The National Women's Soccer League is hopeful that moving games from an afternoon time slot on Lifetime this season to an evening time slot on ESPNNews will boost attendance and promote player health and safety.

A+E Networks, which holds an equity stake in the NWSL, has broadcast an afternoon NWSL Game of the Week on Lifetime every Saturday since the beginning of the 2017 season.

But the NWSL and A+E Networks have agreed to make a major change to that schedule. On Wednesday, the NWSL announced that over the next four months six NWSL Games of the Week would be moved off Lifetime and instead be broadcast during the evenings on ESPNews. NWSL games not on ESPNews or Lifetime will still be available through go90.

"Since we signed this deal between A+E Networks and the NWSL, we've always been looking at ways to maximize the scheduling window," said Evan Silverman, executive vice president of digital media at A+E Networks and an NWSL Media board member. "One of the things that the teams and the league expressed was a desire to have more games in prime time windows at night because it's a positive for ticket sales and it's a positive because there are lower temperatures."

Silverman said it made sense for the NWSL and A+E Networks to approach ESPN about possible broadcasting options as both A+E Networks and ESPN are owned by Disney.

Amanda Duffy, the NWSL managing director of operations, said the change in kickoff times will enable the league to put a better product on the field and ensure that players are competing in a safe and healthy environment.

The NWSL was forced to announce new kickoff times for 23 games in 2017 after Houston Dash forward Rachel Daly collapsed from heat exhaustion during a day game in Houston where temperatures were over 90 degrees. The game in which Daly collapsed kicked off at 3 p.m. in order to fit into the time slot designed by Lifetime for its nationally televised NWSL Game of the Week.

Along with promoting player safety, Duffy said that the league is anticipating higher attendance numbers for the six upcoming games scheduled to air on ESPNNews as a result of the change in kickoff times. She also said the change in broadcast schedule will allow the NWSL to build its relationship with the ESPN family and take advantage of possible cross-promotion opportunities.

"I think this is a great opportunity for the NWSL," Duffy said. "It's an opportunity to move games into a prime time window to allow what we anticipate will be higher attendances for our teams. Also, from the player health and safety component, moving the games out of times of the day where we see the highest temperatures is certainly a benefit to our players as well."

In addition to six games being aired on ESPNNews in prime time evening slots, Lifetime will broadcast one NWSL Game of the Week on a Friday night for the first time ever this season when the Portland Thorns take on the Seattle Reign on September 7 at 7 p.m. Pacific Time at Providence Park.

"It gives us another opportunity to test how the game performs in a different window," Silverman said.

While the change in network and kickoff times might lead to higher in-stadium attendances, the impact it will have on viewership is less clear.

ESPNNews is generally included in a higher-tier cable package as compared to Lifetime, making the channel less accessible to the average viewer. Fans not watching on television will be able to stream the games live via the ESPN App, but they'll need to be ESPNews subscribers to do that as authentication is required in the U.S. This could potentially lead to lower viewership numbers for the games broadcast on ESPNews.

Duffy said that the league, along with A+E Networks and ESPN, will be closely monitoring viewership numbers on ESPNews, but she also said that she believes the positive impacts of the change outweigh the negatives.

Silverman said that A+E Networks looked into the possibility of moving the games to an evening time slot on Lifetime rather than moving the broadcasts to ESPNews, but the impact it would have had on the rest of the Lifetime schedule made that option impractical.

As a equity stakeholder in the NWSL, Silverman said that A+E Networks remains committed to continuing to take steps to promote the growth of the league. He said the network and the NWSL will be looking at how the games on ESPNnews perform this season to determine their best option moving forward.

"We will look at how the games perform this season and evaluate any options moving forward," Silverman said.

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg