Jimmy Haslam wrote a $205 million check for an NWSL expansion franchise in Columbus, making it the most expensive women's soccer asset ever sold in North America. The team starts play in 2027. Haslam owns the Cleveland Browns and Columbus Crew. He now holds equity in three professional leagues.
The NWSL franchise comes with a purpose-built 12,000-seat stadium and shares operational infrastructure with the Crew's Lower.com Field complex. Haslam's group will staff both clubs from a single front office. The NWSL side gets its own general manager and technical director, both expected to be announced before the June draft. The ownership structure mirrors what Stan Kroenke runs in Denver—Nuggets, Avalanche, Mammoth—but across outdoor codes instead of arenas.
The $205 million valuation marks a 340% increase over the league's last disclosed expansion fee. Angel City FC paid $60 million in 2020. Bay FC closed at an undisclosed figure in 2023, believed to be north of $100 million. NWSL attendance averaged 11,250 in 2025, up 23% year-over-year. CBS paid $240 million over four years for U.S. broadcast rights in 2024. The math pencils for Haslam if the league's next media cycle—negotiations open in 2027—doubles the average annual value. His break-even assumes $120 million per year in total league revenue and 15-team parity distribution by 2030.
Haslam's portfolio now holds $3.47 billion in disclosed sports assets: Browns at an estimated $3 billion, Crew at $265 million on the 2023 MLS expansion market, and this NWSL slot at $205 million. He spent $1.05 billion to acquire the Browns in 2012. The NWSL franchise represents 6% of his sports book, but it's the only asset tied to a league where the next broadcast deal could triple per-team distributions. NFL teams split $12 billion annually; MLS teams split roughly $250 million; NWSL teams currently split $60 million. The slope matters more than the altitude.
Four NFL owners now hold NWSL equity: Haslam in Columbus, the Wilf family in Minnesota, Ron Burkle in Pittsburgh, and Michele Kang in Washington. None of the NFL's other 28 principal owners have touched women's soccer. The signal: domestic league diversification is a bet on multiple tailwinds—youth participation, Title IX cohorts entering peak earning years, international federation investment—rather than a hedge against NFL risk. The Browns are not declining. Haslam is buying different payoff timelines.
The Columbus franchise inherits a metro with 2.1 million people, a 22,000-seat MLS stadium that sold out 18 times in 2025, and a corporate base that includes Nationwide, Cardinal Health, and American Electric Power. The NWSL averaged $14 million in annual sponsorship per team in 2025. The Crew cleared $22 million. Haslam's pitch to shared sponsors: buy both clubs, split activation costs, double your local impressions. Early conversations with Nationwide and Acura are already underway, per two people familiar.
League expansion continues. NWSL plans 16 teams by 2028. Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Nashville are believed to be in active discussions, with bids expected to clear $250 million if Columbus proves the revenue model. Haslam's willingness to pay $205 million sets the floor for cities without existing MLS infrastructure.
The franchise hires its general manager and technical director by June. The NWSL expansion draft follows in November 2026. First kick is February 2027.
The takeaway
Haslam's **$205M** NWSL bet prices the next U.S. women's soccer broadcast cycle at double current value—a timeline play, not a portfolio hedge.
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