Michele Kang never seems to slow down.
The Washington Spirit owner has been a regular sight around Audi Field on NWSL gamedays. She has added obligations in Europe, as she finalizes the acquisition of Olympique Lyon’s women’s team, long the gold standard in women’s soccer.
Kang’s plans for a multi-club network in the women’s game are rolling on, which includes moves to build major infrastructure for the Spirit and Lyon
Speaking to a handful of reporters on a sunny day at the Spirit’s current training facility — the club is a tenant at D.C. United’s Inova Performance Center in Leesburg, Va. — Kang said she even had plans to attend the World Cup, only to scuttle them after the U.S. women’s national team’s early exit.
“I was carrying a big suitcase full of winter clothes,” said Kang with a chuckle, as she had made plans to jet from Europe to catch the U.S. women’s national team’s quarterfinal in person.
In between all that, there’s business to tackle. While officials from the Spirit and United both characterize the relationship between the two clubs as harmonious, Washington’s ambitions remain focused on to having its own top-class facility tailored to the need of women athletes.
“I can tell you between myself and my staff, we know every square inch of available land in D.C., Fairfax County, Prince George’s County,” said Kang, gesturing that her list is a long one. “Trying to find 70 acres in this area, even for purchase, is not possible.”
Nonetheless, Kang says the club is “absolutely on plan to build our own state-of-the-art training center that’s designed for women, training women as women, and all the best technology and best capabilities.
“We’re actually starting an innovation center that’s going to focus on, I guess what you call femtech. So, women’s health, understanding women’s bodies, and primary research. We have over a dozen people who are currently working on some of those things, and we’re hiring more. So that innovation lab, with a collaboration with some of the universities, both in England, here, and France, that’s going to be housed there as well.”
Kang characterized the team’s pursuit of a site as “almost there,” adding that the Spirit have kept the door open for one of the most hotly-discussed pieces of property in the entire region.
“Initially, we were very interested in the RFK Stadium [site],” said Kang of United’s former home, which is in the slow process of being demolished. In terms of ease of access, it would be a superb fit for the club. Logistically, it’s a location that poses major challenges involving the District of Columbia’s status as a federal city, differences of opinion over what the site should be used for, and a decades-long buzz among NFL fans hoping to bring the Washington Commanders back within city limits.
“I don’t think we’re gonna get anywhere until the Commanders [have settled on a stadium],” conceded Kang, who acknowledged that the NFL team’s recent sale could slow that process down. “We’re still also talking, and whether we can do something together [with the Commanders], hopefully that’s a possibility.”
Lyon plans include training center, repurposed stadium
Regarding her European interests, Kang said that her move to officially purchase Lyon “hasn’t closed yet,” but that the final steps are modest.
“We are waiting for a lot of approvals from both — in the U.S., NWSL — as well as the French authorities so they’re all moving along,” said Kang. “Everything is moving in the right direction, so we will close. I’ve been involved in some of the rosters and some of those decisions.”
Things are far enough along that Kang has already established plans to move Lyon into its own training center (the women’s side currently has its own section at OL’s larger complex), as well as finding a new home venue.
The rationale is both to control her own club’s space, and because Kang wants these training centers to be customized for women.
“Lyon also, their training facility, all that stuff is absolutely fabulous,” explained Kang. “But they’re all for male players, that are not available for women. The women’s training center is in the back. Trailers, even for Lyon. They have a separate, second-class citizen type of training center.”
Kang said she had been on tours of Premier League facilities to sort out what defines a top-class environment, and will apply that knowledge to the future construction for both the Spirit and Lyon.
“Our goal is to build our own dedicated training center, just for women,” said Kang. “That’s going to look just like the Premier League and Lyon men’s team training centers.”
As for a stadium, the need is clear. Per FBref, a majority of Lyon’s home games in 2022-23 were played with crowds of 1,512 or fewer. Groupama Stadium is a gleaming 59,186-seat venue that works for the Champions League and clashes with Paris Saint-Germain. The remainder are played at a field with one small grandstand for fans located within Lyon’s training facility.
According to Kang, those big matches will continue to be played at Groupama Stadium, but says the club is aiming at a happy medium for their other games.
“We don’t have to build a new stadium,” said Kang. “In Lyon there are a couple of stadiums that are like 10-12,000 [capacity] that used to be rugby stadiums.
“I already met with the mayor of Lyon, the governor equivalent in Lyon métropole, so they’re all very excited. We’re going to try to figure out, instead of building another stadium, we can absolutely [repurpose an existing stadium]. It’s like a 10-12,000 [capacity], it’s probably perfect for regular season.”
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