Haslam Sports Group will pay $205 million for the NWSL's eighteenth franchise, which begins play in Columbus in 2028. The fee arrived five months after Atlanta committed $165 million for a slot that launched this March.
The Columbus transaction does two things. It sets a new benchmark—24 percent higher than the December Atlanta number—and it structurally protects the league's prior valuation. NWSL expansion fees include most-favored-nation clauses; any subsequent bid above an existing commitment triggers a true-up payment from the newer buyer to the league, ensuring earlier franchises also transact at the higher figure. Atlanta's ownership now receives the benefit of Columbus's $40 million premium without renegotiating.
Haslam Sports Group owns the NFL's Cleveland Browns and MLS's Columbus Crew. The NWSL franchise will share Lower.com Field with the Crew, a 20,000-seat stadium that opened in 2021 and already hosts international friendlies and mid-tier concerts. Shared infrastructure reduces operating expense; the family pays stadium debt once, staffs one ops team, splits kit-washing and groundskeeping. MLS-NWSL co-tenancy has worked in Portland, Seattle, and Orlando. Columbus adds volume without adding fixed cost.
The valuation math reflects both media optimism and sponsor appetite. NWSL's current national deals—CBS, Amazon, ESPN—run through 2027. Renewal conversations begin this fall. League executives point to the 1.44 million average viewership for the 2024 championship on CBS, the highest non-World Cup women's club match in U.S. history. CBS paid roughly $1 million per match under the existing contract. Comparable women's properties in basketball and tennis now command multiples of that. A conservative mid-cycle renewal would double per-game rights fees; an aggressive one approaches $3 million per match.
Sponsors are paying for exposure to a young, affluent, progressive demo that skews female but attracts household decision-makers. Brands like Ally, Google, and Nike treat NWSL inventory as brand-building rather than performance marketing, a shift that protects rates even when ratings fluctuate. The league's jersey-sponsor revenue doubled between 2022 and 2024. Columbus enters a market with established corporate sponsorship infrastructure—Nationwide, Cardinal Health, Huntington—and a median household income 12 percent above the national average.
The timing also matters for debt markets. Haslam Sports Group carries significant leverage from the Browns' $1.05 billion purchase in 2012 and subsequent stadium negotiations. Adding a $205 million NWSL commitment—likely 60-70 percent equity, 30-40 percent team-level debt—signals family-office confidence that women's soccer franchises will appreciate faster than the blended cost of capital. Private equity has circled NWSL for eighteen months; Sixth Street evaluated multiple bids before stepping back in January. Haslam's price resets the comp set for any future PE entry.
Watch three follow-ons. First, Cleveland—another Haslam market—becomes an immediate NWSL candidate if Columbus performs. Second, the league will likely announce franchise nineteen and twenty before the end of 2026; Nashville, Philadelphia, and a second Los Angeles slot are circulating. Third, the next national media deal, negotiated in late 2026 for a 2028 start, will either validate or punish this valuation cycle.
The $205 million fee is forty-one times what Portland paid to join NWSL in 2012. The Haslams are betting the multiplier keeps running.
The takeaway
Columbus's **$205M** NWSL fee validates accelerated franchise pricing and backstops Atlanta's earlier **$165M** commitment via true-up clause.
nwslexpansionhaslam sports groupvaluationwomens soccermedia rights
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