NWSL Will Add Its 18th Team in Columbus

The NWSL is headed to Columbus.

The league announced the new expansion team on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after the city and Franklin County approved $50 million in public funding for a new training facility and stadium improvements.

The ownership group for the new team will be led by the billionaire Haslam family. The team will join the NWSL as its 18th franchise in 2028 alongside Atlanta.

On Monday, Columbus City Council voted 5–3 with one abstention in favor of a controversial public-private deal that would allow the billionaire Haslam family to build a practice facility at McCoy Park if they win an NWSL expansion bid. The Franklin County Commissioners also approved the plan earlier Tuesday.

Jimmy and Dee Haslam, who own the Cleveland Browns and a stake in the Milwaukee Bucks, agreed to buy the MLS charter franchise Columbus Crew with former team doctor Pete Edwards in 2018 to prevent a move to Austin. Haslam Sports Group, and Edwards and his wife, Christine, and Columbus-based Nationwide are backing the NWSL bid.

The Haslams paid a record $205 million expansion fee for the team, the NWSL confirmed to Front Office Sports. 

NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman officially announced the new franchise at a press conference in Columbus on Tuesday.

“This is a city that has long been at the heart of American soccer,” Berman said. “From ‘Save The Crew,’ to multiple MLS Cups, to hosting 13 U.S. Women’s National Team matches, Columbus has shown what’s possible when a community rallies behind its team. And that same spirit is reflected in this ownership group.”

NWSL leadership said in March that they planned to award an 18th expansion team during the 2026 season, with hopes of entering the league in 2028 alongside Atlanta. Columbus has been seen as a frontrunner, and will host the NWSL’s Challenge Cup in late June during the men’s World Cup. The Ohio city is also set to stage nine Olympic soccer matches in 2028 as the tournament expands out of L.A.

The deal requires $25 million each from the city and Franklin County—funded by ticket fees for events at the Crew’s home stadium—that will go toward building the new facility and making upgrades to the stadium to accommodate the women’s team. The Franklin County Commissioners, which had appeared more supportive of the plan than City Council in recent weeks, voted 2–0 with one abstention to approve the deal on Tuesday.

The NWSL ownership group released a joint statement following the council’s decision about the “important step of the NWSL bid process.”

“Together, we built a plan that invests in world-class facilities, creates long-term economic and community benefits for the City and enhances our opportunity to bring an NWSL club to Columbus in 2028,” the statement said.

Berman touted the public-private partnership in the Columbus bid. “That shared commitment is part of what made us bring the NWSL to Columbus,” the commissioner said.

The $205 million expansion fee tops the $165 million paid by Arthur Blank to bring a team to Atlanta. Owners in Boston and Denver, which joined the NWSL this season, paid $53 million and $110 million, respectively. Denver, awarded in early 2025, beat out bids from two other Ohio cities, Cleveland and Cincinnati.

The team will also play at the Crew’s roughly 22,000-seat ScottsMiracle-Gro Field.

Contentious Deal

The city had previously been working on plans to redevelop McCoy Park, and the move to privatize the green space for an NWSL team was met with resistance locally. After backlash, the mayor pledged to build a new park for the community.

City Council also added a last-minute amendment to Monday’s vote requiring a plan for that new park within 60 days that would include a $3 million investment from the soccer ownership group, as well as access to soccer fields at McCoy Park.

Council president Shannon Hardin said he wished “we could change” the location of the training facility, but the site was already included in the group’s expansion bid to the NWSL.

“That would have been the easiest thing to do,” Hardin said. “But when you get brought into the conversation in the last five weeks and the thing is already submitted, this is where we are.”

When reached, the NWSL did not comment on the vote.

The deal would include a $12 million investment from the NWSL group into the local community over 12 years, in addition to the more than $300 million the group would put into the team. The Haslams have donated more than $150,000 to members of city council and Mayor Andrew Ginther over the past five years.

The vote has been controversial among local residents and council members who claimed Ginther’s administration cast aside one of the city’s most underserved regions by pushing the plan. 

“This is not how we build trust,” said councilwoman Tiara Ross, who voted in favor of the plan. “The administration should be ashamed of itself for the blatant disregard of the people of this community.”

The mayor disagreed.

“If we can support professional men’s sports the way we have, we need to bring the same energy, focus and commitment to women’s sports,” Ginther previously told The Columbus Dispatch.

The Haslams also secured public funding for a new $2.4 billion Browns stadium in Brook Park to open in 2029. That plan has also been contentious among public officials and local residents, drawing several lawsuits and attempts to halt construction. But, last month, a judge blocked Ohio from using $600 million in unclaimed funds for the new stadium.