ATLANTA—Coming off last year's inaugural season of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) on ION, Scripps Sports has unveiled production plans and a new studio team for the network's 2025 season coverage, which kicks off March 15.
The NWSL on ION showcases top matches from across the league every Saturday night of the regular season. In the upcoming season the NWSL on ION studio shows—the first-ever weekly studio shows dedicated to the NWSL by any broadcast network—will feature Seb Salazar and Kylen Mills as co-hosts.
Salazar adds ION duties to his work with ESPN, where he regularly appears on ESPN FC, the company's signature soccer program. He has also co-hosted the popular biweekly Fútbol Americas show on ESPN+.
Mills, a former college soccer standout, is an Emmy-nominated sports broadcaster with a resume of on-air work across Fox Sports, NBC Sports, The Big Ten Network and Pac-12 Networks.
"Seb Salazar is an exceptional talent in soccer reporting, bringing a wealth of experience and deep-rooted passion for the game," said Brian Lawlor, president, Scripps Sports. "His work on ESPN and his insightful commentary on Fútbol Americas have made him a trusted voice and a household name among soccer fans. Kylen Mills is a distinguished sportscaster whose extensive on-air analyst experience and deep understanding of soccer from her own time on the pitch make her an invaluable addition to our team. We are delighted to have Seb and Kylen at the helm of our NWSL on ION studio show this season and eagerly anticipate the outstanding coverage and analysis they will bring to viewers."
The Scripps Sports production team is led by Quinn Pacini, vice president of broadcast operations. Nicole Denne, a veteran producer, serves as executive producer for the NWSL on ION's studio content. This year, Taylor Quellman joins as studio show producer. Quellman has been serving as the pre- and post-game producer for Scripps Sports' coverage of Vegas Golden Knights hockey, as well as holding the same role for the San Diego Padres.
Scripps Sports and the NWSL will again co-produce the Saturday night doubleheaders, with two distinct NWSL on ION match broadcast teams – both of which are returning for the network's second season. The team for match one features JP Dellacamera on play-by-play with former U.S. Women's National Team goalkeeper Jill Loyden as analyst. For match two, Maura Sheridan will take the mic for play-by-play duties while former NWSL player Jordan Angeli will serve as analyst.
"In our first season of coverage, ION quickly became a popular home for the NWSL," said Pacini. "We are picking up where we left off with a robust and experienced broadcast team, and we look forward to another great season for NWSL fans across the country."
The NWSL on ION will feature 50 matches across 25 weeks of its Saturday night doubleheaders. The first doubleheader of the season is set for March 15, with 2024 rookie sensation Ally Sentnor and the Utah Royals FC hosting Zambian standout Racheal Kundananji and Bay FC (7:30 p.m. ET), followed by USWNT veteran Rose Lavelle and Gotham FC traveling to Seattle to face former teammate and the NWSL's all-time leading scorer Reign FC forward Lynn (Williams) Biyendolo (10 p.m. ET).
In the run-up to the second season, Scripps also released some viewing figures for the first season on ION:
- In addition to reaching more than 20.5 million total unique viewers, NWSL on ION reached 13.5 million viewers unique to ION.
- ION delivered the largest female percentage audience of any network (57% of the P25-54 audience, 55% of the P2+ audience).
- 50% of all NWSL viewers watched matches on ION, the highest percentage of all linear broadcast partners.
- Matches drew an average audience of 145,000 P2+ per game with a high of 234,000 on July 6 for the Orlando-Kansas City match.
- NWSL matches on ION delivered more than 3.6 million hours of viewing across free ad-supported television (FAST) channels, including Roku, Samsung TV, LG, Vizio, Dumo, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Channels, Pluto, CW and Tablo.
