Haslam Sports Group will pay $205 million to place the NWSL's 18th franchise in Columbus starting in 2028, the league announced Monday. The fee is $40 million higher than the $165 million Atlanta committed in November, resetting the valuation floor for a league that launched franchises at $2 million thirteen years ago.
The Haslams own the NFL's Cleveland Browns and MLS's Columbus Crew. The NWSL team will share Lower.com Field with the Crew, a 20,000-seat stadium that opened in 2021 and already hosts international women's friendlies. The Columbus metro ranks 32nd in the U.S. by population but carries a youth soccer registration density in the 92nd percentile nationally, per U.S. Soccer Federation data, and the Crew averaged 20,844 tickets sold per match last season, fourth in MLS.
The Haslams' bid was structured with $185 million cash up front and $20 million deferred, according to people familiar with the term sheet. That structure mirrors Atlanta's deal, which carried a $150 million initial payment and $15 million holdback tied to stadium completion milestones. The Columbus fee now guarantees Atlanta's full $165 million pays out, because NWSL's operating agreement includes a most-favored-nation clause requiring the league to true up prior expansion fees if a subsequent bidder pays more within 18 months. Atlanta's investors—led by Anheuser-Busch heir Billy Busch and private-equity principal Doug Hertz—will receive a $40 million catch-up payment from league escrow by June, per the agreement.
The fee jump reflects two forces. First, the league's broadcast revenue is climbing faster than underwriting models assumed. NWSL's current rights deal with CBS, ESPN, and Amazon runs through 2027 and pays roughly $60 million annually. The league is already in early conversations with streamers and linear networks for a 2028 package, and executives are using the WNBA's recent $2.2 billion 11-year deal as a floor multiplier, not a ceiling. Second, the investor base shifted. The Haslams are writing the check from operating cash flow, not raising a fund. That eliminates return hurdles and means they can underwrite longer breakeven timelines. Atlanta's group structured their investment as a seven-year hold with a 12% IRR target; the Haslams have no exit horizon.
Columbus also gives NWSL its second team in Ohio, alongside Cincinnati, which entered in 2025 for $165 million and plays at TQL Stadium. The geographic density matters for sponsorship. Kroger, Procter & Gamble, and Sherwin-Williams are all Ohio-headquartered and already spend in women's sports. The league's current national sponsors—Ally, Google, Nike—renew in Q4 2026, and having two Midwest teams in top-50 metros increases the odds of a Cincinnati-based Fortune 500 company taking a founding partnership at $15 million to $20 million annually, according to two sponsorship advisors who have seen the NWSL's 2027 deck.
The Columbus announcement also clarifies what Denver will pay. The league is evaluating Denver's bid now, with a decision expected by August. Denver's group is led by Walton family members and Walmart heir Carrie Walton Penner, and league sources say the bid floor is $210 million, five percent above Columbus. The bidders know the most-favored-nation clause exists, so each subsequent bid inches up to avoid triggering retroactive true-ups. If Denver pays $210 million, Columbus gets a $5 million top-off. The result is a ratchet mechanism that keeps pushing the floor higher without anyone explicitly negotiating against each other.
The Haslams have not named a team president or announced kit sponsors. The Crew's operational staff will manage ticketing and stadium logistics, but the NWSL team will carry its own P&L. MLS and NWSL shared-stadium teams typically split venue operating costs 60-40 in favor of the MLS side, because MLS plays 17 home dates versus NWSL's 13. The Crew's current kit deal with Nike runs through 2028 and pays roughly $3 million annually; the NWSL team will negotiate separately, and recent expansion teams have signed founding kit deals in the $2 million to $4 million range.
Denver's decision timeline matters because the league wants to announce all expansion markets before the current broadcast deal expires in December 2027, giving negotiators a clear team count and geographic footprint to sell. If Denver closes by August, the league will have 20 teams by 2029, hitting the target the commissioner outlined in a March investor presentation. The league has also fielded interest from groups in Phoenix, San Diego, and Nashville, but those markets are not in active discussions.
Columbus kicks off in 2028, giving the Haslams 24 months to hire a general manager, build a training facility, and sign players. The Crew's training complex in Obetz has 12 acres of adjacent land the Haslams own, and early architectural work has already started on an NWSL-specific building with six fields and a 15,000-square-foot performance center. The facility will be completed by Q2 2027, ahead of the team's first training camp.
The $205 million fee is now the number every subsequent bidder has to beat, and the most-favored-nation clause means the ratchet only goes one direction.