The opening weekend of the Women's Super League season attracted almost 63,000 fans across six games as England enjoyed an unprecedented increase in crowds, building on a surge in interest in women's soccer during the World Cup.
The cumulative crowd was a 12-fold increase on the start of the 2018-19 season when 5,167 fans attended the five games before the English top flight was enlarged from 11 to 12 teams.
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Chelsea's Maren Mjelde, right, and Tottenham Hotspur's Lucy Quinn battle for the ball during the Women's Super League soccer match at Stamford Bridge, London, Sunday Sept. 8, 2019. (John WaltonPA via AP)
Chelsea's Maren Mjelde, left, and Tottenham Hotspur's Lucy Quinn battle for the ball during the Women's Super League soccer match at Stamford Bridge, London, Sunday Sept. 8, 2019. (John WaltonPA via AP)
Manchester City's Keira Walsh, right, and Manchester United's Jackie Groenen battle for the ball during the Women's Super League soccer match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England, Saturday Sept. 7, 2019. (Nigel FrenchPA via AP)
Manchester City's Janine Beckie, right, and Manchester United's Abbie McManus battle for the ball during the Women's Super League soccer match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England, Saturday Sept. 7, 2019. (Nigel FrenchPA via AP)
Manchester City's Aoife Mannion, left, and Manchester United's Leah Galton battle for the ball during the Women's Super League soccer match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England, Saturday Sept. 7, 2019. (Nigel FrenchPA via AP)
The total of 62,921 was reached this weekend thanks largely to Manchester City using the Etihad Stadium and Chelsea using Stamford Bridge, rather than the smaller venues where their women's teams usually play, and men's clubs not playing during the international break.
Chelsea's Maren Mjelde, right, and Tottenham Hotspur's Lucy Quinn battle for the ball during the Women's Super League soccer match at Stamford Bridge, London, Sunday Sept. 8, 2019. (John WaltonPA via AP)
A WSL attendance record was set Saturday when 31,213 saw Manchester City beat newly promoted Manchester United 1-0. Chelsea had distributed 40,000 tickets for free for the visit of Tottenham on Sunday and 24,564 attended — still a record crowd for the west London club's women's team.
"We can be cynical about paying for tickets," Chelsea manager Emma Hayes said after her team's 1-0 win, "but I'm not going to criticize it because we've built on the momentum of the World Cup."
Bethany England's long-range strike after four minutes sealed the victory for the two-time WSL champions over a promoted Tottenham side that had eight players making their debuts. Tottenham overhauled the squad after becoming fully professional following its promotion from the second-tier Championship.
Chelsea's Maren Mjelde, left, and Tottenham Hotspur's Lucy Quinn battle for the ball during the Women's Super League soccer match at Stamford Bridge, London, Sunday Sept. 8, 2019. (John WaltonPA via AP)
"We've won a lot today, not just three points, in people's consciousness women's football will continue to grow and I'm so proud of this football club," Hayes said. "I doubt I'll ever work at a place that has pushed and pushed for women to progress like this place has."
Arsenal opened its title defense with a 2-1 victory over West Ham in front of 1,795 fans at a stadium in Boreham Wood, north of London.
The English Football Association is looking to build on the interest in the women's game that swelled as England reached the World Cup semifinals in July, losing to the United States.
Manchester City's Keira Walsh, right, and Manchester United's Jackie Groenen battle for the ball during the Women's Super League soccer match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England, Saturday Sept. 7, 2019. (Nigel FrenchPA via AP)
"This weekend has been absolutely incredible in terms of attendance," Tottenham manager Karen Hills said.
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Manchester City's Janine Beckie, right, and Manchester United's Abbie McManus battle for the ball during the Women's Super League soccer match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England, Saturday Sept. 7, 2019. (Nigel FrenchPA via AP)
Manchester City's Aoife Mannion, left, and Manchester United's Leah Galton battle for the ball during the Women's Super League soccer match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England, Saturday Sept. 7, 2019. (Nigel FrenchPA via AP)
HONOLULU (AP) — Brooks Koepka is back on the PGA Tour, a decision that should have surprised no one.
Brian Rolapp, only five months into his role as CEO of PGA Tour Enterprises, faced what he called a “unique situation." Koepka wanted to return after four years on LIV Golf, where he pulled in more than $41.6 million in earnings — more than he made in nine seasons on the PGA Tour — to go along with a signing bonus Koepka had said was nine figures. Count the commas.
That led to emergency meetings, phone calls with key voices on tour, board approval of a path that let Koepka back in and finally a face-to-face meeting with the former captain of Smash GC.
All of that was necessary. But the answer could be found last August when Rolapp was 18 days into his new job and introduced buzzwords like “scarcity” and “simplicity” while discussing his plans for significant — not incremental — change on the PGA Tour.
He was asked about the priority of getting the best players together, even as the tour's negotiations with Saudi Arabia as an investor had become too broken for even President Donald Trump to fix.
“To the extent we can do anything that's going to further strengthen the PGA Tour, we'll do that,” Rolapp said that day. “And I'm interested in exploring whatever strengthens the PGA Tour.”
Whether the return of Koepka achieves that depends on how he plays.
His performance also will determine whether the punishment fits the crime of his defection to Saudi-funded LIV Golf in 2022. By the tour's math — based largely on Koepka not getting equity in the tour for five years — it could be as much as $85 million.
But it beats the alternative: leaving Koepka off the roster.
“I keep going back to this,” said former British Open champion Brian Harman, an avid hunter whose intellect goes beyond how to harvest elk or trap beavers. "In everything that happens, there isn't all winners and all losers. There's some good and some bad. Whenever something like this happens, I try to figure out the positive. The positive is the tour with Brooks Koepka is a stronger tour.
“Regardless of how you feel about him leaving the PGA Tour, regardless of how you feel about LIV Golf, the PGA Tour is stronger today.”
That's the North Star guiding Rolapp, the former NFL executive viewed as a potential successor to Commissioner Roger Goodell. He's the first PGA Tour chief without a deep golf heritage, and that works to his favor in this case.
Rolapp wasn't around when Commissioner Jay Monahan rallied the troops against a rival league paying outrageous sums to lure away big names, only to strike a secret deal with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia that caused a player revolt.
All that talk about players not being allowed back if they leave? That didn't happen on Rolapp's watch. He cares only about the road ahead, not the rearview mirror. Does it strengthen the tour? And if retribution is required, find the appropriate penalty.
If Koepka being part of the PGA Tour makes it stronger, and its value increases, the loyalists have more to gain. Everyone makes more money except for Koepka. That's the idea, anyway, and Koepka was fine with it.
“There was no negotiating,” Koepka said. “It’s meant to hurt, it does hurt, but I understand. It’s not supposed to be an easy path. There’s a lot of people that were hurt by it when I left, and I understand that’s part of coming back.”
That includes dealing with any resentment from players and fans. Koepka said he was willing to have private conversations with players who are angered by his return. As for the fans?
“Brooks is one person who can handle it,” Gary Woodland said. “When he gets inside the ropes, his job is to play golf. He's got broad shoulders. He'll be able to handle any scrutiny that comes his way.”
Stronger than any financial repercussions was Rolapp's ultimatum in the “Returning Member Program,” which apparently has a short shelf life.
It applies only to winners of majors and The Players Championship dating to 2022, and that's a short list — Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith. The other three have until Feb. 2 to accept the offer, the same week LIV begins its fifth season in the Arabian Desert while Koepka will be in the Arizona desert at the Phoenix Open before a substantially larger audience.
There is no indication any of the other three want to leave, though DeChambeau is the most curious case. He already is negotiating an extension with LIV and this would seem to give him leverage. Can LIV afford to lose DeChambeau now?
Rolapp was practically daring the three players to take him up on the offer.
“This is a one-time, defined window and is not a precedent for future situations," he wrote in his memo. “Once the door closes, there is no promise that this path will be available again.”
The timing of that window is curious. It could be linked to the year LIV launched in 2022. It's also one year after Phil Mickelson, the ringleader of the LIV movement, won the PGA Championship.
Also ineligible for the offer are Dustin Johnson, Ryder Cup player Tyrrell Hatton and seven-time LIV winner Joaquin Niemann. Is there a path back for them if they want?
Only if they make the PGA Tour stronger. For Rolapp, it starts there.
On The Fringe analyzes the biggest topics in golf during the season. AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
FILE - PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp speaks before a practice round of the Tour Championship golf tournament, Aug. 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)
FILE - Brooks Koepka tees off on the 15th hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
FILE - Brooks Koepka laughs while talking with Justin Thomas, left, on the 15th fairway during a practice round at the Masters golf tournament, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
