The National Women's Soccer League awarded its 18th franchise to Columbus, Ohio, on terms that reset the league's valuation floor. Haslam Sports Group — the family office behind the NFL's Cleveland Browns and MLS Columbus Crew — paid $205 million for the expansion slot, with play beginning in 2028. The fee is 71% higher than the $120 million BOS Nation FC paid in 2023 and triple the $65 million Brooklyn FC paid six months earlier.
The Columbus franchise will share Lower.com Field with the Crew, a 20,000-seat downtown venue that opened in 2021. Haslam Sports Group previously declined to pursue an NWSL team when the league opened expansion talks in 2020, citing uncertainty around media economics. The group's entry now — alongside recent franchise purchases by former Disney CEO Bob Iger (Angel City, $250 million secondary in 2024) and Sixth Street Partners (Bay FC, undisclosed stake) — marks the completion of a two-year repricing cycle in which institutional allocators replaced celebrity-led ownership syndicates.
The $205 million fee implies a league enterprise value north of $3.7 billion on an 18-team basis, assuming pro-rata pricing and no discount for marginal expansion slots. That figure runs 4-5x the league's valuation at the start of the 2023 season, when media economics remained unproven and sponsorship inventory sold at regional rates. The gap closed after the NWSL's four-year media deal with CBS, ESPN, Amazon, and Scripps began delivering 427,000 average viewers for national windows in 2024 — 89% above the prior contract — and Nike renewed its kit deal through 2031 at terms the league described as "approaching MLS per-club economics." Sponsor inventory for marquee clubs now clears at $2-3 million annually for jersey front placement, up from $600,000-$900,000 in 2021.
Columbus enters a structurally different league than the one Brooklyn or BOS Nation priced in 2023. The NWSL's collective bargaining agreement, ratified in February 2024, eliminated allocation money and established a $3.3 million salary cap with no individual max, allowing clubs to compete for international talent without MLS-style roster mechanics. The league also centralized digital content production and launched a hub-and-spoke sponsorship model in which clubs retain local categories but share national upside, a structure that smooths revenue variance across markets. Attendance for the 2025 season averaged 11,247 per match, up 22% year-over-year, with six clubs clearing 15,000 consistently.
The Haslam decision carries weight beyond the fee. The group operates the Browns at an $80 million annual loss and the Crew at break-even, treating both as long-duration real-estate and ancillary-revenue plays rather than gate-driven businesses. Applying that model to an NWSL franchise — where gate revenue represents 35-40% of total revenue versus 50-55% in MLS — suggests confidence that the league's sponsorship and media trajectory supports patient capital deployment. The 2028 launch timeline aligns with the next NWSL media-rights cycle, expected to open in late 2026 for a 2029 start, and gives the franchise three years to build season-ticket deposits and corporate partnerships before first kick.
Haslam Sports Group has not named an operating president or sporting director. The franchise will hire separately from the Crew's front office, though venue operations and ticketing infrastructure will share back-end systems. The league requires expansion clubs to carry $15 million in working capital at launch and maintain $8 million in restricted cash for player salary obligations. Columbus submitted a formal application in November 2025 after the league's board voted to accelerate expansion beyond the previously announced 16-team cap, citing stronger-than-expected sponsor demand and the need to secure markets before USL Super League or other competitors gained footing.
The $205 million number sets a ceiling that may not hold. The NWSL is evaluating bids for a 19th slot in either Phoenix or Tampa, with term sheets expected by Q3 2026. League sources suggest bid floors are already tracking $220-$240 million, though no term sheet has circulated. The league's board has approved expansion to 20 teams by 2030, after which it will pause to assess competitive balance and media-market saturation.
Watch the Columbus front-office hires over the next six months — specifically whether Haslam elevates an internal Crew executive or recruits from MLS, Liga MX, or European women's leagues. The NWSL's 2029 media deal negotiations begin informally this fall, with early conversations determining whether the league can command dual-network exclusivity or remains on a multi-platform model. Phoenix and Tampa bid clarity arrives by September, which will confirm whether $205 million was the floor or the ceiling.
The takeaway
Columbus's $205M entry — 71% above 2023's Boston — confirms institutional capital now prices NWSL franchises on media and sponsorship momentum, not cultural tailwinds.
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