JuJu Watkins, the USC women's basketball junior who will earn an estimated $1.2 million in NIL deals this season, has purchased a minority ownership stake in Boston Legacy, the NWSL expansion club set to begin play in 2026. The investment, disclosed Monday, makes her the youngest investor in the 14-team league and the first active collegiate athlete to hold equity in a professional women's soccer franchise.
Boston Legacy enters the league with a valuation pegged near $100 million, according to two people familiar with the team's capitalization table. Watkins' stake size was not disclosed, but comparable recent athlete investments in NWSL clubs—including those by Alex Morgan and Mia Hamm in Angel City FC—typically range from 0.5% to 2%, or roughly $500,000 to $2 million in equity value. The team's principal owner is Jennifer Epstein, a Boston-based private equity partner who led the $53 million expansion bid approved by the league in September.
The investment marks a structural shift in how NIL-era athletes deploy early career capital. Watkins, who averaged 24.8 points per game as a freshman and holds endorsement contracts with Nike, Boost Mobile, and Intuit TurboTax, is converting endorsement income into franchise equity before entering the WNBA draft—expected in 2026, the same year Boston Legacy launches. Her agent, Klutch Sports Group, has quietly positioned several clients in team ownership deals over the past 18 months, including NFL players in MLS expansion bids and NBA veterans in WNBA franchises.
For Boston Legacy, the Watkins investment delivers brand adjacency to a Gen Z athlete with 1.9 million Instagram followers and consistent ESPN primetime slots. The club has yet to announce a kit sponsor or name a general manager, but securing an investor with Watkins' visibility strengthens sponsor conversations ahead of the league's unified kit deal expiration in 2027. NWSL teams currently receive approximately $2 million annually from league-wide sponsorship revenue; Boston Legacy will need to build local partnerships quickly to close the gap between expansion fees and operating costs in a market where the Boston Breakers folded in 2018 after years of losses.
The league office views athlete investors as credibility signals for new franchises. Bay FC, which began play in 2024, counts U.S. national team veterans Megan Rapinoe and Julie Ertz among its 70-person ownership group. Angel City FC, launched in 2022, leveraged athlete investors including Serena Williams and Billie Jean King to secure a $250 million valuation in its first funding round. Boston Legacy sits at roughly 40% of that figure, but comparable markets and timing suggest room for valuation expansion if the team executes its stadium plan—currently tied to negotiations over a temporary venue in Somerville and a permanent site near the Seaport District.
Watkins' investment arrives as NIL capital finds its first ownership-class deployment. College athletes earned a combined $1.67 billion in NIL deals in 2024, but most spending went to short-horizon endorsements and appearance fees. The Boston Legacy deal represents a five-to-ten-year equity hold in a league where franchise values have grown 37% since 2021, when the NWSL's collective bargaining agreement reset salary structures and media rights began climbing. Watkins will not have operational input, according to a person familiar with the deal terms, but will participate in select marketing initiatives and community partnerships once Boston Legacy begins roster construction in mid-2025.
Watch Boston Legacy's general manager hire, expected before the NWSL draft in January 2026. The team will need to name a head coach by spring 2025 to begin recruitment ahead of the expansion draft, and Watkins' USC network—head coach Lindsay Gottlieb has close ties to several NWSL front offices—could influence early personnel decisions. Also watch whether Klutch Sports steers additional clients into the ownership group before the club's kit sponsor announcement, likely in Q2 2025.
The bet is simple: Watkins trades NIL liquidity for franchise equity in a league where team values have doubled since the last expansion cycle. Boston Legacy plays its first match in 27 months.
The takeaway
Watkins converts NIL earnings into NWSL equity before draft eligibility, testing whether college athletes can build ownership stakes ahead of pro careers.
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