Considering the previous "leak" about MLS trying to buy NWSL and/or WPSL, nothing sounds *completely* off the wall - especially the (supposed) confirmation that this is all because MLS feeling pressure from USL in terms of expanding into the WoSo sphere. But without naming any sources, it also kinda feels like someone painting a picture consistent with existing rumors rather than actually reporting news. This also makes it clear that the two BroSo leagues are going to fight over WoSo which certainly isn't going to help WoSo. If nothing else, I doubt that it'll be so easy to just wrench the MLS-owned NWSL teams away from NWSL.
Knowing which OOs are in favor of such a thing would give you a good idea whether it was real or not. There's a world of difference between wanting to buy NWSL and wanting to create a competing league, especially one that will overlap in more than a couple markets or share MLS stadiums with two (or THREE) women's soccer teams, plus an MLS2 side. Kraft's never going in. Hunt might well, but Frisco may have a limitation on the number of opening dates. BMO's not going to host three soccer teams in the summer. NYCFC's stadium is supposed to be done sometime in 2027. Launching a league without LA, NYC, DC...maybe not.
I think without Portland, too. I do not think there is any way the Portland fan base would stand for MLS taking over the Thorns or having a competing team.
I spoke to MLS Commish Don Garber last year about MLS’ potential intention to start a women’s league. Back then, he didn’t know what that would look like & according to my sources, the league still has no solid plans to involve itself in the women’s game. It’s bad info, folks. pic.twitter.com/aGY15t0J9x— Pablo Iglesias Maurer (@MLSist) August 12, 2024
so MLS can't buy the NWSL, so they want to start a rival league? In what markets? Atlanta? NYC? Nashville?
The report explicitly claimed NYC, NYRB, and CLB-via-CLV, as well as implied a few more, not to mention stealing ORL, HOU, and UTA from NWSL - but that last explicit new one was directly and openly denied by the Cleveland group before the story was taken down fully. Despite it being an ATL-based blog, ATL was not in the reported mix.
I don't see NWSL being for sale. Buying NWSL is not going to be cheap. MLS could buy the USL Super League but highly unlikely. MLS might create its own women's soccer league if they want to
The valuation of teams indicates the league is worth at least a couple billion dollars. That's a lot of money even for the kind of owners MLS has, and assumes everyone wants to play ball. By comparison, back in 2005, a private equity firm tried to buy the entire NHL for 4 billion. They were in the middle of a strike/lockout, and had lost a billion dollars over the previous couple seasons. Their TV partner, ESPN, opted out of their deal, and they ended up on a low reach cable outlet (Versus). The gameday revenue is way beyond what NWSL has though, with a three times longer season, twice as many teams, and 50% higher average attendance. This year the NHL brought in over 6 billion dollars in revenue.
Also, ticket prices for individual NHL games are significantly higher than NWSL games in most situations. I had season tickets for the Washington Capitals from the 05-06 season through the 12-13 season and even in the nosebleeds in the corner on the end where they play defense twice a game our prices more than tripled in that time. For the Washington Spirit game on 9/7, you can get tickets as low as $12 and as high as $350. The Capitals are hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets on 11/2 and right now the lowest priced ticket available is $60 and the highest is $700.
The top five men's leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS) and top two women's leagues (WNBA, NWSL) are each too valuable for any individual entity to afford to buy in its entirety.
It is interesting how much chatter -- and serious thought -- a false blog post, that has been taken down with a mea culpa, has generated. Ah, the problems we get into with the combination of the internet and free speech. I hope for -- almost certainly fruitlessly -- the day when once a blog post is exposed as false, we no longer give it legs to run on.
It's a sad consequence of living in the age of "truthiness" and social media - because lord knows a lot of the blog post sounded reasonable based both on a small handful of previous facts and on other speculation after that post a couple months ago about MLS trying to outright buy NWSL and WPSL (which itself was "reported" by someone not used to covering D1 leagues or women's league).
A lot of things are real at a certain level. It's been said that a GM that isn't constantly discussing player trades with other teams, even for players that "aren't available" isn't doing their job. It's the same at the league level. MLS has people dedicated to this kind of strategic ideation and planning. What is the EPL going to do? What's up with NWSL? Should we invest, should we compete? Maybe a little of both? So it's reasonable to take it as the unsourced sort of real ("discussions have occurred") if it comes from a reliable outlet. Also, this is a discussion board. We discuss it whether it's real or not.
I'm just baffled by anyone taking that seriously in the first place. It was literally a HS kid, 16 years old, on an MLS team blog. Nothing in it sounded plausible beyond MLS looking into the possibility of having their own women's league.
Besides the big 3, Apple has enough cash on hand to buy out the entirety of any of the other leagues.
The scary part to me is that if you are more on the "independent" side, you have to hit on like 1 out of 10 to be viewed as credible. There is no cost/consequence for being wrong. IIRC, a team had to publicly respond to something that does not seem actually vetted. Once they get an audience, the teams treat them like journalists because that is how information gets out. You get rewarded/treated like a journalist by doing the opposite of journalism.
I do think that MLS has talked to NWSL. To what extent, I don't know. NWSL needs to start their academy so MLS could help.
Honestly, if NWSL was smart, they would partner with an existing lower-division WoSo league to beef up the academy/reserves system, rather than partner with MLS or USL. (Yes, I know USL's W-League exists - but USL as an overall org has already set themselves up as a competitor to NWSL with the Super League getting D1 sanctioning, so partnership is just a no-go.) In fact, there's a large number of NWSL teams with academy teams in WPSL already (POR, SEA, UTA(AZ)) - though NC and LOU have their reserve teams in the W-League (unsurprising since they're USL-associated organizations already). But levering an existing WoSo structure to create a proper path-to-pro would be great.
Why though? Even if that report was real, (which we've thoroughly established by now it wasn't,) cost to entry wouldn't be an issue if they were thinking of starting their own league from scratch. MLS (and USL) just want control and easy income.
On a related nite, how long do you think it'll take USL to force the North Carolina and Louisville ownerships to either bring their women's team to the Super League or take their men's team out of USL?
As long as USL is giving lip service that they don't want to compete with NWSL, which I bet they'll keep doing as long as NWSL remains independent and operating at a higher financial level, I think they don't ask. Think how the CSA isn't forcing the three Canadian MLS teams to join the CPL. At the very least, I think they'll give the Super League two or three seasons to see where it settles in before making any moves. With how big USL already is and the fact that they are also getting new ownership groups specifically for the SL, I don't think they'll ever be hurting for teams unless it becomes clear the league isn't getting the attendance and sponsorships it needs to operate.
This. USL generally speaking has been successful by not splitting markets. DC is a weird situation that I wouldn't read too much into from the USL side. The D1/D2 thing has made everything much more messy politically than if USL SL was clearly positioned as a second division. That problem will sort itself out.
The Boston NWSL stadium project has passed another milestone, the parks commission unanimously approved demolition for the site this week. Next step is finalizing the lease, probably in September/October. In parallel they're working on the transportation access plan (since the stadium has effectively no parking).