NWSL Expansion: What it means for North American Soccer
By Mike Gambill
By now, most soccer fans in North America have at least heard the news that the NWSL is set to expand next season to their fourteenth team with additions in Utah and the San Francisco Bay Area. While the notion of soccer expansion may not grab enormous sports headlines, how the NWSL is expanding its business model should bring a new level of growth, stability, and consistency within women’s professional soccer.
The NWSL expansion will have fourteen teams next season.
The NWSL looks to add two new franchises next year including the resurrection of the Utah Royals and a new team in the San Francisco Bay Area. While the details haven’t been worked out exactly where the new Bay Area team will play, the nod will probably go to Paypal Park in San Jose where the Earthquakes call home. This in turn may help foster a new working partnership between the MLS and the NWSL with teams sharing facilities with a common goal to grow and develop soccer as a professional sport in North America.
Who’s the driving force behind the NWSL’s growth and expansion?
The faces of the new Bay Area franchise are none other than Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osborne, Danielle Slaton, and Aly Wagner – pioneers in women’s soccer in America. This fabulous four-quartet of investors brings instant credibility and brand recognition to the new NWSL franchise.
The story of this new team doesn’t end with famous soccer players. The real driving force behind NWSL expansion is Sixth Street which is a global private equity firm. If you aren’t currently aware of this investment juggernaut, let the fact that this firm has invested over a billion dollars into sports franchises including Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, and the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs. Do I have your attention now?
Led by Sixth Street’s CEO Alan Waxman and strategic investor Sheryl Sandberg, an investment in the range of $125 million dollars is being put into the new Bay Area franchise including a $53 million dollar expansion fee to the NWSL. Growth in the NWSL is now more inevitable than ever considering that the investment in the Angel City FC franchise was around $100 million dollars. Call it inflation, call it growth, or whatever you want but the cost of starting and building a women’s soccer club is rising – fast. In a further nod to their new roles in the NWSL, Waxman will serve on the league’s Board of Governors and Sandberg will serve as an alternate board member.
What does this do for soccer in North America?
Not only does the presence of investment firms such as Sixth Street bring instant credibility to the growth of women’s soccer, it also brings an air of partnership with some of the biggest soccer clubs in the world. As private investors look to spend money on growing soccer in North America, other potential teams will soon be considered as companies such as Inner Circle Sports are looking at developing the next teams in the NWSL.
The long-term success of the NWSL not only depends on the growth of the sport but on financial stability as well. Large private investors bring not only large amounts of money to women’s soccer but a chance to grow the NWSL brand on a global basis.