List of owners of National Women's Soccer League teams

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

National Women's Soccer League owners own a share in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and have the right to operate a team. Players' rights to play in the league are held an individual team.[1] Each NWSL team has an investor-operator that is a shareholder in the league. The league has a profit-sharing arrangement amongst the teams.[2]

As of June 2025, the league has 16 investor-operator individuals or groups for its 14 current and 2 future clubs.

Teams

Angel City FC

Angel City FC was founded in 2020 by Kara Nortman, Natalie Portman, Alexis Ohanian, and Julie Uhrman.[3] Other notable investors include:[4][3]

Bay FC (2024)

Chicago Stars FC

Main article: Chicago Stars FC § Ownership

Arnim Whisler was a co-founding owner of the originally-named Chicago Red Stars in 2007 in Women's Professional Soccer, the top American league at the time.[8][9] He was owner of the Chicago Red Stars in the NWSL from the inception of the league in 2012[10] until September 1, 2023, when Whisler and all minority owners of the Red Stars sold their stakes to an investment group led by Laura Ricketts, which included Debra Cafaro, Jennifer Pritzker, and Hilary Rosen.[11][12]

Houston Dash

Main article: Houston Dash § Ownership and team management

The majority owner of the Houston Dash is Ted Segal.[13]

Other investors include Gabriel Brener, Oscar De La Hoya, and Ben Guill.[14]

James Harden joined the ownership group in 2019.[15]

Kansas City Current

Lead investors of the Kansas City Current are Angie and Chris Long. Other minority investors include Jen Gulvik and Brittany Matthews and her husband Patrick Mahomes.[16] (2020–present; started play in 2021)[17]

NJ/NY Gotham FC

The founding investor of NJ/NY Gotham FC is Thomas Hofstetter[18] Since 2012, majority owners have included Tammy Murphy, Phil Murphy, Steven Temares.[19] In 2020, Ed Nalbandian joined as a minority owner.[20] In 2022, Kristin Bernert, Karen Bryant, Carli Lloyd, Sue Bird, Kevin Durant, and Rich Kleiman joined as minority owners.[21][22][23][24]

North Carolina Courage

Since 2017, Steve Malik has been the majority and managing owner of the North Carolina Courage and served as its chairman.[25]

  • Naomi Osaka joined as a minority owner in January 2021.[26]
  • Capitol Broadcasting Company (CBC), Ashlie and Michael Bucy, and Sara and R. James Toussaint joined as minority owners in May 2021.[27]
  • Jim and Sue Datin, Torry Holt, Downtown South developer Kane Realty, and nine other local investors joined as minority owners in July 2021.[28]
  • CBC increased its stake in the Courage and acquired a seat on the club's board of directors in August 2023.[29]
  • Ons Jabeur joined as a minority owner in August 2023.[30]

Seattle Reign FC

Orlando Pride

  • Since 2021: The Wilf Family (Mark Wilf, Zygi Wilf, Lenny Wilf) [33]
  • 2018–2021: Flávio Augusto da Silva (majority), Phil Rawlins (minority), Albert Friedberg (minority)[34]
  • 2015–2018: Flávio Augusto da Silva (majority) and Phil Rawlins (minority)

Portland Thorns FC

Racing Louisville FC

San Diego Wave FC

Washington Spirit

Utah Royals

Former teams

Boston Breakers

  • Michael Stoller, Boston Women's Soccer, LLC (2012–2018)[46]

FC Kansas City

  • Chris Likens, Brad Likens, Greg Likens, and Brian Budzinski (Missouri Comets owners) (2012–2017)[47]
  • Elam Baer (2017)[48]

Western New York Flash

References

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