Haslam Sports Group closed on the NWSL's 18th expansion franchise for $205 million, placing a women's soccer team in Columbus and marking the league's fastest fee escalation in its 12-year history. The price is $40 million higher than Atlanta's entry five months ago, a 24% premium that commissioner Jessica Berman has structured deliberately: each new market now costs more than the last.
The Haslams own the NFL's Cleveland Browns and MLS's Columbus Crew. The Columbus NWSL team will share Lower.com Field, the $314 million stadium that opened in 2021 with a 20,000 capacity. The Crew averaged 20,329 per match in 2025, second in MLS. The NWSL franchise inherits existing infrastructure, a season-ticket base trained to buy women's sports, and a front-office pool already managing two properties. The stadium lease runs through 2051; the NWSL team pays a per-game facilities fee and splits premium hospitality revenue with the Crew under terms not disclosed.
The $40 million step-up from Atlanta is not a negotiation artifact. Berman has told prospective ownership groups that expansion fees will continue rising as the league approaches 20 teams by 2028. Atlanta paid $165 million in November 2025. Before that, Boston paid $108 million in September 2023. The escalator reflects broadcast growth: CBS, ESPN, and Amazon paid $240 million over four years starting in 2024, triple the prior deal. Attendance rose 15% league-wide in 2025 to an average 11,782, and the playoffs drew 22,054 per match. The league is now pricing in scarcity: fewer expansion slots remain, and the next media cycle opens in 2028 with projected rights fees above $100 million annually.
Columbus is the third franchise awarded since July 2023, and the Haslams are the second ownership group to place an NWSL team in a city where they already operate an MLS club. The Kansas City Current owners did this in reverse, buying the men's team after launching the NWSL side. The economics tilt toward dual ownership. Shared facilities cut fixed costs by roughly 30%, per league financial disclosures. Marketing budgets overlap. Front-office salaries stretch across two payrolls. The Haslams will run identical sponsorship packages for both teams, a pitch that adds 26 NWSL home dates to the Crew's 17 MLS matches for local corporate partners.
The $205 million entry fee flows directly to the league's 17 existing teams, split evenly. Each current owner collects roughly $12 million, a distribution that keeps franchise valuations rising. The Utah Royals sold for $30 million in 2020. Angel City FC entered at $58 million in 2022. By 2024, the San Diego Wave was valued at $120 million in a minority stake transaction. The Columbus price suggests the median franchise is now worth $180 million to $200 million, depending on market and stadium control.
Berman has said publicly the league can grow to 32 teams. That claim appeared in two ESPN interviews this week. The league currently has 14 active franchises plus four announced expansions: Bay FC and Utah (both launched 2024), Boston (2026), and now Columbus (2027). Atlanta starts play in 2026. Reaching 32 teams would require 14 more cities beyond the current commitments. The math assumes $250 million minimum fees for the final slots, which would generate $3.5 billion in new capital distributed to incumbents. Whether demand holds at that price depends on the 2028 broadcast renewal and whether attendance continues growing above 12,000 per match.
The Haslams did not disclose which family members hold equity, but the deal closes under Haslam Sports Group's Delaware S-corp, the same entity that owns the Browns and Crew. Jimmy Haslam, the group's principal, has a net worth estimated at $5.8 billion by Forbes, most of it from Pilot Flying J truck stops. The family sold a majority stake in Pilot to Berkshire Hathaway in 2023 for roughly $8 billion. That liquidity event preceded both the Crew stadium renovation and now the NWSL entry.
The Columbus team will begin play in March 2027. The league has not announced a name or colors. The Haslams will hire a president and general manager by August 2026, according to the franchise timeline. The team enters the 2026 NWSL Draft in December and can sign free agents starting January 2027. The expansion draft, where Columbus selects unprotected players from existing rosters, occurs in December 2026. The club inherits one designated international roster spot and operates under the same $3.8 million salary cap as incumbent teams.
The next expansion window opens in late 2027, per Berman's comments to ESPN. The league has received formal interest from ownership groups in Cleveland, Milwaukee, Nashville, and a second Bay Area franchise. Asking price will start at $230 million.