Haslam Sports Group will pay $205 million to bring an NWSL franchise to Columbus in 2028, the highest expansion fee in women's professional sports history and $40 million above the price Atlanta committed five months ago. The deal was finalized Monday, giving the league its 18th team and the Haslams—owners of the NFL's Cleveland Browns and a stake in the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks—their first women's soccer property.
The $205 million figure does two things. It resets the valuation floor for NWSL franchises after Boston Legacy and Denver Summit each paid $110 million in 2023, and it triggers a payment guarantee clause in Atlanta's $165 million deal that sources say was contingent on the league securing at least one subsequent expansion commitment at or above that price. Atlanta's fee becomes fully due within 90 days of Columbus closing, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement. The league declined to comment on contractual terms.
Columbus had been circling the NWSL since early 2024, when Dee and Jimmy Haslam began quiet conversations with commissioner Jessica Berman about midwest expansion. The franchise will play at Lower.com Field, the 20,000-seat downtown stadium built for MLS's Columbus Crew in 2021, giving the team immediate venue scale and shared operational infrastructure with the men's side. The Haslams already own the Crew through a separate entity; this marks their second Columbus sports holding and their first direct crosstown partnership between men's and women's professional teams under common control.
The timing matters for three reasons. First, it validates the league's post-2023 expansion strategy of spacing franchise awards to avoid flooding the talent pool—Denver and Boston launched in March with rosters built through a dispersal draft and allocation system, and Columbus now has 18 months to prepare before its 2028 kickoff. Second, it locks in revenue ahead of the NWSL's next broadcast negotiation, expected to begin in late 2026 as the current deals with CBS, ESPN, and Amazon expire after the 2027 season. Third, it gives the league a credible comp for conversations already underway with ownership groups in Nashville, Charlotte, and a second California market.
The $205 million fee splits roughly 60/40 between existing franchise owners and league operating reserves, the same formula used in Boston and Denver. That means each of the 17 current franchises collects approximately $7.2 million, with another $82 million flowing into league accounts for expansion support, competition infrastructure, and central marketing. Atlanta's $165 million will follow the same split, putting another $5.8 million per team into circulation by Q3. For clubs still servicing loans taken to cover earlier expansion fees or stadium builds, that's meaningful liquidity.
Haslam Sports Group did not name a team president or announce front-office hires Monday, but league sources expect the Crew's commercial and ticketing apparatus to fold Columbus NWSL into its existing membership and sponsorship sales cycles. The Crew averaged 20,356 fans per match in 2025, third in MLS, and the NWSL franchise will inherit access to those accounts, though it will operate under separate revenue recognition. Kit supplier and jersey sponsor negotiations are expected to begin in Q2 2026, with Nike, Adidas, and Puma all submitting early interest, according to a person close to the process.
Atlanta has not yet announced a venue, and its launch timeline remains 2026 despite not having broken ground on a soccer-specific facility. Two people familiar with those discussions said the franchise is evaluating a temporary home at either Silverbacks Park in suburban Atlanta or a reconfigured college venue while a permanent site in the city's westside corridor advances through zoning. Columbus, by contrast, enters with venue, ownership, and geographic logic all resolved.
The $205 million price will now serve as the walk-away number for any group negotiating with the NWSL on future expansion. Nashville's ownership collective, led by a private-equity principal and two former U.S. national team players, has been assembling capital since late 2024 and is expected to bid at or above Columbus's price if the league opens another slot before 2028. Charlotte, meanwhile, is working through MLS crossover questions with the Carolina Panthers' ownership, which also controls MLS's Charlotte FC and would face structural questions about splitting women's and men's soccer entities under NFL ownership rules.
Commissioner Berman told reporters Monday the league would not expand beyond 18 teams before 2028, meaning Atlanta, Columbus, and the 16 existing clubs have at least two full seasons to stabilize before another expansion draft fractures rosters. That's a longer runway than MLS gave its teams during the late-2010s sprint to 30 franchises, and league executives have cited avoiding that talent dilution as a priority since the collective bargaining agreement was finalized in 2024.
The Haslams are now the only ownership group with simultaneous stakes in the NFL, NBA, MLS, and NWSL. That concentration raises mild questions about cross-league sponsorship conflicts—if a brand activates with the Browns, does it get Crew and Columbus NWSL inventory bundled, and at what price—but sources inside the NWSL said the league views that as an advantage rather than a risk, particularly for brands looking to reach women's sports audiences without navigating four separate negotiations.
Atlanta's clock starts ticking in roughly 90 days. Columbus kicks off in 30 months. The price floor is now $205 million, and the next group through the door will need to clear it.
The takeaway
Columbus's **$205M** fee resets NWSL franchise pricing and triggers Atlanta's **$165M** payment, injecting **$370M** into the league ahead of 2027 broadcast talks.
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