2023 NWSL schedule features World Cup breaks, in-season Challenge Cup
The league will take two weeks off during the 2023 World Cup.
Read more
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will join the Kansas City Current ownership group, the club announced Tuesday.
In doing so, he also joins a long list of athletes who have invested in NWSL clubs, including Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Sue Bird.
These stars are putting their money into a booming league. The 2022 NWSL final drew 915,000 viewers, a 71% increase from the 2021 final. And franchise valuations have skyrocketed: The Washington Spirit sold for $35 million in February; Gotham FC were valued at $40 million in August; and the Portland Thorns were valued at $60 million ahead of their upcoming sale.
Just Women’s Sports highlights some of the NWSL’s top athlete investors ahead of the 2023 season.
The Los Angeles-based expansion club, which joined the league in 2022, features a long roster of investors.
That list includes many former U.S. women’s national team players, including Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Abby Wambach, Shannon Boxx, Rachel Buehler, Lauren Cheney Holiday, Lorrie Fair Allen, Ronnie Fair Sullins, Joy Fawcett, Shannon MacMillan, Angela Hucles Mangano and Saskia Webber.
Retired tennis players Serena Williams, Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss, two-time WNBA champion Candace Parker, former USMNT player Cobi Jones, former NHL defender P.K. Subban, U.S. Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn, U.S. Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson East and former NFL long snapper Andrew East also are investors.
The Red Stars’ ownership group features a star-studded ownership list of its own, including U.S. women’s hockey player Kendall Coyne Schofield, NFL offensive lineman Michael Schofield, retired NFL defensive end Israel Idonije and U.S. gymnast Josh Dixon.
NBA star James Harden joined the ownership group for the Dash and their MLS counterpart, the Houston Dynamo, in July 2019. While the 2018 NBA MVP and 10-time All-Star plays for the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2022-23 season, he played for the Houston Rockets from 2012-21.
The New York City-area team pulled in several big-name investors in 2022, among them former USWNT and Gotham forward Carli Lloyd, four-time WNBA champion Sue Bird, two-time NBA champion Kevin Durant and two-time Super Bowl champion Eli Manning.
Patrick Mahomes will join his wife Brittany and Current co-owners Angie and Chris Long as an investor in the club, which enters 2023 looking to build on its 2022 NWSL championship appearance.
“I am excited to join another championship-caliber club as it continues to make history,” the 2018 NFL MVP and 2020 Super Bowl MVP said in a statement.
Naomi Osaka invested in the Courage in 2021. The 25-year-old tennis star is a four-time major singles champion and topped Forbes’ list of the highest-paid female athletes in the world with $51.1 million in earnings in 2022.
Former NBA point guard Tony Parker, who played for the San Antonio Spurs from 2001-18 and for the Charlotte Hornets from 2018-19, holds a minority stake in the Seattle-based club.
Former USWNT goalkeeper Briana Scurry and U.S. Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes joined the Spirit as minority investors in 2021.
The league will take two weeks off during the 2023 World Cup.
OL Reign will host Club América in a friendly on Feb. 25.
Just how close is the SheBelieves roster to the group going to New Zealand?
The 33-year-old midfielder is on Gotham FC's preseason roster.