Haslam Sports Group secured the National Women's Soccer League's 18th franchise for Columbus with a $205 million expansion fee, the highest in league history and more than triple the $53 million Boston Legacy FC and Denver Summit FC each paid to enter this season. Play begins in 2028.
The franchise award gives the Haslams—who own the NFL's Cleveland Browns and a stake in the Milwaukee Bucks—their first women's soccer asset. The Columbus market returns to NWSL after the Crew's former ownership declined to pursue a women's team when MLS expanded there. The 2028 launch date allows three full years for stadium planning, corporate partnership sales, and academy buildout. League officials confirmed the timeline aligns with media rights negotiations scheduled to close in late 2026, when RSN fragmentation and streaming platform competition should drive per-team distribution up from the current $1.5 million annual average.
The fee premium reflects changed league economics. Boston and Denver entered as a paired expansion in early 2024, before the CBS Sports and Amazon Prime streaming deal added $240 million over four years and before average attendance crossed 11,200 for the first time. Columbus enters after those milestones, into a league where San Diego Wave FC was valued at $113 million in a minority transaction last fall—85% above the $61 million implied valuation in the Carlyle Group's 2022 league-wide investment. The Haslams are paying for operating leverage already visible: sponsor density per team increased 22% year-over-year, and kit deals now average $2.8 million annually, up from $1.1 million in 2021.
The structure matters for the other 17 clubs. Expansion fees flow to existing owners as a non-dilutive capital event, distributed pro rata. Each current franchise receives roughly $12 million, enough to fund two years of academy operations or retire early-stage debt from stadium builds. The league has indicated two additional expansion slots remain before capping at 20 teams by 2030. Charlotte and Philadelphia both submitted formal interest paperwork in November. If the final two slots clear at or above the Columbus price, existing owners collect another $24 million each without surrendering equity, effectively backstopping team-level economics until the next media cycle in 2029.
The Haslams bring NFL-adjacent infrastructure but no soccer operating history at the women's professional level. Dee Haslam will lead the Columbus effort; she previously chaired the board for SPACES, a Knoxville nonprofit focused on women's sports access, and sat on the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament selection committee from 2019 to 2022. The operating partner has not been named. League precedent suggests either a GM with NWSL or WSL experience—Kansas City Current's Camille Ashton came from Racing Louisville; Bay FC hired former U.S. Soccer executive Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak—or a hire from MLS front offices, which occurred in San Diego and Angel City.
The timeline compresses sponsor courtship but expands facility optionality. Columbus has no soccer-specific stadium sized for NWSL, which typically requires 8,000 to 15,000 capacity for phase-one economics. Lower.com Field, the MLS Crew's home, seats 20,000 and could host matches while the Haslams negotiate a permanent venue. Austin FC ran a similar strategy with Q2 Stadium, which opened in 2021 for both MLS and NWSL. The three-year runway also allows the Haslams to layer a jersey sponsor, a stadium naming partner, and regional broadcast pre-sales into the same negotiation window, a packaging advantage Boston and Denver lacked with their 18-month preparation cycle.
Watch the GM hire, expected by late May, which will signal whether the Haslams prioritize MLS continuity or NWSL-specific expertise. Stadium site announcement will follow within six months if the timeline mirrors Kansas City's 2022 reveal cadence. Charlotte and Philadelphia's final expansion bids are due June 30, with the league expected to announce one or both slots before the 2025 NWSL Championship in November. The Denver and Boston attendance curves through their first full season will set the comp set for Columbus's season-ticket deposit strategy, likely launching in early 2026.
The takeaway
Columbus's $205M fee—triple 2024 entrants—turns expansion into a liquidity event for existing clubs, funding two more years of pre-profitability operations.
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