The National Women's Soccer League sold the Columbus franchise to the Haslam family for $205 million and awarded an expansion slot to Atlanta, a paired transaction that doubles as the league's clearest valuation signal since its 2012 launch. The Columbus price eclipses Boston's $53 million expansion fee paid in 2023 by nearly 4x and establishes the NWSL's first nine-figure team sale.
The Haslams—Jimmy and Dee, who own the NFL's Cleveland Browns and a stake in the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks—purchased the team from a consortium that included the Columbus Crew's ownership group. Atlanta's expansion slot, awarded to a group led by real estate executive Garret Boone, brings the league to 16 teams by the 2026 season, matching MLS's current footprint. The Atlanta franchise fee was not disclosed, but league sources indicate it falls between $100 million and $120 million, per conversations with two allocators briefed on the terms. Columbus begins play in 2025; Atlanta follows in 2026.
The $205 million figure matters for three reasons. First, it creates a hard floor for any future NWSL transaction, replacing the soft comps from recent expansion fees. Second, it signals to lenders and credit facilities that franchise debt can be collateralized at nine-figure levels, which unlocks stadium construction and practice-facility financing that was previously off-limits. Third, it tells existing ownership groups—many of whom paid expansion fees below $10 million before 2020—that their unrealized gains are real. The 20x increase from early-expansion pricing to today's Columbus sale is steeper than NBA team appreciation from 1990 to 2010, a comp that family offices building sports books now use as a baseline.
Atlanta's entry is less about the fee and more about the market. The metro area supports the MLS Cup-winning Atlanta United, which averaged 47,000 fans per match in 2023, the league's highest attendance by 12,000. The NWSL team will share Mercedes-Benz Stadium for marquee fixtures and play smaller matches at a to-be-named secondary venue, likely the 8,000-seat Fifth Third Bank Stadium in Kennesaw. Boone's group includes former USWNT midfielder Heather O'Reilly and venture investor Sarah Stein Greenberg, both of whom bring sponsor relationships in fintech and apparel. The Atlanta market's television footprint ranks 7th nationally, ahead of Boston (10th) and behind Dallas-Fort Worth (5th), which already hosts a team.
The Haslams' purchase carries execution risk. Columbus finished 10th in attendance in 2024, drawing 7,200 per match, and the team has cycled through three head coaches since 2022. Jimmy Haslam's NFL track record includes seven head coach changes in 12 years with Cleveland, a management style that translates poorly to a league where coaching stability correlates with sponsorship renewals. The family's upside case assumes they can replicate the infrastructure investments they made in Cleveland—new practice facilities, expanded analytics staff, upgraded stadium hospitality—and that those investments will lift revenue per fan to match top-quartile NWSL teams like Portland and Seattle. That lift needs to happen by 2027, when the league's current media deal expires and team valuations will re-set based on trailing revenue multiples.
Sponsor interest in the NWSL has grown 40% year-over-year since 2022, per league filings reviewed by this desk. The Atlanta franchise enters a market where Delta, Coca-Cola, and Home Depot maintain headquarters and regularly anchor local sports properties. Conversations with two Atlanta-based CMOs this week suggest the team will announce a founding partner at or above $8 million annually, which would rank in the league's top three. Columbus, meanwhile, needs to replace $3 million in annual sponsorship from Nationwide, which declined to renew its kit deal after the ownership change was announced in October. The Haslams have 90 days to present a replacement sponsor or risk starting the 2025 season with blank jerseys, a problem that has not occurred in the NWSL's modern era.
Two follow-on events: First, the league office is expected to announce media-rights negotiations with ESPN, CBS, and Amazon by March 2025, ahead of the 2027 expiration. Team valuations will move 15%-25% based on the average annual value of that deal, which currently sits at $45 million across all partners. Second, the Columbus front office will hire a general manager by February, and the shortlist includes three current NWSL assistant GMs and one MLS technical director, per a source with knowledge of the search. Atlanta's executive hires begin in January.
The $205 million sale price is now the comp every broker will use when pitching distressed MLS teams or second-tier European clubs. It also means the NWSL's aggregate franchise value—$2.4 billion across 16 teams at the Columbus multiple—exceeds the WNBA's $2.1 billion total, despite the basketball league's longer operating history and larger media deal. That gap will close or widen entirely based on what happens in the next 18 months of media negotiations.