We’re only a few weeks away from the Pride’s home opener on April 22nd, and everyone is buzzing with excitement.
Amongst the most excited is the NWSL’s newest partner, Lifetime TV network. Amongst other things, Lifetime will be airing a weekly match on their station. Their promotion of the league and the game has helped bolster everyone’s excitement for opening day.
“It’s amazing,” Jasmyne Spencer said after training this week. “I feel like we’re lucky to have our own TV contract with a network that supports us on and off the field as female athletes. And their hype is kind of feeding right into our hype, and it’s just gonna be an amazing season.”
The Pride are aiming to fill Orlando City Stadium for their opening day, bringing back the #FillTheBowl campaign that the MLS team used their first two years to sell-out Camping World Stadium. With the blend of new faces and familiar veterans taking to the pitch, the girls are sure to put on quite the show against the Washington Spirit, who traveled to the NWSL Championship last year. The match will be one of the seven Orlando Pride matches aired on Lifetime throughout the season.
The television contract and partnership provides some stability to the NWSL heading into it’s fifth year, which helps put the players at ease. Many Orlando Pride players remember playing in other women’s soccer leagues that folded, but the NWSL isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.
“Me and a handful of the girls were in that period where we got drafted into the WPS and then it folded,” Spencer said. “So, to be able to play professionally in general is amazing for us and to see how much it's grown in such a short period of time is incredible.”
Spencer smiled. “We hope it’s here for decades to come.”
