On Tuesday, the NWSL awarded its 18th franchise to Columbus, Ohio for a record $205M expansion fee, up from Atlanta’s $165M fee in 2025. NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman cited the region’s affinity for soccer as a key factor, but so was the money the ownership group put down: $300M between the expansion fee and a new bespoke training facility.

On Monday, Mesirow Capital Markets — an independent, employee-owned financial services firm — arranged a $40M private placement (or private bond financing plan) for Denver Summit FC, the Denver-based NWSL expansion club set to break attendance records at its home opener this weekend.

The Bhathals are changing how the women’s sports game is played, from building the first-ever dual WNBA and NWSL practice facility to creating the first local channel dedicated to women’s sports. That synergy is helping the teams become a major draw for high-profile brand deals. This week, we spoke with Bhathal Merage in a rare interview ahead of her appearance at the Power Play Sports Sponsorship Accelerator about the benefits of owning both teams, both from an ownership and sponsorship perspective. As she put it, “one plus one equals five.” The math is mathin’.

This week, the inaugural FIFA Women's Champions Cup — the sport’s first-ever intercontinental club competition for women — is fielding its final rounds in London, England. The months-long tournament hasn’t exactly received mainstream media coverage, but that may change thanks to Kynsica’s new title sponsorship.

As predicted earlier this week, the WNBA and WNBPA have agreed to a moratorium on free agency transactions as the two sides continue to iron out a new CBA. In the meantime, free agents are left in the lurch when it comes to training in offseason facilities — but universities and companies are closing the gap.

As predicted earlier this week, the WNBA and WNBPA have agreed to a moratorium on free agency transactions as the two sides continue to iron out a new CBA. In the meantime, free agents are left in the lurch when it comes to training in offseason facilities — but universities and companies are closing the gap.

Yesterday, Swedish football club FC Rosengård transferred ownership of its women’s club under a new holding, FC Rosengård Elitfotboll AB, which gives Crux Football 49% ownership. This is the second women’s football team under Crux, a multi-club ownership group investing across Europe.

Last week, the Frauen Bundesliga — Germany’s 14-club professional women’s soccer league — made the surprising decision to split from the Deutscher Fußball-Bund (DFB), the nation’s governing body for the sport.