Midge Purce recently won her second NWSL Championship with Gotham FC—but that’s far from all she’s accomplished this year. Somehow, Purce also found time to serve on the Harvard Board of Overseers, give the opening monologue at Chicago on Broadway, appear on a Sports Illustrated runway show and the ManningCast podcast, and is planning even more side projects she’s excited to announce soon.
At the Fanatics x Boardroom Career Intensive, professional athletes from across the NWSL, WNBA, and MLB recently
came together for a two-day program to learn about business, professional development, and making the most of off-field career opportunities.
Participants included retired USWNT star Ali Krieger; Natasha Cloud from the New York Liberty; Courtney Williams from the Minnesota Lynx, who is also one half of the StudBudz; and Purce, who spoke to All for XI about her vision for the growth of women’s soccer and what she has planned next.
Purce stressed how important it is to her to explore non-soccer opportunities and different parts of her identity, instead of only being an athlete.
“I think that it’s really difficult to be a professional athlete in the sense where it can become just your entire identity value,” said Purce. “I think being able to explore things that allow me to be me is helpful—for me to focus on being me on the field, and then also be myself off of it.”
Purce also produced The Offseason, a television show she created that followed NWSL athletes living and training together over the offseason. The Offseason’s first season was filmed before the 2024 season and was released in fall 2024.
Purce said that for her, The Offseason was about changing the way women’s sports are marketed and consumed. Because women’s sports are different from men’s sports, they need to be approached with an entirely different lens in order to engage new, predominately female audiences.
“I’ve always felt that for a really long time, we’ve just taken what men’s sports does in media and marketing and just shrink it, pink it, and make it for girls,” said Purce. “And I think it’s been unsuccessful in targeting female audiences in the right way to be fans of sports and entertaining the male audiences that are already fans of sports.”
“So I think that there’s a gap, and we’re missing an audience of people who would really enjoy the personalities and storylines and interpersonal relationships of women in the sports world, just because we haven’t properly marketed to them yet,” said Purce.
The NWSL athletes at the Career Intensive program had the opportunity to network with each other, the athletes from other leagues, and business leaders. Sessions included a “Next Level Athlete Assessment” to show participants their thinking and communication styles, business case studies, and a workshop on building a business around a personal brand.
Toretha McGuire, the Chief People Officer at Fanatics, described the program as “a very refined experience that focuses on the journey of entrepreneurship, both from an experiential perspective in terms of the sessions that we’ve designed, but also storytelling, network building, and getting to hear from an incredibly diverse set of the best business leaders.”
Because female athletes are often paid far less than their male counterparts, they can face more pressure to develop a personal brand, pursue side projects, and plan for a second career after retiring from their playing career. Many players pursue work in broadcasting or podcasts, start their own company, or pivot into something entirely different.
However, Purce said she is much more focused on the current moment than preparing for retirement: “I think there’s been a lot of messaging telling people to prepare for after, but I think it’s more exciting to see what you can do during and just enjoy the moment of opportunity that you have as an athlete.“
Purce declined to specify more about the projects she’s working on, but said that there would be a few announced later this year, and that the Fanatics program has helped give her many ideas for her off-field work.
Purce said in an interview with theSkimm’ that her company, Offseason Inc, contains two LLCS. One is the production company for The Offseason show, and she described the other as “a really fun project that we’re doing… a mixed-use commercial real estate venture.”
Purce brought her executive assistant with her to the program, and said they were both excited about many of the ideas they learned.
“We keep looking at each other, and we’re like, ‘Write that down, write this down,’ and we’re going to use it a lot in a couple things I’m going to announce next year,” said Purce.
While Purce spends the upcoming year chasing another title with Gotham, where she recently signed a new contract, she will surely have another busy, fulfilling year off the field, too.
