Haslam Sports Group paid $205 million for an expansion franchise in Columbus, Ohio, setting a National Women's Soccer League record and delivering the league's ownership committee a 24% premium over Atlanta's November commitment. The team begins play in 2028.
The NWSL awarded the franchise to the Haslams and co-investors including the Edwards family, who own stakes in the NFL's Cleveland Browns and MLS's Columbus Crew. Atlanta Spirit Holdings had paid $165 million in November for the league's 17th franchise, which starts next season. Boston Legacy FC and Denver Summit FC, the 15th and 16th teams, began play five weeks ago at $113 million each, paid in late 2024. Columbus becomes the 18th franchise.
The $40 million step-up from Atlanta to Columbus in five months reflects pricing pressure from three dynamics. First, the league is now selling scarcity: commissioner Jessica Berman has indicated 18 teams may be the near-term cap, turning Columbus into a last-call asset. Second, institutional capital is competing with family offices. Atlanta's $165 million came from Anheuser-Busch heir Billy Busch and a group including former Delta executives; Columbus has the Haslams, whose Pilot Flying J fortune and NFL ownership give them balance-sheet depth most bidders lack. Third, the league's broadcast deal with ESPN, CBS, and Amazon begins this season and runs through 2027, giving buyers three years of known media economics before the next negotiation. A franchise starting in 2028 enters with one year of revenue visibility, then immediately faces a renewal window that will determine whether the asset appreciates or stalls.
The $205 million fee also establishes NWSL expansion pricing in the same range as NBA G League ownership, which sold for $200 million in recent rounds, and above recent WNBA transactions. The Las Vegas Aces sold for $85 million in 2021; the Seattle Storm changed hands last year at an undisclosed figure believed to be under $100 million. NWSL franchises now trade at a premium to WNBA teams despite lower attendance and revenue, a function of ownership structure—NWSL teams are independently held, WNBA franchises are controlled by NBA parents—and supply. The WNBA has added one team since 2008; the NWSL has added six since 2023.
For the Haslams, Columbus is a hedge on Cleveland. The family's Cleveland Browns consistently rank in the NFL's bottom third for fan sentiment, and the team's stadium lease expires in 2028. A Columbus NWSL franchise gives the group a second Ohio asset in a market with no NFL competition and a soccer-first identity built by the Crew. The Edwards family, minority partners in both the Browns and Crew, add brand continuity.
The franchise operates under NWSL's standard revenue model: teams keep gate, sponsorship, and local media; the league distributes national broadcast revenue and playoff gates. Columbus will play its first two seasons in a temporary venue while purpose-built infrastructure is finalized. The Crew's Lower.com Field, a 20,000-seat soccer-specific stadium opened in 2021, is the presumptive temporary home, though the team has not confirmed.
The 2028 start date gives the ownership group 18 months to hire a general manager, 24 months to name a coach, and 30 months to scout a roster under NWSL's expansion draft rules, which allow new teams to select unprotected players from existing clubs. Boston and Denver each built rosters of 22 players before their March kickoffs using a combination of draft picks, trades, and free-agent signings. Columbus will operate under the same framework.
Atlanta's franchise, announced in November, begins play in 2026 and will compete directly with Columbus for front-office talent over the next six months. Both teams need scouting directors, performance staff, and ticket-sales infrastructure. The NWSL's player pool is shallow enough that two expansion drafts within 18 months will force existing teams to protect fewer veterans, creating trade opportunities for teams willing to take on salary.
The league has not announced an 18th-team expansion timeline, but the $205 million Columbus fee and the $165 million Atlanta commitment give the NWSL $370 million in expansion capital since November, more than the league's previous 16 teams generated in fees combined. That money flows to existing owners as a one-time distribution, not operating revenue.
Watch for Columbus to name a team president within 90 days, likely from MLS or NFL front offices. The Crew's business staff, led by president Tim Bezbatchenko, will almost certainly overlap with the NWSL team's early operations. NWSL's next broadcast deal, expected to begin negotiations in late 2026, will determine whether $205 million was a floor or a ceiling.
The takeaway
Columbus's $205M NWSL fee prices expansion franchises 24% above Atlanta and confirms league valuations now exceed WNBA comps.
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