Los Angeles – National Football Commissioner League Jessica Berman said on Friday that she thinks the league can grow as a size of NFL, which has 32 teams.
“We have very ambitious plans for expansion,” Berman said on the stage at Shebelieves Shebelieves Summit.
“Our advice believes that we can be the size of the NFL, there is nothing that does not stand in the way to do it, except that we have access to the best talent. Certainly there is no problem with a van, given the size of our country and the level of talent that exists, we only have to develop them strategically and deliberately.”
Berman previously said in January that she had seen “no reason” why Ns In the end he could not become a 30-team league. There are currently 14 teams in the league, while teams from Boston and Denver were ready to start playing in 2026 to bring 16 teams to the league.
In a separate interview with ESPN, Berman said on Friday that her vision was “a product of the size of our country and how many cities we believe could support the successful NWSL team”.
The League now does not actively operate the process of expansion, but “continues active interviews with participating groups”, ESPN said. Berman said there was no timeline for the next round of expansion over 16 teams.
Boston was Approved to enter the league in 2023 For a fee for expansion of $ 53 million. Denver was Officially announced in January For an expansion fee of $ 110 million. They will be the first expansion teams to join the NWSL from the league New Agreement on Collective Negotiation He eliminated all proposals, including enlargement concepts.
Several NWSL resources from technical employees to team owners expressed ESPN concerns about too quickly expanding NWSL. Only one of the 14 general managers Inquisted anonymously ESPN Last year he felt that 30 teams were a big number for the league. Nine out of 14 felt that the league should stick to 24 or fewer teams.
The concerns expressed by the various league sources include thinning from the available Fund of Players, as well as available coaches and support for technical employees.
Berman said ESPN on Friday that he thinks that the depth of the players’ pool “is the right question to ask:“ But it does not consider it concerns.
“The reason why I think it should not increase to the level of fear is that there is no country in the world that has access to the number, the mere volume of the real and potential players we have in this country,” Berman said.
“The challenge and opportunity we have, which must be part of the strategy of future expansion, is how we cultivate this fund of players in a wider base than it was historically because it was not needed – because the league was 10 teams.”
