The league commissioner wants more than 18 teams.
Expansion seems to be the rage among sports owners these days. The National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association are actively pursuing adding teams while Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer are not closing any doors to expanding to more teams. The National Women’s Soccer League, which is going through the process of getting new teams on the field, is probably not limiting itself to 18 franchises. Jessica Berman, the NWSL Commissioner, has triggered an expansion mechanism to gauge the level of interest that potential owners might have in the league.
“We’re about to open our data room for teams 19 and 20 because we intend to continue expanding,” Berman said. “We’ve decided, given the scale of the league at this point, that we’ll make decisions when we feel like the market is ready to come in. We want to get through the season, update all that financial information and put our best foot forward because there’s a lot of great stories to tell from a business and financial perspective. I don’t think 20 is the max, I think 20 is the next touch point, Anytime we look at expansion, we evaluate the supply-demand dynamic and make sure that demand continues to be high, and that certainly is the case today. Our country is the size of a continent. It’s not going to happen tomorrow, but it is our vision to be able to compete on a national basis. In order for us to do that, we need to have a presence across the country.” Leagues want more footprints for various reasons although money and the ability to make money is certainly the number one reason to expand. In the NWSL’s case, the last expansion franchise was sold for $205 million. The NWSL has a Louisville problem and that business could be relocated.
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