The National Women's Soccer League awarded its 18th franchise to Columbus, Ohio, on Monday with a $205 million expansion fee—the highest in league history and more than double the $102 million that Bay FC paid for the 2024 entry rights secured fourteen months ago. Haslam Sports Group, which controls the NFL's Cleveland Browns and MLS Columbus Crew, will launch the team in 2028.
The fee represents a 101 percent increase over the previous record in a window when the league's national media deal with CBS, ESPN, Prime Video, and Scripps hasn't changed. Bay FC's $102 million payment in January 2023 was itself triple the $35 million Angel City FC paid in 2020. Columbus is the third franchise awarded since mid-2023 and the second in Ohio, following Cincinnati's announcement last September at an undisclosed fee now understood to be in the $150 million range based on filing patterns. The league began selling expansion rights at $2 million in 2016.
The gap matters because it confirms what team operators and allocators have quietly modeled for eighteen months: NWSL enterprise values are no longer anchored to MLS comparables or media-rights-per-team division. They're pricing against scarcity, ticket velocity, and sponsor urgency in markets where women's sports inventory is the new campus naming rights. Columbus averages 20,183 fans for Crew matches at Lower.com Field, the $314 million venue that opened in 2021. The same building will host NWSL matches, giving Haslam immediate infrastructure other expansion groups spent two years securing. Cincinnati's team, also using an MLS venue, begins play in 2026. Boston launches in 2026 at White Stadium after a $100 million city-backed renovation. The shared-venue model cuts facility risk but creates schedule dependency and limits ancillary revenue control during the April-to-November NWSL calendar.
Haslam's bid included minority stakes from four local business families and two former U.S. women's national team players, structure common in recent awards. The ownership group has until December 2026 to name a team president and technical director, then twelve months to staff a front office before the 2028 season. That timeline mirrors Bay FC's ramp but extends two quarters longer than Angel City's compressed build, which launched sixteen months after the franchise award and has since restructured twice. The longer runway suggests the league is prioritizing operational readiness over speed, particularly after Utah Royals' rocky 2024 relaunch following a two-year dormancy.
The fee itself gets paid in tranches: 30 percent at contract signing, 40 percent by January 2027, and the remainder by opening day. League revenue-sharing kicks in immediately, meaning Columbus receives a pro-rata slice of the national media deal and licensing income even before fielding a roster. The team will play a 26-game regular season schedule, unchanged from the current format, with playoff expansion to twelve teams expected by 2027 based on competitive-balance discussions at the March Board of Governors meeting.
Two dynamics explain the price jump. First, the league stopped issuing conditional expansion options after the Bay FC award, moving to a closed bidding process that forces groups to submit best-and-final offers with full financial disclosure. Second, the NWSL's average attendance rose 17 percent year-over-year in 2024 to 11,847 per match, while jersey sponsorship revenue increased 22 percent despite a flat national TV audience. Brands are paying for in-stadium exposure and local activation rights, not Nielsen households, which changes the valuation formula for markets with corporate density. Columbus ranks 14th nationally in Fortune 500 headquarters per capita.
Haslam Sports Group's portfolio now includes three teams across three leagues in two Ohio markets, creating sponsor packaging opportunities that competitors in single-team markets can't match. The group's existing partnerships with Nationwide, Huntington Bank, and OhioHealth renew between 2026 and 2028, aligning with the NWSL launch window. One executive at a rival NWSL franchise noted that stacking inventory across properties typically lifts individual asset valuations by 15 to 20 percent in renewal negotiations, though the effect varies by category exclusivity rules.
The league has one remaining expansion slot available before reaching its stated 20-team cap by 2028. Six groups submitted preliminary interest forms by the March 15 deadline for cities including Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Nashville, and San Diego. The league will announce the final franchise before the 2026 NWSL Championship in November, with the fee expected to exceed $220 million based on sequential pricing and the cap-scarcity premium.
Columbus begins technical staff recruitment in Q3 2026, with head coach and general manager searches opening after the franchise name and crest are unveiled. The ownership group retained Wasserman for branding and CAA for executive search, the same combination Bay FC used. The team will compete in the league's Western Conference, pending realignment once the 20th franchise is placed.