The NWSL has selected Roku as its new media partner following its decision to terminate its agreement with Victory+. Under the deal, Roku will stream eight NWSL Sunday night matches for the remainder of the 2026 season on its free Roku Sports Channel before expanding its coverage to 25 matches in 2027.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The NWSL said Roku emerged from a competitive process, with its broad reach, accessibility and ability to make matches easier for fans to discover among the key factors behind the decision.
NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman said the level of interest in the package demonstrated the growing value of the league’s media rights. She added that Roku’s scale and ability to reach both existing supporters and new audiences made it the right partner for the league.
The first Roku broadcast will feature Seattle Reign against Houston Dash on Aug. 30. The eight-game package for the remainder of the 2026 season will conclude on Oct. 25 with San Diego Wave taking on Boston Legacy.
Roku replaces Victory+
The agreement comes less than a month after the NWSL terminated its partnership with Victory+, which had joined the league this season as its fifth national media partner.
The Athletic previously reported that unfulfilled payments from Victory+ contributed to the NWSL’s decision to end the relationship.
Victory+ had been scheduled to broadcast 57 matches in both 2026 and 2027, including 25 exclusive Sunday night games each season.
Following the termination, the NWSL temporarily moved the matches originally assigned to Victory+ to NWSL+, its free direct-to-consumer streaming platform, while searching for a new distribution partner.
Roku now gives the league a significantly larger distribution platform while maintaining the free-access model it had pursued with Victory+.
The Roku Sports Channel is available without a subscription through The Roku Channel, Roku devices and TVs, as well as Amazon Fire TV, Samsung TVs, Google TVs, mobile devices and the web. Roku says its platform reaches more than half of U.S. streaming households.
NWSL’s media rights continue to grow
The Roku agreement does not affect the NWSL’s existing national media partnerships with CBS Sports, ESPN, Prime Video and Scripps Sports’ ION.
Those agreements form part of the league’s four-year media rights cycle through the 2027 season. The original package was valued by the NWSL at approximately $60 million annually, including production costs and marketing commitments.
That represents a significant increase from the roughly $1.5 million per year the league received under its previous media agreement.
The expansion of the NWSL has also increased the league’s media inventory. After expanding to 16 teams, the regular-season schedule grew from 182 matches in 2025 to 240 matches in 2026.
Starting in 2027, Roku Sports Channel will carry an NWSL Sunday night match every week of the regular season, restoring the consistent weekly broadcast window originally planned with Victory+.
The NWSL’s negotiations with Roku were supported by global sports marketing agency IMG.