The NWSL sold its sixteenth franchise to Columbus for $205 million, with Haslam Sports Group—owners of the Cleveland Browns and Columbus Crew—taking control of a team slated for 2028 kickoff. The price is $55 million above the $150 million Boston paid for a 2026 entry, a 37% premium in two years.
The franchise will share Lower.com Field with the Crew, a 20,000-seat venue that opened in 2021. League sources expect the NWSL team to average 12,000–14,000 per match by year three, matching Portland and Kansas City. The Haslams already control stadium operations, naming rights ($110 million over ten years with Lower Insurance), and local sponsorship inventory. No new construction. No landlord split. The economics work before the first ticket sale.
The $205 million figure suggests the league is pricing future attendance and media upside, not current fundamentals. The NWSL's current CBS and Prime Video deal runs through 2027 at roughly $60 million annually across all teams. The next negotiation opens in early 2026, with the league targeting $200 million-plus based on early sponsor interest from Ally, Google, and Visa. Columbus enters just as that contract hits. Expansion fees now reflect media optionality, not gate revenue.
Haslam Sports Group's entry also marks the third NFL owner to cross into women's soccer after Robert Kraft (Boston) and Michele Kang's discussions with Washington Football adjacency. The NWSL explicitly recruits NFL capital for two reasons: stadium access and sponsor crossover. The Browns carry $180 million in annual sponsorship commitments, many from brands now seeking women's sports exposure. Haslam can bundle soccer inventory into existing Cleveland deals and charge incremental rates. The league sees this as expansion without dilution—new teams that don't need league support to sell.
Columbus also creates a natural geographic rival for Cincinnati, which enters in 2026. The league will almost certainly schedule a home-and-home derby each season. Cincinnati is backed by FC Cincinnati's ownership and will play at TQL Stadium (26,000 capacity). Two Ohio teams, two MLS-adjacent ownership groups, two shared stadiums. The league is building regional density instead of scattering franchises.
The Haslams beat at least two other bidder groups, including a Detroit-based automotive consortium and a Nashville group tied to the city's MLS ownership. Detroit was considered the front-runner as recently as November, but the bid reportedly stalled over stadium terms. Columbus had venue certainty, which the league now prioritizes after Utah's Stadion opening delays.
The 2028 start date gives the Haslams thirty months to hire a general manager, a head coach, and begin season-ticket drives. The league's expansion playbook now includes an eighteen-month pre-launch window for sponsorships, with teams expected to secure a jersey front, a kit deal, and a stadium pour partner before announcing a single signing. Bay FC (San Francisco) signed six founding partners before naming a coach. Columbus will follow that sequencing.
The franchise is the NWSL's second expansion announcement in four months, following Denver's October award. The league is expected to announce at least one more team for 2029 or 2030, with Nashville and Tampa still in active discussions. Commissioner Jessica Berman has said the league will stop at eighteen teams by 2030, then pause for at least three years to let media and attendance mature.
Haslam Sports Group will operate the team as a separate entity from the Crew, with independent front-office hires. Dee Haslam, who has taken a larger public role in the family's sports properties, is expected to chair the NWSL ownership group. The Browns remain under Jimmy Haslam's day-to-day oversight.
The Columbus metro area has 2.1 million residents, roughly the same as Portland and smaller than the Bay Area or Boston. But the Crew averaged 20,500 per match in 2024, and the city has shown it will support a second team if the product is credible. The NWSL is betting that shared infrastructure and NFL-grade sponsorship machinery can make mid-sized markets work at premium prices.
Watch for a general manager hire by summer 2025, likely poached from another NWSL club or MLS front office. The Haslams will also need to finalize a jersey sponsor before the 2026 NWSL season ends, as the league now encourages early brand alignment. Cincinnati's 2026 debut will serve as the test case for Ohio soccer appetite. If Cincinnati averages above 11,000, Columbus becomes a safer bet. If it falls short, the Haslams will adjust pricing and community investment before their own launch.