Haslam Sports Group paid $205 million for an NWSL expansion franchise in Columbus, the highest fee in women's professional soccer history and 24 percent above the $165 million Atlanta committed nine months earlier. The Columbus team enters play in 2028.
The deal does two things. It resets the floor for any franchise awarded after today—Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Nashville are circling—and it guarantees Atlanta's ownership group, led by Sixth Street Partners, pays its full $165 million instead of renegotiating downward if later prices fell. NWSL expansion agreements contain most-favored-nation clauses: if a subsequent team pays less, earlier buyers get refunds. Columbus paid more, so Atlanta's check clears without adjustment.
The $40 million spread between Atlanta and Columbus reflects nine months of sponsor activity and two media-rights conversations. Between February and now, NWSL announced kit deals with Nike and Ally Financial, opened preliminary talks with CBS Sports and Amazon for rights beyond 2027, and saw Kansas City Current's stadium drive 42,000 season-ticket deposits in four weeks. Haslam Sports Group—owners of the NFL's Cleveland Browns and MLS Columbus Crew—watched those data points and paid accordingly.
The valuation climb is steeper than it appears. In 2019, Racing Louisville paid $2 million. Angel City FC paid $10 million in 2020. Bay FC paid $53 million in 2023. Atlanta's $165 million in February looked expensive until Columbus made it the midpoint. The 102x increase from Louisville to Columbus in five years outpaces MLS's early-2000s run, when Miami paid $25 million in 1998 and Seattle paid $30 million in 2007. NWSL compressed that decade into half the time.
For team operators, the Columbus price changes two calculations. First, it pulls forward sponsor pricing: if a franchise costs $205 million, a jersey-front patch cannot sell for $3 million annually. Expect Kansas City, Bay FC, and Utah Royals to reopen kit conversations in Q1 2025 with revised asks in the $8 million to $12 million range, citing Columbus as comp. Second, it raises the talent spend required to protect the asset. A $205 million franchise cannot finish last; Haslam will spend on DPs, and that resets peer expectations.
The Atlanta clause detail matters for one other group: the private-equity firms and family offices that passed on NWSL two years ago. Several West Coast allocators walked from Bay FC discussions at $53 million, calling the league "unproven." That franchise is now worth $150 million on paper if Columbus is the mark. The firms that moved early—Sixth Street in Atlanta, Willow Bay and Bob Iger in Angel City—are sitting on 3x to 4x paper gains in 18 months. The firms that waited are now pricing entry at $205 million or buying secondary stakes at comparable valuations.
Haslam's timing also locks the Crew's crosstown synergy: stadium, training facility, front-office staff, and sponsorship inventory all flow between MLS and NWSL operations in Columbus. The $205 million pays for priority access to Lower.com Field's 96 luxury suites and the Crew's corporate account list, which includes Nationwide, Cardinal Health, and American Electric Power. That sponsor carryover is worth $15 million to $20 million annually if conversion rates match Angel City's early numbers.
Watch three follow-ons. First, Cleveland announces or denies its bid by March; the Haslam price makes Dan Gilbert's decision harder unless he matches or walks. Second, NWSL's next media deal, expected by June 2025, will use Columbus as the franchise-value anchor in rights-fee conversations. Third, Sixth Street will test a secondary sale of 10 percent to 15 percent of Atlanta's stake in Q2 2025, establishing the first private-market price for a team bought at $165 million.
The league has added seven teams since 2020. Columbus is 18. The franchise fee has increased 10,150 percent in five years. The next buyer pays more or waits for a correction that has not yet started.
The takeaway
Columbus's $205M fee resets NWSL pricing, locks Atlanta's $165M payment, and forces sponsor and talent-spend recalculations across the league.
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