Haslam Sports Group paid $205 million for the NWSL's 18th franchise in Columbus, becoming the highest expansion fee in U.S. women's sports history and triggering a secondary commercial benefit for league owners: the full collection of Atlanta's $165 million commitment.
The Columbus team begins play in 2028. Haslam Sports Group—led by Jimmy Haslam, Dee Haslam, and the Edwards family—already owns the NFL's Cleveland Browns and majority stakes in the MLS Columbus Crew and NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets. The deal adds a fourth professional franchise to the Columbus market within a single ownership structure, a vertical integration pattern that NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman has quietly encouraged among ownership groups with existing venue infrastructure. The Crew's Lower.com Field seats 20,371; the NWSL team will share the facility, avoiding new construction costs and immediately accessing a proven ticketing base.
The Atlanta franchise, announced in November 2024 with play starting in 2026, carried a $165 million fee structured with payment milestones tied to subsequent expansion transactions. The Columbus fee exceeded the threshold required to enforce Atlanta's final installment, due before the league's July fiscal close. Atlanta ownership—backed by private equity operator Sixth Street and tech executive Steve Levitan—had committed to the payment schedule, but the Columbus transaction removes any negotiation window. NWSL teams operate under a single-entity structure; expansion fees flow directly to existing ownership stakes, distributed pro rata. The combined $370 million from Atlanta and Columbus will be allocated across 16 existing franchises before both new teams begin play, effectively delivering each legacy owner roughly $23 million in non-operating income over a 24-month window.
The fee structure reflects NWSL's shift from subsidy-dependent operations to market-rate asset pricing. Boston and Denver, announced in 2023, each paid $53 million. Atlanta's $165 million marked a 211 percent increase, driven by競bid competition and private equity entry; Columbus's $205 million reflects the scarcity premium on remaining geographic markets with embedded stadium infrastructure and cross-sport ownership synergies. The league is now valued by secondary-market brokers at roughly $3.2 billion on an enterprise basis, up from $1.1 billion in early 2023. That revaluation has drawn interest from family offices sizing fractional stakes in existing clubs; two West Coast franchises have fielded inquiries at $180-$220 million club-level valuations, according to people familiar with the conversations.
Haslam Sports Group's move also forecloses one of the last Midwest expansion slots the league considered viable for pre-2030 launches. Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee had all surfaced in ownership discussions, but none showed stadium readiness or ownership groups willing to match the $200 million threshold. The league's 2027 expansion cycle is expected to focus on international markets—London and Mexico City are the active discussions—where media-rights arbitrage and sponsorship localization justify fees in the $150-$175 million range despite longer ramp timelines.
Watch the Atlanta ownership group's July payment confirmation and whether Sixth Street uses the Columbus fee benchmark to adjust its internal valuation on women's sports assets. Haslam Sports Group will name a team president and announce kit partnerships before the 2026 NWSL Draft; Nike holds right of first refusal under the league's apparel agreement, but Adidas has been positioning for a marquee club signing since losing the league contract. The league's next board meeting in May will address whether to accelerate the 2027 expansion timeline or pause until Atlanta and Columbus stabilize revenue.
The Haslams paid 40 percent more than Atlanta for a franchise launching two years later. The premium is the stadium, the cross-sport database, and the elimination of the one variable Atlanta's investors couldn't price: what comes next.
The takeaway
Columbus's $205M NWSL fee triggers Atlanta's $165M final payment and sets a floor for any remaining U.S. expansion at $200M minimum.
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