Columbus Pays NWSL Record $205 Million to Enter in 2028, Resetting Valuation Floor

The National Women's Soccer League awarded its eighteenth franchise to Columbus on Monday, accepting a $205 million expansion fee from Haslam Sports Group—$40 million more than Atlanta paid five months ago and triple what Bay FC paid in 2023. The team begins play in 2028 at a renovated Historic Crew Stadium, the 20,000-seat venue the Haslam family already controls through its MLS franchise, the Columbus Crew.

Haslam Sports Group—owners of the NFL's Cleveland Browns and MLS's Columbus Crew—submitted the winning bid after a compressed four-week process that began in mid-March. The group includes Dee and Jimmy Haslam, their daughter Whitney Haslam Johnson, and Cleveland Cavaliers minority owner Justin Ishbia, brother of Phoenix Suns governor Mat Ishbia. The NWSL Board of Governors voted unanimously to approve the application. The franchise has no announced name, crest, or front-office structure. The Haslams declined interview requests through a league spokesperson.

The $205 million figure does two things. First, it validates the NWSL's post-CBA valuation leap: Atlanta's $165 million fee in November 2024 had looked like an outlier after Bay FC paid $53 million and BOS Nation FC paid $50 million the year prior. Columbus confirms the new floor. Second, the fee guarantees Atlanta will actually collect its full amount. Atlanta's deal included deferred tranches tied to league expansion momentum; sources familiar with the structure say Columbus's entry triggers full payment of at least one milestone, meaning Atlanta owner Arthur Blank sees an additional $15 million to $20 million this quarter that might have stretched into 2027 under slower growth scenarios.

For operators, the Columbus award carries three implications. One: MLS-NWSL venue share is now the default posture for ownership groups with control of both assets. The Haslams spent $182 million renovating Historic Crew Stadium in 2021; adding 15 NWSL dates per season at 80% to 90% capacity generates incremental venue revenue without new capex. Two: The eighteen-team count puts NWSL at exactly twice its 2020 size, and league president Danita Johnson told reporters the board has "no appetite" for further expansion until 2030 at earliest. That closes the window for Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and Nashville groups that had been positioning bids. Three: The fee structure suggests NWSL governors now view franchise slots as finite and appreciate accordingly—classic scarcity pricing borrowed from NFL playbook, where the Haslams paid $1 billion for the Browns in 2012 and watched Washington sell for $6.05 billion eleven years later.

Sponsorship desks should note the Haslam portfolio approach. The family now controls three Ohio franchises (Browns, Crew, NWSL Columbus) plus Pilot Flying J truck stops, creating a bundled regional media footprint. Brands chasing Ohio State University's 50,000 women's soccer fans—who watched the Buckeyes draw 10,000-plus to multiple home games last fall—can now negotiate across pro and college inventory with a single ownership conversation. Expect kit sponsors and jersey-patch deals to reference the Crew partnership in pitch decks.

Watch for three follow-ons. First, head coach and general manager hires arrive by July, per standard NWSL expansion timelines; the league requires front-office structure twelve months before kickoff. Second, Stadium naming rights: Historic Crew Stadium currently carries no sponsor, and the Haslams will likely monetize the venue's renovated status with a $3 million to $5 million annual deal before the NWSL opener. Third, Atlanta's remaining expansion milestones: if Columbus unlocked one tranche, the next likely triggers when cumulative league revenue crosses $200 million, which ESPN's next media deal—up for renewal in 2027—should deliver.

The NWSL has now collected $678 million in expansion fees since 2023. None of that money sits idle. The league distributed $12 million to players via the CBA's revenue-sharing formula last year, and governors voted in February to allocate $50 million toward a centralized performance facility in the Midwest, though no city has been named. Columbus was the last franchise the board intended to award this decade. The Haslams paid $205 million to ensure no one else could.