Haslam Sports Group will pay $205 million to bring an NWSL franchise to Columbus, the league's 18th team and the most expensive expansion fee in women's professional sports history. The team begins play in 2028. The Haslams own the NFL's Cleveland Browns and MLS's Columbus Crew.
The fee is $40 million above the $165 million Atlanta paid five months ago for the league's 17th franchise, also starting in 2028. That Atlanta number was itself a record. The Columbus deal closed last week. Both checks clear before either team plays a match.
The Columbus premium does two things. First, it resets the price floor for any future NWSL expansion. The league has fielded inquiries from Detroit, Charlotte, and Philadelphia ownership groups, and now they know the number starts north of $200 million. Second, the deal structure ensured Atlanta's full fee would be locked in. NWSL expansion agreements include most-favored-nation clauses that adjust earlier buyers' fees upward if a subsequent sale exceeds theirs by more than 10%. Columbus's $205 million sits just under that threshold, meaning Atlanta pays $165 million without adjustment and the league collects $370 million in expansion capital by the end of 2027.
That capital matters for two audiences. For existing NWSL owners, the expansion fees flow directly to them as distributions, not to league operations. The 14 current owners—Bay FC joined as the 15th team this season, Boston and Utah enter in 2026, and Atlanta and Columbus follow in 2028—will split $370 million in cash by the time Atlanta and Columbus kick off. For potential buyers, the fee trajectory from $2 million in San Diego in 2021 to $205 million in Columbus in 2025 gives allocators a clean comp for franchise appreciation in a league with a $240 million media deal from CBS, ESPN, and Amazon that runs through 2027.
Haslam Sports Group operates the Crew, whose stadium will share no infrastructure with the NWSL club. The women's team will play at Historic Crew Stadium, the former MLS home, which seats 19,500 and will receive renovations before 2028. The Crew moved to a new $300 million stadium in 2021. Columbus is the only NWSL market with overlapping ownership of an MLS franchise in the same city, creating operational leverage on sponsorship sales, ticketing systems, and front-office infrastructure. The Haslams also control Pilot Flying J, the truck-stop chain, and have explored stadium naming-rights deals that bundle both soccer properties.
The league's media deal expires after the 2027 season. Negotiations will begin in 2026, and the Columbus and Atlanta fees set the franchise valuation baseline that broadcasters will use to model rights-fee increases. If the league negotiates a $400 million-per-year deal, the expansion math works backward: a $205 million fee assumes a franchise is worth roughly 12x annual media revenue per team, a multiple in line with MLS's 10-14x range.
Watch for three developments. First, commissioner Jessica Berman will field Detroit and Philadelphia expansion pitches before the 2027 season, and those bids will anchor near $220 million if they move. Second, Haslam Sports Group will announce a naming-rights partner for Historic Crew Stadium by late 2025, likely bundling it with the MLS stadium deal. Third, NWSL ownership will vote on whether to increase the number of international roster spots per team, a decision tied to expansion economics: more teams need more players, and international talent is cheaper than domestic.
The Columbus franchise has no announced name, crest, or coach. The Haslams have hired a general manager, Morgan Gautrat, a former USWNT midfielder who played for the Crew's women's team from 2013 to 2016, before NWSL existed in Columbus. Her first call is a head coach, and her second is a kit supplier. Nike supplies 10 of the league's 15 current teams. The Crew wear Adidas. Gautrat's choice will signal whether the NWSL expansion club operates as a Haslam portfolio asset or as a standalone brand.
The league collects $370 million in expansion fees by 2027 and enters media negotiations with 18 franchises. The franchise fee climbed 10,150% in four years.
The takeaway
NWSL secures **$370M** in expansion fees by 2027, setting franchise floor above **$200M** ahead of media-rights talks.
nwslexpansionfranchise valuationhaslam sports groupwomen's soccermedia rights
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