Angel City FC is partnering with Crypto.com, the first cryptocurrency platform to officially join forces with a women’s sports team.

As part of the deal announced Tuesday, the cryptocurrency and financial services platform will act as the Los Angeles-based NWSL club’s official cryptocurrency and NFT partner. The new collaboration will promote and support education around cryptocurrency as well as access to NFT development, providing ACFC players with the opportunity to build their own creations.

Julie Uhrman, Co-Founder and President of Angel City Football Club, tells Just Women’s Sports that the club’s ownership group, which includes venture capitalists, product, entertainment and tech entrepreneurs, is especially excited about the prospects of NFTs. Uhrman says they’re “incredibly valuable, especially for sports teams.”

“It’s another opportunity to authentically connect fans with their favorite players, with their favorite teams and with their favorite leagues,” she said.

Angel City also incorporated NFTs into their their July crest launch, fractionalizing the club’s emblem into 5,000 digital assets, which were gifted and sold to investors and fans as a way to foster a sense of communal ownership in the team.

“With Angel City, we wanted to find a way to increase our connection with our community and fans and found that NFTs were a perfect way of doing that,” Uhrman said.

Another key component of Angel City’s partnership with Crypto.com is financial education.

“It’s important to us to make sure that we are empowering women in all parts of their lives,” said Jess Smith, Head of Revenue at Angel City. “And if you look at the current landscape, and you look at the data behind women and engagement with NFTs and Web3 and cryptocurrency, they’re behind the men in adaption to this.”

The expansion club aims to close the growing gender disparity within crypto by providing their players and the community with the education and means needed to participate in the market.

“Crypto.com is the leader as far as creating an exchange, so we want to educate our community and fan bas e… and really just help people understand the space,” Uhrman said. She also sees the NFT side of the relationship as an opportunity to empower players “to become creators, to create community through their creations and to have ownership of the product or of the item that they create.”

As the first deal of its kind, the collaboration also serves as a decisive moment for women’s sports. Angel City takes great pride in being a part of that progress.

“This partnership is a turning point for women’s sports and signifies the growing recognition of the power and influence they yield,” ACFC Leading Founding Investor Alexis Ohanian said in a statement.

While this may be Crypto.com’s women’s sports debut, the platform has already made its mark on the Los Angeles sporting community, signing a 20-year rights agreement to rename Staples Center, which hosts the Sparks of the WNBA, the Lakers and Clippers of the NBA, and the NHL’s Kings.

ACFC said the company’s commitment to Los Angeles will be central to their evolving relationship.

“[Crypto.com is] really looking at the culture of Los Angeles and the creators that exist and how the world looks to L.A. for what comes next,” Smith said. “You can expect this partnership to be representative of that and how we bring those worlds together through our platform with them.”

Though the joint venture is just getting off the ground, ACFC hopes to have a broad impact on the space, with Uhrman saying her ultimate goal would be to play “a critical role in seeing women equal 50 percent of investors in cryptocurrency.”

She hopes Angel City players, who are already savvy at building personal brands, will harness NFTs to build a community and create ownership over a product, which in turn can “significantly [impact] their yearly income in a positive way.”

Angel City, which begins play in the NWSL in 2022, previously announced their inaugural home kits in November. Among the club’s many initiatives is a first-of-its-kind Players Fund, which pays ACFC players a percentage of all home ticket sales. The club announced last week that it had already sold 13,200 season tickets for its debut season.

Cameron Brink already has her rookie of the year pick for the upcoming WNBA season, and it’s Indiana-bound star Caitlin Clark. 

In the latest edition of Kelley on the Street, host Kelley O'Hara caught up with Brink in New York hours before the Stanford phenom went No. 2 overall to the Los Angeles Sparks at the 2024 WNBA Draft. When O’Hara asked who would win the WNBA's rookie of the year, she answered without pause.

"Caitlin Clark," she said, while a fan commented that she thought Brink would take home the award. Brink later added that the extra foul granted to WNBA players will be "good for me."

"I hope it’s me," Charisma Osborne, who was later drafted by the Phoenix Mercury, said when asked her ROY prediction. "But, I don’t know — we’ll see."

Watch more of Kelley on the Street:

Maria Sanchez issued a statement on Thursday, confirming recent reports that she has requested a trade from the Houston Dash. 

In it, she revealed that the club has been aware of the request "since late March."

"This has all taken a toll and isn’t an easy thing to talk about, but I want to confirm that I’ve requested an immediate trade," she wrote. "My expectations and reasons have been clear. I trust that my current club’s management will honor my decision in a timely manner and proceed with accepting a trade."

"I’m eager to refocus and dive back into what I love most: playing football," she concluded.

Thank you, everyone, for the outpouring of kindness and support. pic.twitter.com/gcnN7dhCJU

— Maria Sanchez (@Maria17_7) April 19, 2024

Reports of Sanchez's trade request first surfaced on ESPN last week, and were later confirmed by multiple sources. 

In December of last year, Sanchez signed a three-year contract with the Dash valued at $1.5 million including bonuses and an option year. It was the largest contract in NWSL history at the time — a figure that would be eclipsed by multiple contracts in the following months. 

Sanchez spent the offseason as a restricted free agent, meaning that Houston could match any other team's offer to retain her rights. Should the Dash trade Sanchez, her current contract terms would remain intact, limiting potential buyers to teams able to afford to take on an inking of that size.

The Dash has yet to address the trade, instead reiterating to ESPN that Sanchez is "under contract, a choice she made in free agency at the end of 2023." 

Both the NWSL trade window and transfer window close tonight, April 19th, at 12 a.m. ET. The window will stay closed through the next 11 regular season games, reopening on August 1st, 2024.

The four-time league champion Seattle Storm unveiled their new practice facility on Thursday, with Storm co-owner Lisa Brummel dubbing Interbay's Seattle Storm Center for Basketball Performance the team’s "new home."

"It's just such a special space," Brummel told Fox 13 Seattle. "I think when the players get here, it's gonna be overwhelming."

The sprawling 50,000-square-foot, $64 million property is just the second designated practice facility to be designed and built expressly for a WNBA team, with the Storm further noting that 85% of all design and engineering team members involved in the project's construction were women and people of color. The finished product holds two professional indoor courts, two 3x3 outdoor courts, a state-of-the-art locker room, and players' lounge, plus designated areas for strength and conditioning, kitchen, dining, and nutrition, and recovery. 

"This facility reflects our commitment to providing our athletes an exceptional environment that supports their growth, health, and performance," said Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder in an official team release. "It’s built for women, by women, embodying our dedication to leading the way in professional women’s sports."

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For their part, the team can't wait to make the faciilty their own.

"It's amazing," Storm guard Jewell Loyd told Fox 13. "Not having to drive everywhere around, knowing you have access anytime of the day to get into the gym, to workout." 

Head coach Noelle Quinn said she predicts the team is "never going to leave this building."

"Which is a good thing for me," she continued. "You talk about having an edge in performance. We want our athletes to not only perform on the court, but get whatever they need."

All of the Storm's staff and operations will now live under one roof, and the team also has plans to launch a youth basketball program operating out of the building.

The Caitlin Clark effect is quickly making its mark on the big leagues, as WNBA host teams around the country rush to upgrade their Fever games to larger arenas in order to accommodate surging ticket sales.

With Clark mere weeks away from her Indiana Fever debut, both the Las Vegas Aces and Washington Mystics have officially relocated their scheduled home games with head coach Christie Sides' squad. On Thursday, the Mystics became the latest to adjust their plans, moving their June 7th matchup from Entertainment & Sports Arena in Southwest DC to the more centrally located — and much larger — Capital One Arena "due to unprecedented demand."

The Mystics home court's capacity taps out at 4,200, while Capital One Arena — home to the Wizards, Capitals, and Georgetown Hoya's Men's Basketball — can fit nearly five times that crowd at some 20,000 spectators.

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"The move to Capital One Arena will allow for additional fans in the stands as well as premium hospitality options, including Suites and the all-new all-inclusive courtside Hennessy Lofts," the team announced via Thursday's press release.

The Aces were one of the first teams to switch venues, aiming to take on the Indiana Fever in front of as many as 20,000 fans inside T-Mobile Arena on July 2nd. That’s a sizable a boost from their home venue, which holds just 12,000.

For those still planning to face the Fever in their home arenas, ticket prices have skyrocketed. Previously scheduled construction has already forced the LA Sparks to relocate their first five games — including their May 24th clash with the Fever — to Long Beach State's Walter Pyramid. The temporary venue is quite the downsize, holding just 4,000 in comparison to Crypto.com Arena's near-19,000. As of Friday, the get-in price for that game started around $400.

Despite fans launching a Change.org petition urging relocation, the Chicago Sky say they're unable to move their June 23rd Fever meeting from Wintrust Arena's 10,000-seat facility to the 23,500-seat United Center due to a concert. Tickets for that game start around $325 as of Friday.