NSL Creates Opportunities for Players & Partners
In November 2022, Diana Matheson appeared on the SponsorshipX Montreal stage and shared her vision at the time, Project 8, to establish a professional women’s soccer league in Canada.
Diana Matheson is Chief Growth Officer of the Northern Super League (NSL). She also serves as a co-founder of the NSL.
This week, freshly branded as the Northern Super League, this vision will finally be realized with games in Vancouver and Toronto to kickstart a seventy-five-game regular season schedule. Those matches will establish the second of the three women’s professional leagues joining the sports landscape in Canada, following the PWHL and its three Canadian teams, along with the Toronto Tempo of the WNBA coming in 2026. Needless to say, the addition of professional soccer to the mix is not only essential and timely but also a unique opportunity and responsibility for all the corporate partners.
Joining the NSL on the pitch is an incredible lineup of star sponsorship partners, including BMO, Canadian Tire, Coca—Cola, Door Dash, Intac, SportChek, Toyota, WestJet, and Westland Insurance. These organizations should be applauded for stepping up to ensure this league has two legs to stand on, and they should also be encouraged to do more than copy the playbook from men’s professional sports in their activation and amplification.
Matheson talks of the NSL as a creator of opportunity, and that word provides the North Star that every corporate partner and supporter should follow. They each have the unique opportunity to do something extraordinary in bringing this occasion to life. The NSL is not only the new shiny object of 2024, but it can also challenge inequity at multiple levels in this country.
Northern Super League president Christina Litz, left, Calgary Wild FC player Farkhunda Muhtaj and Wild FC CEO Lara Murphy show the Wild's home jersey, in Calgary, Alta., Thursday, March 20, 2025. Wild FC will visit the Vancouver Rise on April 16 to launch the Canadian women's pro soccer league. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Donna Spencer
Let me share two simple statistics with you.
Firstly, did you know that only three of Canada's Top 100 paid CEOs were women? Of the 97 men, five were named “Scott. “That means there are more “Scott’s” in the Top 100 than all the women combined!
Guess what? There were also four “Michael’s.”
As the NSL teams take the pitch and their attacking players set their sights on putting the ball in the goal, I hope that all of their leagues' corporate partners take aim at that Top 100 list. As the three women become four, then five, then eleven, and more, those partners will someday know they have leveraged their investment correctly.
The second statistic is this: Nielsen has forecasted that by 2028, women will control 75% of discretionary household spending. That is partially due to the fact that globally, women’s incomes are increasing faster than men's, as is their rate of higher education, and numerous other factors. What that means is that by attacking the Top 100 CEO list, the NSL corporate partners will not only impact society but also impact their bottom lines.
A scoreboard of 97-3 doesn’t look great for any team in any sport or business. For the NSL partners getting ready for the league kickoff, yes, your action today is vital, but that score is the long-term metric they should monitor the most.
Diana’s vision and SponsorshipX will reunite almost three years to the day. The NSL will be the Host Partner of the SponsorshipX Changemaker Summit, which will run in November 2025 alongside the league Final in a location yet to be announced. The Changemaker theme reflects Diana and all the partners at the league and team levels who will have made this dream come true.
