Setting the standard: Gotham FC's White House celebration represented a long fight to walk through those doors

When Gotham beat Seattle Reign 2-1 in San Diego to claim the 2023 NWSL Championship trophy, Gotham owner Carolyn Tisch Blodgett and NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman turned to one another and agreed: they needed to have the team celebrated at the White House.

At least, that’s how Berman recalls the inspiration that eventually brought it to fruition.

It started with the belief, built on long-held practices for American sports champions, that champions go to the White House.

Speaking just outside the White House doors moments after President Joe Biden honored the achievements of New York/New Jersey Gotham FC on Monday - marking the first NWSL Champions to receive the honor - Berman rejoiced in the outcome.

“I think it's fair to say that this has been on the to do list for many, many years, even predating me being in this role," she told INDIVISA. "When I joined in 2022 coming from men's sports, I assumed that our league champions get recognized by the White House like all other champions do in this country. And I learned that that is not assumed. And so I was very quickly briefed about the work that had been done to date, and we tried multiple years to make this happen.”

Until this week, no NWSL Champion had visited the White House.

And as Gotham lifted their first NWSL Championship trophy last November, there no plan for a visit. Berman, whose been at the helm of NWSL since March 2022, recalled her conversation with Gotham owner Carolyn Tisch Blodgett at Snapdragon Stadium last fall.

“Once Gotham FC won in 2023," she said, "I think Carolyn Tisch and I had a conversation on the field, like, ‘OK, now we gotta go to the White House, right?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, just so you know that's like something we have to actually make happen. That's not a given.’”

According to Berman, Tisch Blodgett and Gotham’s owners were essential in getting it done.

“She rallied all of her people who have relationships and connections," Berman said. "We've been supporting on the side as well with some of the work that we had done. I also think it's the right time. Because it's clear that women's sports has arrived as being culturally relevant.

"And I think for us, it's an important statement for us to be here and be recognized like other champions are, as really almost a proxy for validating the legitimacy of women's sports.”

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With Gotham’s players still soaking in the moment - Ali Krieger was speaking with media and a post-ceremony reception awaited inside - Tisch Blodgett also spoke with INDIVISA about the journey to the White House.

“So when we won the championship, we were new owners," she said. "We had just come in as owners. And we were, you know, we're all celebrating, and we're kind of going through in our minds. Our family has co-owned the New York Giants for the last 30 plus years, so we've won championships before.

"And we're going through the list of like, 'OK, we need a ticker tape parade. We need to go to the White House.' And we just, we didn't really, I think, appreciate that that hadn't been done before, that that would be setting a standard."

In the ten months since Gotham won the Championship, Tisch worked tirelessly to set that standard, and get her team to the White House. The implications for the league are immediate. The earned acknowledgement for Gotham’s championship-winning team will go down in history as the first to set a standard in NWSL, and one that will continue into the future.

“I was assured that we are now part of the expectation, that we can expect to be recognized by the White House," Berman said about getting that confirmation as part of Monday’s historic event. "And so we were very excited about that. And it's something that I think is part of a rite of passage when you're the best at your trade and a top professional athlete in the best league in the world, that you should assume that the White House will recognize you.”

The moment was historic for Gotham, and for NWSL. But for Tisch Blodgett, Berman, and Gotham’s champions represented at the White House, the moment was about more than just NWSL - and more than just women’s soccer.

This was a standard set for women’s sports.

"We will always be the first team that made this happen," Tisch Blodgett said. "We will not be the last. And to be able to set the standard of, now, when teams win, when women's sports teams win championships, they will know that, this is part of what we do. Because this is how we celebrate champions.

“To be able to bring that not just to Gotham, but bring it to the league, and bring it to the wider women's sports world, feels like something that I will remember forever.”