The National Women's Soccer League awarded its 18th franchise to Columbus, Ohio, with Haslam Sports Group paying a record $205 million expansion fee for a team that begins play in 2028. The transaction closed Friday, five months after Atlanta's entry at an undisclosed figure widely reported near $110 million and five weeks after Boston Legacy FC and Denver Summit FC debuted as the league's 15th and 16th teams.
Dee and Jimmy Haslam, owners of the NFL's Cleveland Browns and part-owners of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks, will anchor the ownership group alongside local Columbus investors expected to be named in coming weeks. The $205 million valuation represents an 86% premium over Atlanta's estimated entry price and sets a new floor for remaining expansion inquiries. The league declined to comment on sale multiples, but three family offices sizing sports assets told Huang Goodman that NWSL franchises are now trading at 12-15x forward revenue, up from 8-10x in 2023, driven by media-rights optimism ahead of the league's 2026 broadcast renegotiation. The current deal with CBS, Amazon, and ESPN runs through 2027 at approximately $60 million annually; investment bankers working the process expect the next cycle to clear $150 million per year if linear ratings hold and streaming engagement continues its 40% year-over-year climb.
Columbus represents the third Midwest franchise alongside Chicago and Kansas City, and the first awarded since the league moved its expansion selection process in-house after using CAA Icon for earlier rounds. The city's demographics—900,000 metro population, top-10 youth soccer participation rates, Major League Soccer presence via the Crew—mirror the profile of successful launches in Seattle and Portland, both of which exceeded 12,000 season-ticket deposits in their debut campaigns. Haslam Sports Group's involvement also signals institutional capital's migration from evaluation to execution; the family joins recent NWSL investors including Sixth Street Partners (San Diego, 2024), Willow Bay and Bob Iger (Angel City, 2022 equity injection), and the Wilf family (Minnesota Aurora, expected 2025).
Two dynamics accelerated the valuation jump. First, the league capped total membership at 18 teams through 2030, creating artificial scarcity for the five remaining slots and forcing late-stage bidders into a closed auction rather than rolling RFP. Columbus competed against finalists in Cleveland, Nashville, and Cincinnati; the Haslams' willingness to exceed $200 million effectively removed price as a negotiation variable. Second, sponsor appetite for women's sports inventory has outpaced supply: the NWSL's aggregate sponsorship revenue grew 78% in 2024, per league filings, with brands including Google, Nike, Ally Financial, and Webex entering or expanding partnerships. A Western Conference general manager told Huang Goodman that clubs with robust local sponsor pipelines are now modeling $8-12 million in annual team-level deals by year three, a figure that justifies nine-figure entry costs if media rights triple and attendance stabilizes above 9,000 per match.
The Columbus franchise will play at a venue to be announced; the city's MLS stadium, Lower.com Field, seats 20,000 and is controlled by the Crew's ownership, not the Haslams, creating a lease dependency unless the group builds its own facility. The team has no announced name, crest, or kit partner, though three league sources expect Adidas or Puma to bid aggressively given Columbus's proximity to Nike's existing NWSL footprint. The front office will be staffed throughout 2025 and 2026, with early hires likely poached from existing franchises or MLS Next Pro operations. Haslam Sports Group has not yet named a team president; the search is expected to begin in January.
What to watch: NWSL will announce its final three to five expansion markets between now and 2027, with Cleveland, Nashville, and Phoenix considered frontrunners. Commissioner Jessica Berman has indicated that geographic balance—specifically, adding teams in the Southeast and Mountain West—will influence selections. The league's next Board of Governors meeting is scheduled for late February, where expansion timelines and media-rights positioning will be discussed. Columbus is required to submit its stadium plan by June 2025 and hire a general manager by October 2025. If the Haslams pursue a proprietary venue, land acquisition signals will appear in Franklin County public records within six months.
The $205 million figure is now the number every remaining expansion group must clear or explain why they should not. The league has five slots left. The Haslams just set the reservation price.
The takeaway
Columbus's **$205M** NWSL entry—**86%** above Atlanta's—signals scarcity premium and sets new valuation floor for five remaining slots through 2030.
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