Haslam Sports Group paid $205 million for the NWSL's Columbus expansion franchise, the league announced, setting a women's soccer expansion record and establishing new pricing for the 16th and final team in the current growth cycle. The club begins play in 2028. The fee is 24 percent above Atlanta's $165 million contribution announced five months earlier, which Atlanta's ownership now pays without adjustment despite the subsequent pricing reset.
The NWSL closed its expansion window at 16 teams after adding Boston Legacy FC and Denver Summit FC, which began play five weeks ago. Columbus completes the three-team cohort Atlanta launched in December. The Haslams operate the NFL Cleveland Browns and MLS Columbus Crew from adjacent downtown stadiums; the NWSL club will share the Crew's Lower.com Field, a 20,000-seat soccer-specific venue that opened in 2021 and cost $314 million. The family owns pilot-truck-stop operator Pilot Flying J, which generates roughly $60 billion in annual revenue.
The $205 million fee matters for three groups sizing exposure to women's soccer. First, franchise buyers now have precise comps: Boston and Denver entered at $110 million in 2023, Atlanta at $165 million in December 2024, Columbus at $205 million in May 2025. A 24-month doubling beats men's MLS expansion pacing, where fees climbed from $150 million to $500 million over eight years. Second, existing owners holding 1/16th stakes can mark their paper to a $1.9 billion league valuation—$205 million times 16 minus debt adjustments, assuming Atlanta's legacy fee doesn't drag the average. Third, sponsors and media buyers modeling CPM efficiency against the WNBA now see a $1.9 billion denominator for rights negotiations coming in 2027, when the current Apple TV deal expires.
Atlanta's owners absorbed a $40 million pricing gap in five months without renegotiation. The lack of a most-favored-nation clause signals either urgency to close or weak negotiating position during the December approval cycle. Family-office buyers entering at the Atlanta price and marking to Columbus terms already show 24 percent unrealized paper gains before the team plays a match. That math explains why the NWSL closed the expansion window at 16 teams; Columbus's entry fee sets a new floor, and further expansion risks cannibalizing demand from private-equity buyers who need visibility on the cap table.
The Haslams bring two advantages beyond the check: downtown real estate control and regional corporate relationships. Lower.com Field sits 0.4 miles from Huntington Park, the Triple-A baseball stadium, creating a sports-district anchor that pulls hospitality and sponsor dollars across three tenant teams. The Crew averaged 20,389 fans in 2024, second-highest in MLS; the NWSL club inherits that season-ticket base for cross-sell. The Browns' corporate partnership roster includes 23 Fortune 500 brands, seven of which operate women's consumer lines that map cleanly to NWSL demo. Pilot Flying J, privately held by the Haslam family since 1958, gives the ownership group patient capital and no quarterly earnings pressure.
Watch the Columbus front-office buildout starting in Q3 2025. The Haslams will hire a president and general manager from the Crew, Portland Thorns, or Gotham FC front offices by September, when the 2026 NWSL Draft preparation cycle begins. Expect Lower.com Field naming-rights renegotiation in Q4 2025; the current deal runs through 2031 but the Crew's parent can carve out a women's soccer addendum for $2-3 million annually. The 2027 media-rights negotiation will use Columbus's $205 million fee as the comp when Apple TV's current deal expires; if the league holds the $1.9 billion valuation, the rights package should clear $75 million annually, triple the current $25 million Apple commitment.
The expansion window closed. The price is set. The next franchise buyer waits until the media deal resets.
The takeaway
Columbus's $205M fee gives existing NWSL owners a $1.9B league valuation 24 months before the media-rights negotiation resets the Apple TV deal.
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