NEW YORK — Businesswoman Michele Kang is one of the most prolific investors in women’s soccer. But six years ago, she wasn’t even a fan of the sport.
In a Tuesday press conference discussing her $30 million gift to U.S. Soccer, Kang shared she briefly played the sport in elementary school, but it wasn’t until Team USA won the 2019 Women’s World Cup that soccer came onto her radar. She said she learned more about the NWSL and her local team, the Washington Spirit, and was “blown away.”
“As I started getting involved, I just saw an incredible potential, and where it was versus where it could be. And I was really very surprised that there was just so little investment appreciating the potential,” Kang said. “So, just like what I did in my other professional career, when I believe in something, I just jump in. And so I did, with my head first.”
The health-care tech mogul and venture capitalist bought a stake in the Spirit in 2020 and took over the team for $35 million in 2022. She also bought the European women’s teams Olympique Lyonnais and London City Lionesses, and founded her own women’s sports science nonprofit with a $50 million investment this summer.
That experience with European soccer opened Kang’s eyes to the robust youth development programs abroad, and helped inspire her whopper donation to U.S. Soccer, which will focus on increasing youth camps and improving talent tracking systems. She said Europe has “a lot more structure and well thought-out” youth programs, and called it one of the “major differences” between soccer talent pipelines on the two continents.
“I felt that there was some need there,” Kang said. The gift will double the number of national team youth camps to six per age group, and bring 12 times the current number of players into the national team pipeline.
The other key target of the donation is increasing and aiding the number of female coaches and referees. Kang talked about how new owners like herself are flooding into the NWSL and helping to raise viewership, attendance and sponsorship, but the pieces aren’t all in place for continued league expansion.
“At the NWSL, we’re talking a lot about expansion, and we want to give more opportunities, but we don’t want to lower the quality by just expanding, and right now one of the limiting factors is not even the players, it’s really the number of coaches, number of referees,” Kang said. “I felt that it’s about time that we pay attention to it. Otherwise, collectively, we’re not going to be able to maintain this momentum, let alone improving and creating even bigger momentum for all of us.”
The donation will give professional development opportunities to 70,000 more female coaches and referees.
The conversation that sparked Kang’s massive donation started over breakfast with U.S. Soccer CEO JT Batson during the Paris Olympics, where the women’s national team won gold. “We know that historic philanthropy supporting U.S. soccer by visionary leaders works,” Batson said Tuesday, shouting out Atlanta Falcons and United owner Arthur Blank, who pledged $50 million last year for a new national training center in Atlanta.
But that’s not where Kang wanted to put her money.
“We can’t build lasting success by focusing solely on professional teams, leagues, or dedicated training facilities and stadiums,” she said. “They’re all great and necessary. But to truly professionalize and elevate the women’s game, it’s essential to me that we develop every element of the ecosystem, starting from the earliest stage of soccer development.”
The donation, spread out over five years, is a big capital injection for U.S. Soccer. Kang said she viewed it as “seed capital” that would push other wealthy soccer fans to invest. “We need fans, sponsors, and investors to step up and ensure that this momentum translates into sustainable growth,” she said.
