Columbus ownership groups are in active discussions about securing an NWSL expansion franchise, though no formal bid has been submitted and the league has not opened an official expansion window. City officials confirmed exploratory meetings have occurred, focused on stadium logistics, broadcast reach, and whether the existing Lower.com Field can accommodate a second tenant without schedule conflicts.
The Crew averaged 26,091 fans per home match in 2025, ranking fourth in MLS attendance despite operating in the league's 32nd-largest media market. That density matters. NWSL teams in Portland and Kansas City have proven that smaller metros with embedded soccer infrastructure can sustain profitable women's franchises when ownership treats them as portfolio additions, not charity experiments. Columbus already has the stadium, the youth academies feeding Division I programs, and a front office that knows how to move season tickets in February.
The league's last expansion round valued franchises at $53 million for BOS Nation FC in 2023. That number is directional but outdated. Bay FC paid a reported $53 million for the same vintage, but private conversations around recent NWSL stakes suggest the floor has moved closer to $70 million for markets that require material stadium investment. Columbus would not. Lower.com Field seats 20,371 and opened in 2021 with FieldTurf and LED ribbons already installed. The only build-out would be locker room separation and potentially expanding the player performance center, both rounding errors compared to constructing a venue from scratch.
What Columbus does not yet have is a named ownership group. The Crew operates under Dee and Jimmy Haslam, who also control the Cleveland Browns and have a history of extracting public stadium funding while keeping team operations opaque. Whether they lead an NWSL bid or bring in outside capital matters enormously. The league has quietly tightened governance standards after the Portland Thorns abuse scandals and Washington Spirit ownership chaos. Prospective franchises now face enhanced due diligence on ownership structure, front-office hiring practices, and whether the women's team would share executives with the men's side or operate independently. The Haslams would need to demonstrate both financial commitment and organizational separation to clear that bar.
Sponsorship is the other variable. Nationwide, headquartered in Columbus, already sponsors the Crew and has $300 billion in assets under management. A dual-franchise deal that bundles MLS and NWSL rights could command a premium, especially if structured to include women's team jersey placement and co-branded community programming. The company has not commented, but its naming rights deal for the Crew's previous stadium ran $37 million over ten years. An NWSL add-on would cost a fraction of that and deliver material ESG narrative upside.
The league is expected to open a formal expansion process later this year, targeting 16 teams by 2028. Commissioner Jessica Berman has said publicly that Cincinnati, Cleveland, Nashville, and Milwaukee are also under evaluation. Columbus would compete directly with Cincinnati, which shares Ohio's soccer density but lacks MLS infrastructure. The timeline for bids is unclear, though ownership groups typically need 12-18 months from announcement to kickoff, meaning a 2027 launch is realistic if Columbus moves quickly.
If the Haslams pass, the next-most-likely scenario is a local ownership syndicate led by one of Columbus's private equity or real estate families, using the Crew's front office as minority partners. That structure would allow the NWSL team to lease stadium dates without full MLS ownership integration, a model similar to how Orlando operates Pride and City SC under separate but adjacent entities. The league prefers that separation anyway.
The city has not been asked for public funding, according to local reporting, which would make Columbus one of the few NWSL expansion stories in the past five years where municipal subsidy is not the lead paragraph. That alone signals this is early.
The takeaway
Columbus explores NWSL expansion with existing MLS stadium infrastructure, no ownership group named, expansion window opens later this year.
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