The NWSL arrives in Evanston, what does this mean for Northwestern soccer?

Soccer is more than back on the lakefront, and now we can say it hasn’t just been Wildcat soccer. On a sunny Sunday afternoon last weekend, light blue banners with the Chicago Stars Football Club logo hung from the stands and fans waved Chicago flags throughout the match. In the foreground a marching band blasted fight songs to the tune of chants calling for “One more!” after every goal.

On Sept. 7 the Evanston community welcomed Chicago’s National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team Chicago Stars FC in their “Lakefront Faceoff” against the Orlando Pride. The match took place at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium, and the Stars took home a 5-2 win in the presence of 10,127 attendees, setting a season attendance record.

According to a press release from mid-May, the match is a part of the Stars’ commitment to strengthen partnerships and create connections with local communities. Surrounding the field were myriad community activities, from lawn games and food trucks to giveaways.

“Beyond the joy of the event itself, I believe that the world-class athletes and conversations around women’s sports and leadership will help inspire a new generation of leaders in our community,” Evanston Mayor Daniel Bliss said in the team’s press release.

This one-of-a-kind match served as an opening act to what the 2026 NWSL season will look like for the Stars. On Sept. 3 the team announced it will move to Evanston to play its home games of the season at Martin Stadium beginning mid-March.

With the team’s 10-year lease at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois set to expire by the end of the year, the Stars had been looking for a new home, at least for the upcoming season. The Wildcats’ facility was a main attention grabber.

“What began as a temporary lakefront home for Northwestern football has quickly become a unique venue that has welcomed collegiate, professional and international competition — and the responses from athletes and fans has been tremendous,” said Director of Athletics Mark Jackson, according to the announcement.

As the game attracted local fans of both teams and of women’s soccer in general, the long-term effect makes us think about the Wildcats.

How can this hype help to increase excitement around Northwestern soccer? How can we transform soccer culture on campus?

Crowd Success in Numbers

Northwestern’s soccer programs have had their ups and downs in the past few seasons. Men’s soccer continues to attempt to recover its 2023 form and women’s soccer has a promising cohort of future leaders among first and second-year players. But attendance continues to noticeably lack when the Wildcats play at home.

Compared to other Northwestern sports with little accessible seating for fans, like baseball and softball, Northwestern soccer has an extended field since last season, more reasons to entice students to attend games. After undergoing temporary football season incorporations, Martin Stadium is now capped at 12,000 seats by the lake.

Still, the pattern continues, regardless of whether the ’Cats rack up goals.

For the 2024 soccer season, the difference in total home game attendance between both teams was 10 people–men’s soccer totaled 5,435 and women’s totaled 5,425. The highest-attended game was the men’s soccer Big Ten battle against Maryland in late September, reaching 1,544.

For men’s soccer in particular, the Big Ten attendance table ranked Northwestern as the school with the lowest home attendance average in five games, sinking at 703. The school with the highest average was Indiana, 2025 Big Ten preseason favorites, at 2,780.

Performance and team quality can play a factor into whether someone might choose to attend a Wildcat soccer home game or not. But past seasons show that hasn’t really been the case.

In 2023, when men’s soccer was on an undefeated streak and women’s soccer held onto an overall winning record above .600, crowds were no different. Women’s soccer welcomed the most fans against Michigan–1,277–but numbers never went beyond that.

Is the future bright?

While we cannot verify specific reasons as to why these numbers are stagnant–as possibilities are endless, from cold weather to sport popularity–it’s important to compare the impact the NWSL had, and will have, to regular college soccer excitement.

With the 2025 college soccer season underway since August, I’m curious to see how numbers might change after professional soccer players stepped foot on campus. What can higher sporting entities teach us when local pro teams engage in the environment of local collegiate teams? That is a question for the long run.

Support for the NWSL is only going up, making strides since 2012 along with a broader increased interest in women’s professional sports in general, and hopefully this game symbolized a wakeup call to also support the athletes who have been playing in our own backyard this whole time.

Now that we’ll have the Stars at the lakefront more often, maybe there’s a change of mind in Northwestern’s soccer culture. And maybe more will come to support our ‘stars,’ too.