The National Women's Soccer League awarded its 17th franchise to Columbus on Tuesday, backed by billionaire Cleveland Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam at a $205 million valuation, nine weeks after Denver and Boston launched as teams 15 and 16. Commissioner Jessica Berman told reporters Wednesday the league intends to admit team 18 by 2028, extending an expansion cadence that has added seven franchises since 2021.
The Columbus team will begin play in 2025 at a yet-to-be-named stadium, making it the second Haslam sports property after the NFL's Browns. The $205 million price represents a 37% premium over the $150 million Boston and Denver paid in 2024, and nearly double the $110 million San Diego's expansion fee commanded in 2023. Atlanta, announced as team 16 in May, paid an undisclosed sum believed to match or exceed Boston's number. The Haslams join an ownership roster that now includes former Google CEO Eric Schmidt (Washington Spirit), Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian (Angel City FC), and Marc Lasry's Avenue Capital (Chicago Red Stars via minority stake).
The 2028 target for team 18 matters because it sets the league's final footprint before the next U.S. media rights cycle opens in 2027. NWSL's current four-year broadcast deal with CBS, ESPN, and Amazon Prime runs through the 2027 season at a reported $240 million total value, or roughly $60 million annually. An 18-team league playing a balanced schedule delivers 306 regular-season matches, up from 234 in the current 14-team format, a 31% inventory increase that media buyers will price against MLS's 29-team, 459-match slate. Sponsors watching: the league's average attendance climbed 13% year-over-year to 11,250 per match in 2024, with expansion markets Denver and Boston both averaging above 12,000 in their debut seasons.
The Haslam entry carries specific risk. Jimmy Haslam's Browns have cycled through six head coaches since 2012 and recently signed quarterback Deshaun Watson to a fully guaranteed $230 million contract before his suspension and subsequent performance collapse. The NWSL ownership approval process, tightened after multiple misconduct scandals between 2021 and 2023, now includes enhanced background checks and a formal equity and inclusion review. Columbus will be the Haslams' first women's sports asset; their operational track record will be scrutinized by players' association leadership, which has formalized review rights over new ownership groups as of the 2024 collective bargaining agreement.
Berman's public framing—"we can be the size of the NFL"—signals ambition but invites comparison the numbers don't yet support. NFL teams traded at an average enterprise value near $5 billion in recent transactions; NWSL franchises at $205 million sit 24 times lower. The league's aggregate revenue for 2024 is estimated near $200 million across all teams, compared to the NFL's $20 billion-plus. What the NWSL does have: a 43% year-over-year growth rate in sponsorship revenue since 2021, a sold-out championship match at 22,000 capacity in Orlando, and a demographic skew that luxury and tech advertisers will pay to reach. The challenge is converting momentum into margin before the next economic slowdown tests discretionary sports budgets.
Team 18's market remains undisclosed, but league sources have previously mentioned Nashville, Cleveland, and Phoenix as candidates under active evaluation. Nashville's ownership group, led by Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk, has been in quiet talks since mid-2024, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Cleveland would create a Haslam sports corridor; Phoenix offers the 11th-largest U.S. media market with no NWSL presence. The league will likely announce team 18's market by fall 2025, giving the ownership group roughly 30 months to secure a stadium lease, hire a technical staff, and begin season-ticket sales.
The expansion fee trajectory tells its own story. Angel City paid $100 million in 2020 for a 2022 launch; San Diego paid $110 million in 2023; Boston and Denver paid $150 million in 2024. Columbus at $205 million marks a 37% single-year jump, suggesting either scarcity pricing as available markets narrow or a meaningful shift in buyer perception of long-term franchise value. Both can be true. The next test arrives when team 18's fee is announced, and when the first secondary transaction occurs—an existing team changing hands at a price that either validates or deflates the expansion multiples.
The takeaway
NWSL's $205M Columbus fee and 2028 expansion target set inventory for next media cycle, testing whether sponsor growth converts to franchise margin.
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