The National Women's Soccer League awarded Columbus its 18th franchise at a $205 million expansion fee, with play beginning in 2028. Dee and Jimmy Haslam, who own the NFL's Cleveland Browns, anchor the ownership group. The fee is 41% higher than the $110 million San Francisco paid in August 2024 and 117% above the $53 million Boston and Denver paid last year for teams that began play this month.
The Haslams will share the 20,000-seat Lower.com Field with MLS's Columbus Crew. The stadium opened in 2021. The 2028 timeline tracks the women's team to the Crew's lease structure and stadium authority board cycles, people familiar with the venue's governance calendar said. The NWSL team avoids the 2026 World Cup infrastructure crunch across North American soccer venues and gains two full offseasons to negotiate shared event windows and kit storage with Crew SC.
NWSL has now added five teams since 2023, bringing the league to 18 clubs by 2026 and 19 counting Columbus. Expansion fees have escalated in step with media rights growth: the league's current deals with CBS, ESPN, Amazon, and Scripps total roughly $240 million over four years. A new media cycle begins in 2027, six months before Columbus kicks off. League executives are modeling inventory for 20 teams in rights negotiations, two people briefed on the pitch decks said. Columbus locks in ahead of that window.
The Haslams' portfolio now spans three Ohio franchises—Browns, Crew SC, and the NWSL club—and one Tennessee team, the Knoxville Ice Bears (SPHL). Jimmy Haslam bought the Browns in 2012 for $1.05 billion. The family and the Edwards family purchased the Crew in 2023 after former owner Anthony Precourt attempted to relocate the team to Austin. That bid collapsed under local political pressure. The Crew won MLS Cup in December 2023. The women's team inherits a market with demonstrated support for soccer and a stadium designed for it.
Columbus hosted a SheBelieves Cup match between the U.S. and Canada in February 2025, drawing 19,084 fans. The city has no WNBA or NWSL competition but sits within the Big Ten footprint, where women's basketball and volleyball attendance routinely clears five figures. Nationwide Children's Hospital, Huntington Bank, and American Electric Power maintain headquarters downtown. The Haslams will need two or three anchor sponsors at mid-seven figures to cover stadium rent and baseline operations before ticket revenue.
The league has not named the Columbus GM or head coach. Dee Haslam will serve as governor. Most recent expansion clubs hired technical staff 12 to 16 months before inaugural seasons, which would put Columbus hires in late 2026. The club will enter the 2027 NWSL expansion draft and 2028 college draft. It misses the next media rights negotiation as a voting member but benefits from the rates that deal sets.
Watch whether Columbus poaches front-office talent from San Francisco or Utah, both clubs still building out business operations. Also watch the Crew's 2026 kit sponsor renewal—MLS deals typically run three years, and a joint women's-men's package would move Columbus closer to Portland's dual-club model. The stadium authority's 2026 capital budget, due in November, will show whether the women's team triggers locker-room or broadcast booth renovations.
The takeaway
Columbus pays record NWSL fee to secure 2028 slot tied to stadium windows and pre-media-rights deadline.
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