NWSL expects two historic clubs to change hands in the near future
Two of the NWSL’s seemingly intractable situations are apparently nearly solved.
The league’s commissioner Jessica Berman says that sales of the Portland Thorns and OL Reign are on course to be finished by the end of 2023.
Speaking to reporters ahead of Saturday’s Challenge Cup final between the North Carolina Courage and Racing Louisville, Berman said both the Thorns and Reign had received formal interest from multiple parties, with this week marking a preliminary deadline for potential buyers to submit bids.
“Portland and the Reign are still for sale, and those processes are underway. This week was a preliminary deadline for both of those teams in their respective and independent sales processes,” said Berman. “Both have achieved multiple bidders being interested, and we still expect for both of those transactions to close by the end of the calendar year.
“We continue to work very closely with the incumbent owners both in Portland and in Seattle to ensure that the new ownership group meets the standards and criteria for the league.”
Portland has been for sale since December 2022, a development that came shortly after the Yates investigation and joint NWSL/NWSL Players’ Association investigations found that owner Merritt Paulson and other Thorns officials took steps to avoid scrutiny over the reasons the club dismissed disgraced former manager Paul Riley in 2015.
The Reign, meanwhile, went on the market in April 2023, a development that came to pass after Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang began the process of taking over the women’s team at the Reign’s parent club, French power Olympique Lyon. Kang recently said that her acquisition of Lyon is on course, but awaits approvals from the NWSL (most likely tied to the sale of the Reign) and French authorities.
Berman offered some details on each club’s status, which she said involved “slightly different” situations.
“I’ll start with sort of the ordinary circumstance when a team is being sold. That’s probably most similar to what’s happening with the Reign,” explained Berman. “Until a team is sold, the incumbent ownership group, of course, retains all rights and obligations on behalf of their franchise. So, from a governance perspective, from a management perspective, the expectation is that they will continue to operate in the ordinary course of business.
“So, it’s really business as usual from the Reign’s perspective, in that the individuals who have been managing and governing the team are the same individuals that existed previously. So, there really has not been a change in circumstance in terms of how the club is being operated.”
In other words, Lyon ā still technically under the control of a group fronted by U.S. businessman John Textor ā is running the show with the Reign until the NWSL club’s sale is finalized and approved. That means that the OL Groupe still has a seat on the NWSL Board of Governors, as is customary for club owners.
That issue is the discrepancy between the two different sales, as Berman broke down.
“From a Portland perspective, obviously that situation is unique because we carry forward the aftermath of Merritt [Paulson] having stepped off the Board of Governors,” said the commissioner. “In terms of the business of the club [being different from the Reign], the one change is that Merritt is not on our board.”
Berman clarified that Portland does still have a representative on the Board of Governors, but declined to specify who that would be, citing the possibility of breaking league rules. The Athletic reported that the Thorns are represented by club CEO Heather Davis, who was appointed to that role by Paulson in January 2023.
NWSL clubs in a new era
The profile of owners and ownership groups within the NWSL has changed dramatically over the last two-plus years. From the moment Kang went through with her $35 million acquistion of the Spirit ā a club that at the time trained at a high school in the Virginia suburbs and played nearly half of its games on turf at unloved exurban venue Segra Field ā valuations have gone through the roof.
Another recent sale saw the Chicago Red Stars, possibly the most distressed asset in NWSL, sell for $35.5 million, with $25 million of further investment promised by an ownership group lead by Chicago Cubs and Chicago Sky part-owner Laura Ricketts. Expansion side Bay FC, meanwhile, reportedly pledged $125 million in total investment, including a $53 million expansion fee and a guarantee to build a dedicated training facility.
With deep-pocketed ownership in place with Angel City FC, the Kansas City Current, and San Diego Wave and improved investment in clubs like NJ/NY Gotham FC and the North Carolina Courage (both of which have within the last two years brought in stars from other sports as investors), the days where a team would sell for small potatoes are over.
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