Relaunched Utah Royals' first NWSL season will kick off March 16, and other notes from the competition calendar

The roster building has begun, and Utah Royals FC is officially coming back. Here's what we learned about the NWSL's 2024 competition, released Thursday.

The Utah Royals are officially coming back, with roster building ongoing through free agency, trades and negotiations, and the upcoming NWSL expansion draft Dec. 15.

Now we know when the league will kick off, too.

The National Women’s Soccer League will open play in a balanced 26-match-per-team, with 190 total matches and a 25-week season that begins March 16, with games airing across ION, Amazon’s Prime Video, ESPN and CBS platforms in the first of a landmark four-year media-rights agreement.

In addition to a CBA-mandated league break July 8-14, the league will also observe an international break July 15 through Aug. 18 during the Paris 2024 Olympics. During part of the break, the NWSL will host a tournament featuring international competition and all 14 teams beginning the weekend of July 19-21.

“The 2024 season marks the start of an exciting new chapter for the NWSL and one that will set the tone for the future of our sport in the U.S. and globally,” said NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman in a statement from the league. “Women’s soccer shined on an international stage in 2023 and as attendance, viewership and investment figures continue to explode, our league has never been better positioned to capitalize on the momentum the game is experiencing. Underscored by the addition of our 13th and 14th franchises, an enhanced match calendar and, critically, groundbreaking media rights agreements that will ensure our games are readily accessible to more fans than ever before, the 2024 campaign represents a new era for the NWSL as we continue our efforts to deliver the best product in professional soccer.”

Preseason begins as early as Jan. 22 (and no later than Jan. 29) across the league, while the NWSL Challenge Cup will shift to a reformatted single contest between the previous year’s NWSL Shield winner and NWSL playoff champion (In the event the Shield and Cup winners are the same team, the Challenge Cup will feature a rematch of the prior year’s championship match).

This year’s Community Shield-style NWSL Challenge Cup will feature NWSL champion Gotham FC and NWSL Shield winner San Diego Wave FC, airing Friday, March 15 on Prime Video — the first of a weekly Friday night league showcase on the video platform that also broadcasts Thursday Night Football for the NFL available to more than 200 million people worldwide.

Each weekend will start with a standalone game Friday night on Prime Video, followed by doubleheaders every Saturday on the Scripps-owned ION network, available over-the-air in 123 million homes.

A package of regular-season matches will also air on CBS and CBS Sports Network, with each of those games — and then some — simulcast on longtime media partner Paramount+, while ESPN will also select a package of games to air across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes (with each also available on ESPN+ in both English and Spanish).

Berman called the league’s new media rights deal “the single-most important thing” that league officials have been working on during the last 18 months during the SBJ Game Changers conference led by. Sports Business Journal.

“The pre-work even predates me joining the league,” she said. “Our media deal will … be the beginning of our future. It gives me chills to say that, because it is going to be that meaningful.”

In all, each team will compete in 26 regular-season matches, split evenly home and away, before a newly expanded eight-team playoff bracket with four quarterfinals that will eliminate byes for the top-seeded teams.

The quarterfinal round will be held Nov. 9-10, with the semifinals sets for Nov. 16-17 ahead of the NWSL’s championship weekend Nov. 23 at a site to be determined later.

Prime Video will host one quarterfinal, while CBS and Paramount+ will host one quarterfinal and one semifinal and ESPN/ABC contracted to air the other two quarterfinals and semifinal contest.

The league title game will air in primetime on CBS for the third-straight season.

The NWSL draft will kick off Friday, Jan. 12 during the United Soccer Coaches convention at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. Coverage will air beginning at 6 p.m. MT on ION.

Every round will stream on ION Plus.