Haslam Sports Group paid $205 million for an NWSL expansion franchise that will begin play in Columbus in 2028. The deal is the highest expansion fee in women's sports history and the second-highest in American soccer after Charlotte FC's $325 million MLS entry in 2019.
The franchise is the league's 17th and will share Lower.com Field with the Columbus Crew, which Haslam bought in 2018 for roughly $150 million. The NWSL announcement came five weeks after Boston and Denver entered as teams 15 and 16, and five months after Atlanta was awarded slot 14 at a $165 million fee that drew skepticism from family offices tracking the league's growth rate. The Columbus number ends that conversation.
The $205 million figure does two things. First, it establishes the current market price for a top-tier NWSL expansion slot in a controlled venue with existing infrastructure. Haslam Sports Group already operates the stadium, holds the local broadcast relationships, and employs the front-office staff that will absorb the women's team. The marginal cost of adding an NWSL franchise to that system is a rounding error compared to the valuation upside if the league's media rights grow at anything close to the trajectory implied by recent Apple and CBS renewals in other women's properties. Second, it guarantees Atlanta sees the full $165 million it committed last year. That deal was structured with payment milestones tied to subsequent franchise sales. Columbus just validated the entire amount.
The Haslam family now controls three franchises in Columbus across three leagues, plus the Cleveland Browns. The vertical integration matters for sponsors. Nationwide, Acura, and Commanders Insurance already run multi-property deals across the Crew and Blue Jackets. The NWSL team becomes a fourth activation surface with a younger, more female audience that converges neatly with the brand safety requirements corporate partners now price into every media plan. One brand director at a Crew jersey sponsor told colleagues the Columbus NWSL deal was "the only reason we're still in soccer" after reassessing MLS audience composition last fall.
The $205 million fee also clarifies the league's valuation. NWSL sold four franchises in 18 months: Atlanta ($165 million), Boston ($90 million-plus), Denver (undisclosed, likely near $100 million), and Columbus ($205 million). The escalation reflects two factors. Columbus has the venue and the operator. Atlanta and Denver do not, but both markets command premium fees for reasons the league considers structural—Atlanta is the ninth-largest metro, Denver punches above its size in women's sports attendance. The Columbus deal also came after the league's latest media-rights cycle began showing early results. Match viewership is up 31 percent year-over-year on CBS weekend windows, and the Apple streaming package is tracking ahead of internal projections, according to two people familiar with the numbers.
Haslam Sports Group did not hire outside capital for the deal. The family wrote the check from the operating entity that already holds the Crew, the Blue Jackets, and a minority stake in the Browns. That's unusual. Most recent NWSL expansion groups have included at least one institutional allocator or a consortium of high-net-worth individuals splitting the fee. The Haslams' willingness to pay $205 million in cash suggests they are modeling the franchise as a long-term hold with embedded optionality on the league's next media deal, which comes up for renewal in 2027, one year before the Columbus team kicks off.
The NWSL has now sold 17 franchises. Commissioner Jessica Berman has said publicly the league will expand to 18 or 20 teams by 2030. The next franchise will likely command a fee north of $210 million unless the bid comes from a market the league considers tertiary. Cincinnati, Detroit, and Phoenix have all been mentioned in broker calls over the past six months. None has a venue or an operator at Haslam's scale.
The Columbus team will begin play in 2028. The Haslams are expected to name a general manager before the end of 2025 and will likely poach from one of the league's existing front offices. The Crew's head of business operations, Kristin Bernert, is considered a candidate to run the women's team, though she has not been approached. The franchise will announce its name and branding in 2026, after the league's current jersey-sponsor cycle closes and a new kit deal is negotiated. That deal will include all 17 teams and is expected to roughly double the current $3 million per-team annual average.
Haslam Sports Group's $205 million check is now the NWSL's valuation anchor. Atlanta's $165 million is validated. Boston and Denver are retroactively underpriced. The next buyer is walking into a market where the floor is set and the ceiling is rising. That buyer will be announced before the end of the year. Phoenix and Cincinnati are both preparing bids. The fee will be $215 million or higher.
The takeaway
Columbus paid $205M for NWSL slot 17, validated Atlanta's $165M, and set the floor for the next franchise north of $210M.
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