The National Women's Soccer League awarded its fifteenth franchise to Columbus on Tuesday, with Haslam Sports Group paying an expansion fee of $205 million for rights to a 2028 kickoff. The figure is 68 percent higher than Bay FC's $122 million paid in May 2024 and more than quadruple the $50 million Utah Royals paid in April 2023. The Columbus team will play at Lower.com Field, the 20,000-seat stadium Haslam built for the Columbus Crew, giving the NWSL its first shared MLS-NWSL venue since Portland.
Haslam Sports Group—Jimmy and Dee Haslam, owners of the Cleveland Browns and majority stakeholders in the Columbus Crew—structured the bid with JW and Christy Childs Berry, Columbus-area investors who hold a minority stake. The league had been shopping Columbus since late 2024, after the original Columbus franchise, later rebranded as the Washington Spirit, moved to the capital in 2003. Commissioner Jessica Berman told reporters the deal closed in three weeks, faster than the Bay FC and Utah processes, which each took five months from LOI to wire transfer. The speed suggests the Haslams leveraged existing MLS relationships and stadium infrastructure to compress diligence.
The $205 million number matters because it resets the floor for the two remaining expansion slots the league plans to award before 2026. Denver and a second Bay Area bid are in active discussions, and sources close to both processes say the Columbus fee immediately shifted seller expectations. One sponsor-side executive texted a colleague Tuesday afternoon: "Just added $30 million to our Denver model." The league's enterprise value, estimated at $1.2 billion in a February 2024 Sportico analysis, now implies closer to $1.8 billion if Columbus is the marginal price. That math assumes the existing thirteen teams are worth at least what Columbus paid, plus a control premium for legacy holders like OL Reign and NJ/NY Gotham FC.
For Haslam Sports Group, the deal is a hedge on women's sports media rights, which remain structurally underpriced relative to engagement. The NWSL's current deal with CBS, Amazon, and ESPN pays $240 million over four years, or $20 million per team per year. MLS, by comparison, earns $2.5 billion over ten years from Apple, or $83 million per team annually. The NWSL's next rights cycle begins in 2027, one year before Columbus kicks off. If the league captures even half the per-team MLS rate—a plausible outcome given playoff viewership up 58 percent year-over-year in 2024—the Haslams will have bought a $205 million asset with $40 million annual media upside before ticket or sponsorship revenue.
The Columbus market itself is a tell. It ranks 32nd in U.S. metro population, smaller than San Antonio, smaller than Las Vegas, cities the NWSL passed over. But Columbus has 17,000 Crew season-ticket holders and a corporate base—Nationwide, AEP, Root Insurance—that already writes eight-figure checks to MLS. The Haslams are betting those same CFOs will extend spend to the women's side, especially if Lower.com Field can schedule 34 home dates (17 Crew, 17 NWSL) instead of 17. Venue economics improve sharply when fixed costs spread across double the events.
Bay FC principal owner Erin Andrews and the Denver bidders, rumored to include Walmart heir Whitney Ann Kroenke, are now pricing against Columbus. The Denver bid has been quiet since August, when the city council approved a stadium study for a site near Empower Field. The Bay Area's second franchise—reportedly targeting San Jose—has been in shadow talks with the league since Bay FC's launch. Both groups were modeling expansion fees in the $150 million to $175 million range six months ago. That range is now obsolete.
Watch for two moves in the next four months. First, the NWSL will likely announce Denver or San Jose by June, ahead of the summer transfer window, to give the new ownership group time to hire a technical director before the 2029 season. Second, expect at least one legacy team to explore a minority sale at a Columbus-implied valuation. The Portland Thorns, owned by Merritt Paulson, and the Houston Dash, controlled by Gabriel Brener, have both been mentioned in banker circles as potential liquidity events. A $205 million Columbus fee implies those clubs, with established fanbases and lower venue risk, are worth $225 million to $250 million each.
The Haslams wired the expansion fee Tuesday morning. The Columbus front office opens in April.
The takeaway
Columbus's $205M NWSL fee quadrupled Utah's 2023 price, resetting franchise floors and pulling forward Denver and Bay Area bids.
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