The Haslam Family is selling a 30 percent stake in MLS's Columbus Crew to Nationwide Insurance at a $900 million valuation, the clearest signal yet that the Cleveland Browns ownership group is rebalancing its portfolio across NFL and soccer properties.
Nationwide, the Columbus-based Fortune 100 insurer, becomes the first major insurance carrier to take equity in an MLS club. The Haslams retain 70 percent control and operational authority. The transaction values the Crew at roughly 3.5x the $230 million David Tepper paid for Charlotte FC's expansion slot in 2019, though Charlotte entered as an expansion franchise while Columbus carries 24 years of operating history, a downtown stadium opened in 2021, and an MLS Cup title won in 2023.
The timing matters. Five weeks ago, the Haslam Family secured Columbus's NWSL expansion franchise for $205 million, positioning the city as a rare two-league soccer market alongside Portland, Seattle, and Kansas City. The NWSL team begins play in 2026 at the same Lower.com Field that houses the Crew. Nationwide's entrance provides capital runway for dual-team infrastructure buildout—practice facilities, youth academies, and the shared executive layer required to operate two professional clubs in a metro area of 2.1 million people without cannibalizing sponsorship inventory.
Nationwide already sponsors the Crew's 16,000-capacity stadium district but has never held equity in a professional franchise. The move parallels recent insurance-to-sports ownership plays: Progressive's $100 million naming rights deal for the Browns' stadium, State Farm's venue footprint across NBA and NHL properties, and GEICO's IndyCar team sponsorships. But direct equity stakes remain uncommon. Insurance carriers typically prefer sponsorship's predictable OpEx treatment over the illiquid, capital-intensive structure of franchise ownership.
For the Haslams, this is the second major soccer transaction in 60 days. Jimmy Haslam's Pilot Flying J truck-stop fortune has funded Cleveland Browns ownership since 2012, but the family's MLS entry came in 2018 when they led the investor group that stopped the Crew's proposed relocation to Austin. That group paid roughly $150 million for the club and committed another $230 million to stadium construction. The $900 million valuation implies a 6x return in six years, though MLS equity remains notoriously illiquid and comparable-transaction data is sparse.
The structure also reflects MLS's unusual single-entity ownership model, where investors hold stakes in the league itself rather than standalone franchises. Nationwide's 30 percent position is technically a stake in Soccer United Marketing, the league's commercial arm, with economic rights tied to Crew performance and revenue. The family's retention of 70 percent keeps governance control firmly in place, a priority for Jimmy Haslam, who has replaced three Browns head coaches since 2020 and maintains hands-on involvement in both franchises.
Nationwide's capital arrives as MLS continues its westward and southern expansion push. The league announced San Diego as its 30th franchise in May at a $500 million entry fee, and Las Vegas remains in active expansion talks. The Crew's $900 million valuation sits between Charlotte's $325 million secondary-market sale in 2022 and LAFC's rumored $1 billion-plus valuation. Columbus's position as a mid-market team with strong attendance (19,100 average in 2024, fifth in MLS) and corporate sponsor density makes the $900 million figure a useful comp for future secondary sales in similar-sized metros.
The NWSL expansion adds complexity. The $205 million fee—matching the amounts paid by Boston and Denver earlier this year—represents the family's clearest long-term bet on women's soccer economics. NWSL franchises have no public secondary-market sales data, but private equity's recent entrance (Sixth Street Partners, Carlyle Group) suggests institutional conviction in the league's 15-year CAGR potential. Nationwide's involvement in both clubs, if structured with cross-team sponsorship inventory, could create bundled media and activation packages unavailable to single-team operators.
Watch Nationwide's executive appointments to the Crew's board, expected within 90 days. The insurer's local headquarters presence and deep Ohio corporate relationships position it as a bridge to regional sponsors—Wendy's, Cardinal Health, American Electric Power—who have not yet entered MLS at the jersey-patch or founding-partner tier. The NWSL team's branding and coaching staff announcements are due by Q2 2025, with the front-office build likely drawing from Crew personnel already on payroll. And the Haslam Family's next move: whether this partial exit funds deeper Cleveland Browns stadium renovation talks, which have stalled since the city rejected a $1.2 billion dome proposal in late 2023.
Nationwide is buying into a city that now holds three professional franchises under two ownership groups. The math only works if the insurance company sees what the Haslams already priced in: that Columbus's corporate density and soccer-curious demographics can support two teams without splitting the check.