CVS Pharmacy Invests in US Soccer and NWSL to Turn Local Fields Into Community Health Hubs

CVS Pharmacy is putting its sponsorship dollars into dirt and grass, not just media buys. The company's new partnerships with the U.S. Soccer Federation and the National Women's Soccer League are designed to show up physically in the neighborhoods CVS serves, through field refurbishments, grassroots programming, and community activations that tie the brand directly to local health and wellness.

Erin Condon is SVP and Chief Marketing Officer of CVS Pharmacy at CVS Health, where she leads marketing for the Pharmacy and Consumer Wellness business segment, along with enterprise media, brand strategy, and the company's internal creative team, Condon previously launched CVS's retail media network business, cMx, and has built her career around turning large consumer platforms into demand-generation engines.

"We're investing directly in places where soccer begins, local fields, to create welcoming, accessible spaces where families, kids, and neighbors can gather, play, and connect." The sponsorship is structured to work at both the national and local level. CVS is now an Official Health and Wellness Partner of both the USSF and the NWSL, giving the brand visibility across the U.S. Men's and Women's National Teams while also activating at the club level in specific markets.

• Club roots: CVS has built multi-year relationships with the Washington Spirit, Seattle Reign FC, and Kansas City Current. "These clubs are leaders in community engagement and share our commitment to inclusion, access, and wellbeing," Condon says. "We're looking forward to bringing our community health commitment to even more markets where fans and families are deeply connected to the sport."

• Early mover: CVS first entered the NWSL in 2020 with the Washington Spirit, positioning the brand ahead of the wave of investment in women's soccer that followed. "We were slightly ahead of the curve, getting in at the ground level, knowing that viewership is expected to grow over 98%, reaching WNBA viewership levels by 2030," Condon says.

The timing is significant. Women's soccer is projected to become one of the five most popular sports globally by the end of the decade, and its fanbase represents a highly engaged consumer demographic that actively rewards brands investing in the space. For CVS, the play is less about riding that momentum and more about anchoring it to a business mission.

• More with Morgan: The athlete partnership with Morgan extends the brand's focus on expanding access for women and girls. "She shares our commitment to investing in the next generation and helping women and girls thrive in sports and in life, especially through her work with the Alex Morgan Foundation," Condon says.

• Content and presence: CVS plans to activate through both physical locations and digital channels. "We're excited to bring together our physical locations and community presence to promote this work, while also creating digital and social media content where consumers can engage with players and teams," Condon says.

Where the strategy distinguishes itself from a traditional sponsorship is in how CVS measures success. The company is not chasing media impressions. Instead, it is tracking trust and brand affinity in the specific communities where it activates, correlating engagement with marketing content to overall customer behavior.

• Trust over reach: "On the customer side, we'll look at positive changes in trust and brand affinity in the communities we're serving," Condon says. "When customers feel supported or represented, that sentiment drives deeper relationships."

• Colleagues on the ground: The local angle extends to CVS employees. "Our colleagues have already expressed interest in volunteering to support upcoming field refurbishment efforts and community events both in CVS stores and at NWSL and U.S. soccer games," Condon says.

The long-term bet is that a sponsorship built around physical community investment creates more durable brand value than one built around logo placement and broadcast exposure. For CVS, that means field refurbishments in the near term, sustained local engagement over the life of the partnership, and a measurement model that ties all of it back to whether customers in those communities actually trust the brand more as a result.

"By delivering support where it's needed most, we aim to earn trust within the communities we serve, through actions that make a real difference," Condon says. "Delivering positive change at the local level is what matters to our team at CVS."