As they prepare to try and take home their first NWSL Championship, OL Reign will have to fight off thoughts of potential new ownership.
The Seattle Sounders are in “advanced talks” to acquire Seattle-based OL Reign from OL Groupe, according to Sportico. The report clarifies that no agreement has been signed, and the league must approve any potential sale.
The Reign and Sounders both would not comment on the speculation in statements. While there are no indications of how much the club would sell for, OL Reign were previously valued at $49 million.
Sounders majority owner Adrian Hanauer previously had a minority ownership stake in the team for a year in 2019. He and the other minority owners sold off their stakes when OL Groupe finalized its purchase of the club in January 2020.
Since then, OL Groupe itself was sold off to John Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings in a deal that valued the Olympique Lyonnais men’s team at $842 million.
Textor then began selling off many of the group’s assets, starting with Olympique Lyonnais Féminin — the group’s French women’s club — to Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang; OL Groupe is reportedly selling off the Reign to avoid a conflict of interest in the NWSL with Kang.
It’s all part of a very exciting and productive time in the world of women’s pro soccer.
On Thursday, the NWSL announced that it signed new media rights deals with ESPN, CBS, Amazon, and Scripps Sports totaling $240 million over four years.
The Reign take on NJ/NY Gotham FC for the NWSL Championship at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday. The match will air live from San Diego on CBS.
