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Alex Morgan’s San Diego Wave investment is the latest example of USWNT alumni backing NWSL teams

Alex Morgan announced this week that she is returning to the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) — just not to the pitch. The former U.S. women’s national team captain and two-time World Cup winner joined the ownership group behind the San Diego Wave, the club she helped put on the map when it launched in 2022.

For Morgan, it is a full-circle moment.

“San Diego is where I’ve built my home, where I am raising my children, and found a purpose beyond my playing career,” she said in a statement announcing the investment. “I believed in Wave FC before a single match was played, and I still believe this club has the power to change the future of women’s sports.”

Morgan is part of a growing wave of former players investing in the league they helped build, and betting big on a future that is still taking shape.

For the first half-decade of NWSL’s existence, U.S. Soccer covered the salaries of U.S. players playing in the league. That agreement ended at the end of 2021 amid ongoing work for equal pay and a new collective bargaining agreement for NWSL players. Even though the league has grown strong enough not to need that support, it’s still getting backing from former USWNT players. And the relationship is mutually beneficial.

Take Bay FC, the Silicon Valley-backed expansion team, which joined the NWSL in 2024. Its founding investors include a quartet of former USWNT talent: Aly Wagner, Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osborne and Danielle Slaton, called the “Founding Four” by the club. They built the fandom from the ground up and brought the league’s 15th franchise to life by securing a $53 million franchise fee backed by the private equity firm Sixth Street. It marked the firm’s largest institutional investment into a women’s sports team to date.

“We wanted to have a stake and a position to help build a club the way that we would have loved to have in our professional lives,” Wagner told . “We wanted to be able to shape the future landscape of women’s football. Our core principal was how can we make this better for the next generation? But also how can we make that commercially viable so that it becomes a generationally successful club and product.”

That vision wasn’t unique to the Founding Four.

In 2022, the league awarded an expansion team in Los Angeles to a majority woman-founded group that included 14 former UWSNT players, including Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and Abby Wambach. The investor group was led by Academy Award winning-actress Natalie Portman, venture capitalist Kara Nortman, media entrepreneur Julie Uhrman and tech entrepreneur and Serena Williams’s husband, Alexis Ohanian.

Most recently, Lauren Holiday, who has remained a powerful presence in the business side of sport, joined the North Carolina Courage’s ownership group. Together with her husband, NBA star Jrue Holiday, the couple joined the Courage’s large investment group that includes tennis stars Naomi Osaka and Ons Jabeur. The move came on the heels of Holiday’s new job as a board member of Mercury/13, an investment group dedicated exclusively to women’s soccer.

While it may look like former players are investing out of loyalty or symbolism, the numbers suggest it’s also a smart business move. NWSL has seen exponential growth in the last two years. A record-breaking broadcast deal, rising attendance, and booming franchise valuations have turned what was once a niche league into one of the most talked-about bets in women’s sports. Angel City FC and the San Diego Wave joined the league in 2022, paying modest $2 million expansion fees. In September, Angel City was valued at $250 million by Sportico and San Diego has reached $113 million following its recent sale in March 2024.

“We’re in a growth phase,” Wagner says. “That’s why you’re seeing so much interest in our league—because, compared to other U.S. sports franchises and leagues, we’re still relatively affordable. Getting in now could deliver major returns over the next five to ten years. Eventually, we expect to see valuations that mirror the 12x multiples currently happening in the NBA.”

As for the motivation, Wagner adds: “Yes, part of it is improving the ecosystem for women’s football. But from a purely investment perspective, it just makes sense. When you look at the top places to put your money in sports, the U.S. is at the top of the list. The major leagues are already mature. This league, on the other hand, is at an inflection point — there’s still real upside. So yes, it’s about ownership and supporting the game, but there’s also a very real expectation of return on capital.”

The upside opportunity is what draws more investors to the league. In January, Denver secured the NWSL’s 16th franchise. The ownership group, led by Rob Cohen, paid a cool $110 million. However, it was former NWSL player and current commentator Jordan Angeli who led her hometown’s bid for an NWSL franchise starting in 2023, helping secure financing and rally public support for the effort.

“We’ve got this hotbed of women’s soccer — it was ripe for the picking,” Angeli said. “I just didn’t know who I could go to and say, ‘Look, I can’t do this financially on my own. I need your help.’ The timing was perfect, not just because it’s a smart moment to invest in women’s sports, but also because this market has been missing something like this.”

Like Angeli, a growing number of former players are stepping into the league, from front office roles of the league’s 16 franchises, to coaching and broadcast positions. For many, like Morgan, investing is just one path to stay in the game. And the next generation isn’t waiting. Some current players are already exploring the business side while still on the pitch. No matter how big or small the investment, it shows they have skin in the game.

“A lot of the savvy players that understand this is the time to utilize their brand because it’s not going to be there forever,” Wagner said. “The options are much more superfluous than what was around when we were coming up through the game. And so the ease of access and the optionality of it is allowing for really interesting opportunities for this next generation.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

US Women's national team, San Diego Wave, Bay FC, NWSL

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