Marc Lasry’s failed efforts to buy Angel City Football Club and the North Carolina Courage have not dampened his appetite for NWSL ownership.
The former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner still has ambitions of buying an NWSL team, he told Front Office Sports on a recent episode of Portfolio Players, despite last year’s high-profile collapse of his deal for the Courage and unsuccessful bid for Angel City.
In 2024 Lasry and his firm, Avenue Capital Group, tried to buy Angel City, but Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, and his wife, Willow Bay, swooped in and purchased the club at an enterprise value of $250 million. The July statement announcing the deal said it made Angel City the “most valuable women’s sports team in the world.” (The New York Liberty, among others, have recently passed Angel City, selling minority stakes at a valuation of more than $400 million.)
“We were the cover bid in Angel City, so we did try to buy that,” Lasry told FOS. “I don’t know why Bob Iger got involved at the end, but he did. He’s a great guy. I think him and his wife Willow, I think it was a great investment for them. And they’re great individuals, so I think it’ll be super positive.”
A few months later, Lasry and Avenue Capital tried another bite at the apple, and they were close to buying a majority stake in the Courage in a transaction that would have valued the team at $108 million. But in December, that deal fell apart because of league restrictions around private-equity ownership. In a statement after that deal fell through, Avenue Capital said that NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman, the league itself and the Courage ownership had been “fantastic partners,” and noted “we will continue to seek opportunities to invest in the teams and players across this incredible league.”
The Courage issued a statement at the time praising Lasry and his team, saying “it was clear from the beginning they believed in our vision and were interested in helping us build upon our unmatched on-field success, brand strength, and mission of community impact.” The team was and is still owned by Steve Malik, who bought the team and moved it from Rochester in 2017.
“I think one of the issues was the fact that the league ultimately at the end sort of decided they wanted individual owners as opposed to funds,” Lasry told FOS about the failed Courage deal. “I get that. And we’re still trying to figure out if there’s a way we can do it.”
Lasry, who alongside Wes Edens bought a total 50% stake in the Bucks at a $550 million valuation in 2014 and then sold his 25% stake in 2023 at a $3.5 billion valuation, has other active sports holdings. In January Avenue Capital led a $15 million funding round for the soccer-focused Men in Blazers Media Network, and in December, the firm made a “significant investment” into Mercury/13, which is a group that aims to own multiple women’s soccer teams, and currently owns FC Como Women, which plays in Italy’s Serie A Femminile.
