Angel Metropolis FC Turns into Highest Valued Ladies’s Sports activities Crew

Topline

Disney CEO Bob Iger and his spouse, Willow Bay, have agreed to turn into the brand new controlling homeowners of Angel Metropolis Soccer Membership, the membership introduced Wednesday, giving Los Angeles’ ladies’s soccer group the best valuation of any ladies’s skilled sports activities group.

A common view of the offered out crowd watching the sport between Racing Louisville FC and Angel Metropolis … [+] FC at Banc of California Stadium on September 25, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.

Getty Photographs for Angel Metropolis FC

Key Info

Iger and Bay, who’s a dean on the College of Southern California, will purchase a controlling stake within the Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League membership and Bay may have full management of the group’s board of administrators and act because the group’s controlling proprietor.

With its new controlling homeowners—and their further $50 million funding to assist the membership’s progress—Angel Metropolis FC has a valuation of $250 million, in response to the group.

The deal was permitted by the group’s board, however is topic to customary closing situations like league approval and is predicted to shut within the subsequent 30-60 days.

Bay stated she and Iger are “thrilled to affix” the membership, noting the group has “already had an incredible affect on the NWSL, ladies’s soccer, and the Los Angeles neighborhood,” in a press release.

Get Forbes Breaking Information Textual content Alerts: We’re launching textual content message alerts so you will at all times know the most important tales shaping the day’s headlines. Textual content “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or enroll right here.

Shocking Reality

Angel Metropolis FC isn’t new to having stars as its leaders. The membership was based by actress Natalie Portman, enterprise capitalist Kara Nortman, and Julie Uhrma in 2020. Its possession group additionally contains Billie Jean King, Illana Kloss, Candace Parker, 13 former gamers from the U.S. ladies’s nationwide group and a variety of different actors, activists, athletes and extra.

Massive Quantity

11. Regardless of its business success, that’s the group’s rank this 12 months in a league of simply 14 groups. Angel Metropolis FC has a file of 4-9-3.

Key Background

Since its first season in 2022, Angel Metropolis FC has seen success in rising a fan base and changing that to income. The group offered greater than 15,000 season tickets earlier than it ever performed a sport, ESPN reported—regardless of the league averaging fewer than 6,000 followers a sport the 12 months earlier than. The group additionally stated in a press release it generated the best income of any ladies’s group worldwide and was No. 1 in league attendance, sponsorship income and whole income. Iger and Bay’s funding comes as extra eyes than ever are on ladies’s sports activities. Earlier this 12 months, one other NWSL group was offered for an estimated $113 million, breaking the league’s earlier file sale of $63 million for the Portland Thorns earlier this 12 months.

What To Watch For

If the membership continues to see success below Iger and Bay’s management. In January 2023, Angel Metropolis president Uhrman advised The Athletic: “So far as I’m involved, we’re going to be the primary ladies’s group to have a billion greenback valuation in 5 years … There’s no higher funding right now than ladies’s sports activities.” On the time of the interview, Angel Metropolis had offered merch in each state and 46 international locations, had greater than $40 million in sponsorships and had whole income “someplace within the mid-eight figures.”