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“]] [[“value”:”The National Women’s Soccer League has awarded a 14th franchise to an investor group in California’s Bay Area for a record $53 million fee.”]]
[[“value”:”The National Women’s Soccer League has awarded a 14th franchise to an investor group in California’s Bay Area for a record $53 million fee.”]] [[ Getty Images
She pointed to the fact that while women hold 5% of the CEO jobs around the world, 80% of those women played sports.
“We’re hopefully going to win lots of games and bring this amazing business to the Bay Area, but we’re also going to train leaders,” Sandberg said.
Berman said the transaction marks an inflection point for the league.
“I don’t think there’s a single better indictor on the health of the league than this purchase price of $53 million” the league’s commissioner said. “That will reset the minimum standards of what we expect from the investors in how they approach the NWSL and our growth.”
Berman also touted the Northern California market, calling the area a “soccer hotbed,” noting the prevalence of Fortune 500 and growth companies in the region.
“We see how the market craves and is thirsty for this level of women’s soccer. When the U.S. women’s national team comes to town, they sell out in a second,” she said.
Berman, a labor attorney and sports executive, stepped in as commissioner a year ago tasked with not only growing the business but also restoring faith in women’s soccer after a tumultuous couple of years that were plagued with abuse, sexism and a lack of confidence in the league.
“That was one of our concerns going in,” Waxman said, “but I think the way that Jessica hit it head on, addressing it with the right protocols, the checks and balances, she’s brought in institutionalization of the league, and that ended up being a positive for us in our overall investment thesis.”
Berman has also super-sized the business in nearly every metric. Attendance, sponsorships and franchise values are all seeing massive upticks.
The league’s $4.5 million media rights deal with Paramount Global
“The whole landscape has changed in such a short period of time, and we’re actually seeing it translate into bottom-line results much quicker I think than anybody expected,” she said.
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