their dreams and their business aspirations; how to impact someone with just your kindness and just with your work. So, I think for me, that’s what legacy is.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

New York Liberty, Seattle Storm, Washington Mystics, Atlanta Dream, Connecticut Sun, Phoenix Mercury, Connecticut Huskies, WNBA

2026 The Athletic Media Company

Full Time Newsletter ⚽| This is The Athletic’s weekly women’s soccer newsletter. Sign up here to receive Full Time directly in your inbox.

A quick pause from soccer to say: The WNBA is back! Big things are happening in women’s basketball, which means big things are happening at The Athletic.

We have a new, free newsletter for you, with national writer Sabreena Merchant and our marquee offseason acquisition, Annie Costabile, keeping you up to date on everything women’s basketball. Run, don’t walk, because No Offseason drops every Tuesday, starting tomorrow.

I’m most excited for crossover content (pun intended!). Now for today’s Full Time! Coming up:

🙌 Boston’s first win

📅 Champions League’s epic finale set

🟥 Death and the Hall of Fame

Let’s get to it:

USWNT World Tour: Americans shining abroad

U.S. coach Emma Hayes has been on a multi-city NWSL tour recently, stopping in places including Denver, Portland and, last weekend, SoCal. However, the Americans abroad were quite busy during her most recent outing.

The premier event of the weekend was the final leg of the UEFA Women’s Champions League semifinals. Michele Kang’s OL Lyonnes showed proof of concept for the businesswoman’s savvy vision to rebuild, defeating Arsenal in a series-comeback win 3-1 (4-3 on aggregate). Elsewhere, Barcelona held off Bayern Munich to set up a fourth Champions League final between the French and Spanish clubs (more on that in a moment). For USWNT followers, the first game was of peak interest:

U.S. captain Lindsey Heaps’ last match for Lyon will be a Champions League final before she transfers to the Denver Summit. Heaps, along with Lily Yohannes, were crucial to Lyon’s win over Arsenal. Heaps nearly gave her side a goal in the first half before it was waved offside. Yohannes played 62 minutes to great effect, dominating the game in more subtle ways before making way for fellow American Korbin Shrader. On the other side of the ball, defender Emily Fox won her duels and kept Kadidiatou Diani at bay, for the most part (spare her goal in the first half).

Over in Manchester, it was yet another tale of two cities. Goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce and United were held to a point against Brighton & Hove Albion as they continue to slide out of next year’s Champions League contention. Meanwhile, on the blue side of Manchester,  Sam Coffey and City have corrected course. They beat Liverpool 1-0 this weekend. If Arsenal slip up Wednesday against Brighton, City will claim the WSL title.

Finally,  Alyssa Thompson and Chelsea defeated Leicester City 3-1, but not without controversy. Have a look at this challenge by Ashleigh Neville on Thompson and let us know at fulltime@theathletic.com if you agree with the referee’s call showing a yellow.

NWSL Notables

Boston finally breaks through

The stars finally aligned in dramatic fashion for Boston Legacy, who got their first win in franchise history at Gillette Stadium yesterday during the first expansion derby of the season. It was a statement win for Boston, who topped the Summit 3-2 thanks to two stoppage time goals.

The match, in many ways, mirrored the very different inaugural seasons that Boston and Denver have had so far. Denver enjoyed a strong start to the year, marking their first win over 2025 NWSL champions Gotham FC in March. Meanwhile, Boston has enjoyed more of a slow burn start. The team has noticeably found its rhythm in recent weeks and has been inches from its first win for the past several matches. On Sunday, the Legacy dominated possession.

Will last-place Boston carry this momentum when they face Gotham FC next weekend? We’ll see. Until then, we know the expansion side will be celebrating their first win as long as they can.

The Spirit of ‘Engine, Engine #9’

The Washington Spirit bagged nine goals and nine points in nine days against the Kansas City Current, Racing Louisville and the Orlando Pride. Another fact we couldn’t fit into a song reference: They pulled this off on the heels of an international break.

That’s three times the number of goals they scored in their first three games — and more than thrice the points earned. What’s clicking for them now? 

After months of tentative improvements, Trinity Rodman is making noticeable strides toward her best form, scoring a goal in each of the Spirit’s last three matches.

Rosemonde Kouassi and Leicy Santos have also been critical to the team’s attack, dishing out dimes and stretching back lines thin.

Eighteen-year-old Claudia Martinez also announced herself with the first (and second) goals ever scored by a Paraguayan in NWSL. Impressive.

And despite a rough transition into the role of Washington’s No. 1, Sandy MacIver looks settled in, highlighted by a saved penalty against Orlando over the weekend.

No. 1 Portland and No. 3 San Diego both have a game in hand, but the Spirit’s jump to the No. 2 spot this week is a notice to everyone else in the league.

News to Know

Champions League final features epic rivalry

When Barcelona and OL Lyonnes booked their places in the Champions League final, it came with a clear message: They sit at the top of the global game for a reason.

In Barcelona, in front of more than 60,000 fans, the three-time champions defeated Bayern Munich with authority. Alexia Putellas scored twice, with Salma Paralluelo and Ewa Pajor adding one apiece in a 5-3 aggregate win. While Putellas ran the show, the loudest moment came in the 68th minute, when Aitana Bonmatí stepped onto the pitch for the first time in five months after breaking her left fibula on international duty. The three-time Ballon d’Or winner didn’t need a goal; her return alone was enough. This will be Barcelona’s sixth Champions League final in six years. Dominance.

In Lyon, it was far tighter, with Melchie Dumornay’s presence making the difference for the French side after she missed the first leg due to injury. She assisted the winning goal on Saturday.

Circle May 23 on your calendar for a heavyweight rematch between these two giants of Europe that we haven’t seen since 2024, when Barcelona handled business 2-0.

The peak plot twist: Jonatan Giráldez and his switching sidelines. The head coach who built Barcelona’s peak is running the show at Lyon. If you’re Barcelona, that’s a problem. He knows the system, the strategy, the patterns, the players … all of it.

Michele Kang’s plan was never subtle. She lured Giráldez after Barcelona’s near-mythical 2024 run with a short stopover with the Washington Spirit (ICYMI, she owns both teams) and then brought him back to Europe with one goal: to win the Champions League.

Get the popcorn ready. This isn’t just the biggest women’s match of the year; it comes with a high-stakes, very expensive coaching subplot and the swan song for Heaps at Lyon and *possibly Putellas at Barcelona.

More news

A first in WSL: Brighton & Hove Albion Women are planning a 10,000-seat, purpose-built stadium next to their current home ground, Amex Stadium. The venue will cost around $100 million and will be ready for the 2030-31 season, giving the WSL side a permanent, family-friendly home. See renderings here.

U-turn: NWSL owners were set to vote on a fall-to-spring calendar flip last week, but the item was pulled before some even arrived. Within 24 hours, the league shelved talks until 2030. We’re still piecing together what happened. Stay tuned.

Welcome surprise: Every once in a while, FIFA does something pleasantly unexpected. Global soccer’s governing body has formally recognized Afghan Women United, a refugee team of players who fled Taliban rule, clearing them to compete internationally without federation approval, including a pathway to 2028 Olympic qualifying.

First Looks

Red jacket club: Former USWNT players Tobin Heath and Heather O’Reilly were honored this weekend with a pair of inductions into the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Heath’s speech about the “death” she experienced when retiring was moving, as was Asli Pelit’s story about who the inductees choose to help them put on the coveted red jacket during the ceremony. Emotional.

Milestone moment: Portland Thorns forward Olivia Moultrie became the youngest player to reach 100 regular-season appearances with her minutes yesterday — and the 20-year-old celebrated the milestone with a goal and fantastic assist that carried Portland to a 2-0 win over Chicago. It’s only the latest record broken by the midfielder, whose NWSL debut at 15 set off a youth movement in the league that’s still going strong.

Family affair: If you don’t remember why Alyssa Naeher has the nickname “uncle,” refresh yourself with the explanation from the U.S. goalkeeper, because this weekend she had full uncle duties. For more, see the below photo of Naeher holding Chicago Stars teammate Mallory Swanson’s daughter Josie as she meets Thorns forward Sophia Wilson’s daughter Gigi for the first time. Awww.

📫 Love Full Time? These stories can also be found on Yahoo’s women’s sports hub, in partnership with The Athletic. Also, check out our other newsletters.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

US Women's national team, NWSL, Women's Soccer, Full Time Newsletter

2026 The Athletic Media Company

The Chicago Sky have signed three-time All-Star Natasha Cloud to a one-year, $550,000 deal, sources briefed on the contract told The Athletic. The Sky also waived Hailey Van Lith, the team announced.

Cloud won a WNBA Championship with the Washington Mystics in 2019 and is a three-time All-Defensive team member, but spent much of the offseason unsigned after starting 41 games for the New York Liberty in 2025.

Van Lith, the Sky’s No. 11 pick in 2025, struggled in her rookie season, playing just 12.4 minutes and averaging 3.5 points.

This story will be updated.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Chicago Sky, WNBA, women's sports

2026 The Athletic Media Company