Reflecting the growth of the league, the NWSL recently more than doubled the size of its headquarters as it now calls the eighth floor of the Fred F. French Building in midtown Manhattan home.
In January, the league moved from Madison Avenue into the 21,000-square-foot space, which was designed in collaboration with N.Y.-based Sydness Architects.
By June, the office will be the base for the NWSL’s around 100 employees on a Tuesday-Thursday in-office hybrid schedule, said Lauren Lopez, NWSL executive vice president and chief people and community engagement officer.
“We really started to think about, how do we continue to grow this cohesive culture as we are growing at such a quick clip?” Lopez told Sports Business Journal. “That’s where the real push [began] to start looking at a larger space, something that could really be an HQ and start bringing people to New York.”
Among the office’s features and amenities are a large conference room; fitness center with Peloton, treadmill, Lululemon Mirror, free weights and a shower room; content studio for podcasts, press interviews and photo shoots; art room; dedicated quiet spaces and sitting rooms; lounge space featuring a modern kitchen and café; and a turf-carpeted corner with bleacher seating and television screens (which the NWSL will use for events, content screenings and as a place for its operations team to review match footage).
As an added personal touch, the fitness center includes an Alex Morgan quote on the wall — “Play, work, and practice every day like somebody is watching, or else you are not benefiting yourself in any way” — signed by the former NWSL and U.S. women’s national team superstar herself.
“What really sold us here was, it was a white, blank space,” Lopez said. “We built something that is really for the staff.”
