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NWSL Charges Haslam Sports Group $205M for Columbus Franchise, Doubling League Valuation Floor
Fee sets new American women's sports benchmark; Atlanta expansion awarded same day at undisclosed price.
Sports Edge deskSports Edge · Huang GoodmanSource: The Athletic ↗
In plain words
**$205M** Columbus fee resets NWSL franchise values and tightens sponsorship pricing six quarters before media rights renewal.
$205 million
franchise fee—the highest in American women's professional sports history
16 teams
by 2026
$110 million
San Francisco paid in late 2023
$150 million
Commissioner Jessica Berman structured both announcements for the same…
The National Women's Soccer League awarded an expansion franchise to Columbus on Tuesday, with Haslam Sports Group paying a $205 million franchise fee—the highest in American women's professional sports history. The Haslams, who control the NFL's Cleveland Browns and a controlling stake in the Milwaukee Bucks, will launch play in 2026. The league simultaneously awarded a second expansion team to Atlanta for an undisclosed fee, bringing the NWSL to 16 teams by 2026.
The Columbus fee more than doubles the $110 million San Francisco paid in late 2023, when tech money entered the league through a group led by venture firms. The Atlanta price remains private, though league sources familiar with the process suggest it cleared $150 million. Commissioner Jessica Berman structured both announcements for the same Tuesday media window, signaling expansion momentum rather than individual city stories. Columbus will play at Lower.com Field, the 20,000-seat MLS stadium opened in 2021. Atlanta's venue remains unconfirmed; Mercedes-Benz Stadium and a planned downtown site are both in discussion.
The $205 million price carries two signals for allocators watching the space. First, it establishes a new valuation floor for existing franchises—most recently valued between $40M-$80M on secondary sales—forcing cap-table recalibrations for clubs contemplating minority rounds. A Western Conference ownership group is currently marketing a 15% stake at a $120M club valuation; that number resets today. Second, it confirms multi-sport family offices will pay the scarcity premium. The Haslams join Sixth Street (San Francisco), Willow Bay and Bob Iger (Angel City), and the Anschutz family (originally Houston, sold) in writing nine-figure checks for teams that averaged 8,200 fans per match in 2024.
The sponsorship math moved, too. NWSL media rights—currently a four-year, $240M deal split between CBS, ESPN, Amazon, and Scripps—expire after 2027. League sponsors including Google, Visa, and Nike are now pricing against a 16-team footprint that includes Atlanta's 6 million metro and Columbus's rabid soccer base. Google's kit deal, signed at $3.5M annually per team in 2022, renews in early 2026; the Columbus announcement gives the league's commercial team a new comp for those conversations. One brand VP, speaking at last month's ANA conference, noted the NWSL's 0.85M average broadcast audience—up 115% since 2021—as justification for budget reallocations out of legacy women's sports.
What happens next: Columbus will name a president within 60 days; front-office hires follow by late spring. Atlanta's ownership group remains unannounced, though local real-estate families and a private-equity sports fund have both run process. The league's next expansion window opens in 2027, with Cincinnati, Charlotte, and Nashville all formally interested. Commissioner Berman has said publicly the league will stop at 16 teams through 2028, but three additional cities are already paying consultants to build bid books.
The Haslams paid what the market would bear. The Atlanta price—when it surfaces—will tell you whether $205 million was the high or the middle.
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