LOS ANGELES – Women's soccer seems to be on the brink of exploding.

Just last month, 60,739 fans packed a stadium in Madrid to watch Atlético Madrid face rival Barcelona, a new record in women's club soccer. That comes on the heels of other big turnouts around the globe. Last year, the FA Women's Cup final in England last year brought in 45,423 spectators, a record for the league, and the Liga MX Femenil final attracted 51,211 fans in Mexico, also a record.

As crowds have ballooned, corporate entities are taking notice, too. Barclays, the sponsor of the English Premier League, recently announced a multimillion-dollar deal to sponsor the equivalent women's league in England, the Women's Super League, which will add £500,000 in prize money. The International Champions Cup, the summer tournament for powerhouse clubs, is expanding its women's tournament as well.

There's a lot of excitement around women's soccer. And now, it's up to the National Women's Soccer League to keep up.

The NWSL embarks on its seventh season with games starting this weekend, and it could be a transformative year for the young league. With the Women's World Cup to be played this summer, many of the league's stars will be center stage in the NWSL, including everyone on the world No. 1 United States women's national team. The NWSL is already arguably the most competitive women's league in the world, and its top talent could again hoist a World Cup trophy in front of millions of viewers.

The lingering question, however, is whether the NWSL can turn the momentum of a major world tournament into new interest in the top-flight American league.

All the games will be streamed here on Yahoo Sports and accessible for fans to watch, which checks one important box. But other key components – like securing new sponsors, drumming up media attention and expanding the league's national footprint – remain open questions.

The league has been in transition for some time now. Franchises that have failed to meet standards, like the Boston Breakers and FC Kansas City, have folded or been replaced by more committed owners, like the Utah Royals. The league recently named a new president, Amanda Duffy, who has kept operations going, but it still lacks a growth-oriented, future-focused commissioner. And the NWSL recently ended a partnership with the Lifetime Channel, which had been a strange place for broadcasting soccer games anyway, as it moves to Yahoo Sports’ app and desktop streaming.

View photos Samantha Kerr of the Chicago Red Stars led the NWSL in scoring last season. (Getty) More

It's not unusual for a young league to face growing pains and changes along the way. But as women's soccer explodes around the world, the NWSL can't be caught flatfooted as opportunities arise. The window to capitalize after the Women's World Cup will be finite, and given the league's top-level quality, it should be in prime position to do so.

When asked whether the success of women's leagues abroad would add pressure on the NWSL to make similar strides, USWNT defender Becky Sauerbrunn said it should.

"I hope so. I hope it puts a lot of pressure on," Sauerbrunn said. "It's good we have Yahoo Sports coming in to stream all the games, but we need to be out there – we need to be finding sponsors, injecting money into this league and investing. That's going to create the longevity for the league that it needs."

The players themselves can only do so much. They can talk about the league and promote it, which they already do, but ultimately the greatest impact will come from their performances in France.

After the U.S. won the World Cup in 2015, the NWSL saw a major boost – a so-called World Cup bump. Markets that had typically struggled to draw large crowds started selling out games and setting new club attendance records. Interest from investors led to the addition of franchises like the Orlando Pride, which is owned by Major League soccer club Orlando City SC. And the league attracted new national sponsors, like Coppertone.

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