The NWSL is becoming a bigger investment, with team valuations skyrocketing over the last few years.

When the Washington Spirit were bought in February by an investment group led by Michele Kang, the club was valued at $35 million. Gotham FC was valued at a $40 million this year, as Sportico reported, with investments from the likes of Kevin Durant, Sue Bird and Eli Manning.

Angel City FC, though, stands at the front of the pack. The expansion franchise raised money in April 2021 at a valuation of more than $100 million, Sportico reported Friday – more than double that of the next closest known NWSL franchise and an NWSL record.

Angel City features a stacked roster of celebrity owners, among them Serena Williams and several former USWNT stars including Julie Foudy, Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach. Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria and Jennifer Garner are also among the owners, while Williams’ husband and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian is the club’s lead investor.

In total, the club boasts nearly 100 owners.

Part of what goes into the valuation is how the club has acquired and prioritized sponsorship dollars. Angel City’s deals include an eight-figure deal with DoorDash, as well as partnerships with Gatorade and Heineken. There’s also a partnership with Johnnie Walker, which included the first-ever NWSL team anthem.

According to club co-founder and president Julie Uhrman, in total Angel City reportedly claimed $35 million in booked sponsorship revenue – some possibly multi-year deals and 10 percent of which is being redirected back into the community.

“I would say that Angel City has more sponsorship revenue today than two hands worth of men’s professional sports teams,” Uhrman said at a Sportico event in March. “We believe our kit is the highest grossing of any women’s team in the U.S.”

Additionally, the club sold more than 16,000 season tickets prior to the start of the season. A total of 22,000 fans showed up in the team’s first regular season game, helping to shatter the league’s average attendance record for opening weekend.

With an average of approximately 19,000 fans per game, Angel City has the highest attendance in the NWSL this season. The club is also outdrawing 14 MLS clubs and has more followers on Instagram than 19 MLS franchises.

Valuations in the NWSL stand to increase as time goes on. Broadcast deals with CBS and Amazon’s Twitch are expiring in the next few years and with increasing viewership, the NWSL should be looking for bigger and better deals.

As the league aims to expand by two new teams by 2024, the valuations appear to also be resetting that bar as well. For the first time, there will be a formal bidding process, with Sportico reporting that sources around the league feel as though the new valuations will land in the same range as the Spirit and Gotham.

The year's final major tennis tournament begins on Saturday when the sport's highest-ranked athletes descend on Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to compete in the 2024 WTA Finals.

Featuring the eight best singles players and eight best doubles teams, Slam winners and Olympic medalists alike will compete for the Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova trophies before the winter break.

Also up for grabs is a piece of the record $15.25 million prize pool, larger than any Grand Slam purse and a nearly 70% increase over the 2023 pot. Should the champions go undefeated through the tournament, the singles winner will bank $5.155 million, while the top doubles duo will take home $1.125 million.

Eight days of elite tennis action

In both the WTA Finals singles and doubles categories, competitors are split into two groups of four.

Each singles player or doubles pair will play all others in their group for a total of three matches across the first six days. The top two in each group will then compete in the November 8th semifinals, with both finals set for November 9th.

In the singles contest, the Purple Group includes No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 4 Jasmine Paolini, No. 5 Elena Rybakina, and No. 7 Qinwen Zheng, while the Orange Group lists No. 2 Iga Świątek, No. 3 Coco Gauff, No. 6 Jessica Pegula, and No. 8 Barbora Krejčíková.

In both competitions, 25% of the top eight athletes represent the USA. Along with Gauff and Pegula on the singles court, the doubles tournament includes No. 5 US duo Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk as well as Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Taylor Townsend in the Nos. 6 and 8 pairs, respectively.

Will Sabalenka play Świątek at the WTA Finals?

A showdown between Sabalenka and 2023 WTA Finals champion Świątek could be the event's blockbuster match. The top-ranked players have yet to square off in a major tournament in 2024 — a year rife with highs and lows for both athletes.

Sabalenka started the WTA season by winning her second Australian Open, then later struggled through a shoulder injury that forced her to withdraw from Wimbledon. She capped the Grand Slam season in style, though, winning her first US Open in September.

As for five-time Grand Slam victor Świątek, 2024 brought the Polish phenom her fourth French Open title. A rockier second half to the season — including a third round and quarterfinal ousting from Wimbledon and the US Open, and a fall from the No. 1 ranking for the first time since November 2023 — motivated Świątek to seek a new coach.

How to watch the 2024 WTA Finals tennis tournament

The 2024 WTA Finals kicks off on Saturday, when US Open winner Sabalenka plays 2024 Olympic gold medalist Zheng at 11 AM ET.

Later, 2023 US Open champ Gauff will take on 2024 US Open runner-up Pegula at 8:45 AM ET on Sunday.

All 2024 WTA Finals matches will be broadcast live on the Tennis Channel.

In today’s episode of the Late Sub, host Claire Watkins wraps up the USWNT's October window with a look at the team’s 3-0 win over Argentina, from how rotation became the US’s strength to center back Naomi Girma's unparalleled ability to do it all.

Then, Watkins refocuses on the NWSL, where six of the league's 14 clubs will complete their 2024 seasons this weekend. First, however, the league will determine the eight playoff teams, pulling from a postseason race that could come down to Sunday's final regular-season match.

The Late Sub with Claire Watkins brings you the latest news and freshest takes in women’s sports. This is the weekly rundown you’ve been missing, covering the USWNT, NWSL, WNBA, college hoops, and whatever else is popping off in women’s sports each week. Special guest appearances with the biggest names in women’s sports make The Late Sub a must-listen for every fan. Follow Claire on X/Twitter @ScoutRipley and subscribe to the Just Women’s Sports newsletter for more.

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The NWSL's final weekend is all drama, complete with heated clashes that will determine the last two postseason berths and nearly all seeding for the 2024 NWSL playoffs.

While Shield-winners Orlando are secure at the top, the Pride will be desperate for a Saturday win over Seattle as they try and replace their two straight losses with some postseason momentum.

At the same time, Washington, Gotham, and Kansas City will all be jockeying for the No. 2 seed this weekend. While the Spirit and Current must contend with playoff-bound North Carolina and Chicago, respectively, Gotham's Friday matchup against a surging Utah looks surprisingly competitive.

Three NWSL teams battle over two playoff tickets

Seeding race aside, the final matchday's main event is an NWSL version of musical chairs in which three clubs — Portland, Bay FC, and Racing Louisville — will duke it out for the league's final two playoff spots.

The seventh-place Thorns and eighth-place Bay FC currently sit three points ahead of ninth-place Louisville, allowing both to clinch berths with either a win or a draw. If Portland and Bay walk with at least one point each, the postseason lineup will be settled before Sunday.

Should one or both teams lose, it'll all come down to Sunday's regular-season finale, where a win over San Diego plus a tie-breaking goal differential could send Louisville through to the quarterfinals.

The high-stakes elimination games

With the most on the line, Portland will shoot to extend their season — and goalscoring legend Christine Sinclair's career — against an already-eliminated Angel City side with nothing to lose on Friday. Perhaps most concerning is the fact that the up-and-down Thorns have lost three of their last four matches, while ACFC has only dropped one in the same stretch.

Bay FC arguably received a season finale gift in a Saturday visit to the Houston Dash, who finish the year at the bottom of the NWSL table. That said, one of the Dash's five wins this season came in a 3-2 Bay defeat at the end of March. Plus, with the worst goal differential of the three teams still in postseason contention, Bay will want to clinch with a Saturday result rather than gamble on potential tiebreakers.

As mentioned, a Portland or Bay loss sets up Sunday's final tilt as the weekend's biggest match, where Louisville will need to do better than their scoreless April draw with San Diego to usurp one of the West Coast squads's playoff spots.

How to watch this weekend's NWSL playoff elimination matches

Portland and ACFC will kick off the NWSL's make-or-break action on Friday at 10 PM ET on Prime before Houston hosts Bay on Saturday at 9:30 PM ET, airing on ION.

Should chaos rule the weekend, Louisville's match against San Diego will cap both the 2024 NWSL regular season and the playoff picture on Sunday at 5:30 PM ET, with live coverage on ESPN.

Welcome back to Fast Friends with Kelley O'Hara and Lisa Leslie!

On today's special Halloween episode, our hosts show up to set dressed as the fastest of friends: race care drivers.

O'Hara and Leslie then dive into the USWNT's October friendlies, discussing the young talent on display as well as the way the team holds consistent focus even when falling behind on the score sheet.

"I think [that's] a testament to Emma's influence already on this team," O'Hara says, praising head coach Emma Hayes's ability to keep her players from getting rattled. "I get the sense that she has already [said], 'Shit's gonna happen. We stick to the game plan, we stick to what we're good at, and the goals will come.'"

"Soccer's about riding the wave, its ebbs and flows," O'Hara adds. "Sometimes you gotta weather the storm, but if you are confident and all on the same game plan, you're gonna be able to execute."

Then, the duo pivot to discuss all things WNBA. Leslie looks into the reasons why the WNBPA is opting out of their CBA from both the players' and league's perspective, before digging into a recent flood of head coach exits that have left seven of the league's 12 current teams without a leader.

Coming off the success of JWS's Olympic commentary show The Gold Standard, Fast Friends features two legendary athletes serving up insider insights and unique takes on the biggest stories in women's sports every week.

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