The former president of the NWSL’s San Diego Wave is accused of knowingly misleading the team’s new owners by promising to remain with the club after its sale, only to resign two days after the deal was completed.
Jill Ellis, who was president of the Wave for more than four years and now works for FIFA, repeatedly pledged to stay with the team amid negotiations, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in California state court.
The suit, first reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune, was filed by an entity associated with private-equity firm Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, led by Lauren Leichtman and Arthur Levine. They were “particularly interested” in buying the team because of the “renown and involvement” of Ellis, who won two Women’s World Cups as head coach of the U.S. women’s national team.
The firm purchased the Wave last year in a then-record $120 million deal (that record was broken a few months later when Disney CEO Bob Iger and his wife, Willow Bay, bought Angel City FC at a $250 million valuation).
According to the suit, Ellis was a major factor in Leichtman and Levine deciding to buy the Wave.
However, two days after the deal closed, Ellis revealed she was resigning to join FIFA as chief football officer. She was officially appointed to that role by FIFA on Dec. 3, 2024. Leichtman and Levine suspect Ellis was in negotiations with FIFA at the same time she was maintaining she would stay with the Wave.
“Ellis had no intention of continuing any involvement with Wave FC upon commencing her negotiations to join FIFA,” the suit says.
The Wave represented the first sports team purchase by Leichtman and Levine, so they were counting on Ellis to continue helping guide the franchise. When they bought the team—formed in 2022—the Wave were riding high. Led by Alex Morgan, the team finished in third place in its inaugural season and first place in its sophomore year. By the end of 2024, Morgan had retired and the team’s on-field play was suffering. The team finished in 10th place that year.
Leichtman and Levine estimate that the team’s poor performance, which they attribute in part to Ellis being preoccupied with the potential FIFA job, resulted in at least $40 million worth of revenue lost.
No specific amount of damages was requested. The suit seeks a trial by jury, plus damages to be determined at trial as well as pre- and post-judgment interest.
An attorney for Ellis did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The San Diego Union-Tribune story on the suit featured a quote from Ellis’s attorney calling the suit “meritless” and describing it as “retaliation against Jill Ellis for asking the current owners of San Diego Wave FC to pay the deferred compensation she is owed under her employment agreement and California wage laws.”
Douglas Silverstein, an attorney for Ellis, said in a statement that the suit is “meritless” and described it as “retaliation against Jill Ellis for asking the current owners of San Diego Wave FC to pay the deferred compensation she is owed under her employment agreement and California wage laws.”
“Ms. Ellis attempted in good faith to work out these financial matters directly with the owners, but she was rebuffed,” Silverstein said. “Ms. Ellis was then forced to retain counsel, who last week requested in writing that she be paid. This lawsuit is a direct result of that written demand.”
That written request, dated Sept. 23, says that Leichtman and Levine are responsible for paying out the rest of the contract Ellis signed with the Wave in December 2020. It says she is owed $1 million in deferred compensation and more than $236,000 in unpaid interest under her contract with the Wave, plus attorney’s fees.
This isn’t the first legal battle Ellis has fought. In July 2024, Ellis filed a defamation lawsuit against former Wave videographer Brittany Alvarado, who alleged she was an abusive boss. That October, Alvarado and four other team employees sued the Wave and NWSL over how they handled their allegations against Ellis.
In the latter suit, a sixth plaintiff was added this January alleging sexual harassment and other claims against a supervisor identified as “E.R.” The amended complaint also describes sexual assault and harassment claims from another one of the “Jane Doe” plaintiffs about the same supervisor, with both plaintiffs alleging they ultimately had to bring their claims to the NWSL when the team didn’t act.
The NWSL has previously said it conducted investigations into the Wave, but uncovered no league policy violations, according to The Coast News.
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