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Champions League

Villa Park growth ‘reveals house owners’ ambition’

by Soccer-News
written by Soccer-News

Aston Villa’s announcement of growth plans to increase the capability of Villa Park to greater than 50,000 is one other indicator of the ambition fuelling the membership’s revival underneath supervisor Unai Emery.

Underneath the possession of government chairman Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, Villa have been restored to the elite ranges, reaching the Champions League quarter-finals, the place they had been narrowly crushed on mixture by Paris St Germain.

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Emery, working alongside his long-time cohort Monchi, Villa’s president of soccer operations, has seen his work backed within the switch market by house owners intent on sustaining Villa’s momentum.

That was proved in January with the mortgage signings of Marcus Rashford from , midfielder Marco Asensio from PSG and Borussia Dortmund’s Donyell Malen on a everlasting deal.

This has now prolonged to upgrading Villa Park from its present capability previous the 50,000 mark to capitalise on the renaissance masterminded by Emery.

Villa had been forward of schedule after they broke by way of the Premier League’s glass ceiling final season to succeed in the Champions League.

They’re nonetheless within the hunt to succeed in Europe’s high desk once more subsequent season and have an FA Cup semi-final towards at Wembley on Saturday.

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National Womens Soccer League

Solely two NWSL groups have a girl as head coach. Might growth exasperate the difficulty?

by Soccer-News
written by Soccer-News

Solely two NWSL groups have a girl as head coach. Might growth exasperate the difficulty?

The final teaching domino from this offseason has lastly fallen, because of Angel Metropolis’s appointment of former Bayern Munich head coach Alexander Straus. Whereas poaching him from Europe appears like a good coup for sporting director Mark Parsons, it additionally highlights a unbroken lack of feminine coaches throughout the Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League (NWSL).

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Throughout the introductory press convention, Angel Metropolis was fast to level out how its hiring course of was balanced, with a shortlist equally break up between women and men. Straus may be the best name, however the query that continues to be is why are extra girls not incomes that closing provide?

The reply lies partly with a training pipeline that isn’t producing on the price it must.

Solely two of the 14 groups have feminine head coaches: Racing Louisville with Bev Yanez and Seattle Reign with Laura Harvey. For Harvey, who has been across the league since its inception (minus an interlude with the USA girls’s youth nationwide crew), there are two main appeals for teaching within the NWSL: its aggressive nature and the wage stage.

“I want there have been extra feminine coaches coming,” Harvey mentioned final week throughout a press convention. “It’s heartbreaking that now we have 14 groups on this league and solely two feminine head coaches.”

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The numbers get barely higher when taking a look at groups’ technical workers throughout the board, however not by a lot. Throughout the league, there are 22 girls amongst 67 teaching roles, together with head coaches, assistant coaches and goalkeeping coaches. Half the groups have at the very least two girls of their ranks, although that quantity drops to 5 when you take away Yanez and Harvey from consideration.

For Angel Metropolis, who’ve Eleri Earnshaw on workers as an assistant coach (and the one lady within the teaching workers of 4, together with interim head coach Sam Laity), there are larger goals than the place the workers stands.

“When you’ve got numerous considering in many alternative kinds, you’ve got extra of an opportunity of being profitable and attaining excessive efficiency,” Parsons mentioned within the press convention , stressing that each hiring course of needed to embrace numerous candidates. He additionally famous they will need to have folks within the constructing who develop by means of the crew’s supplied pathway, a long-term venture that Angel Metropolis has been engaged on.

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Parsons mentioned the crew has to proceed to be intentional and strategic when growing feminine coaches inside their atmosphere, however that’s solely the beginning.

“How can we ensure our course of is attracting and bringing elite feminine coaches?” he requested earlier than answering his query by saying he finds {that a} reactive method. “What are we doing to develop pathways and alternatives? I’m certain and assured you’re going to see that second half come to fruition over the subsequent six to 12 months.”

How a lot of this accountability is on particular person golf equipment versus the league? A systemic downside usually requires systemic options, though the NWSL can solely management a lot with regards to the teaching pipeline.

As a part of the newest collective bargaining settlement, the NWSL is on the hook for $25,000 a 12 months to subsidize prices for gamers to get teaching licenses from the U.S. Soccer Federation. If the complete quantity isn’t utilized in any given calendar 12 months, the remainder rolls over. Beforehand, gamers’ teaching schooling had been funded by donations, a federation endowment fund and NWSLPA and NWSL monetary assist.

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One included Bev Yanez, Amy Rodriguez (former head coach of the Utah Royals), Nicole Barnhart and others. It additionally included a handful of gamers, corresponding to Ali Krieger and McCall Zerboni, who’ve stepped into media roles.

Schooling is a significant piece of the puzzle, however not the one one. Expertise is essential in guaranteeing that head coaches who’re employed keep of their roles. The league doesn’t but have anybody employed with teaching improvement as their primary precedence, although their director of youth improvement, , spent years at U.S. Soccer engaged on superior teaching license packages.

There is a chance amid a extra strong ecosystem throughout the ladies’s soccer area for growing coaches. The USL Tremendous League, the opposite Division I girls’s skilled league within the U.S, nonetheless appears a bit unstable for head coaches. Nonetheless, of the eight golf equipment within the league, three have girls head coaches. Brooklyn FC parted methods with Jessica Silva final week and has but to call an interim. Earlier than her dismissal, nevertheless, the USLSL had a 50/50 gender break up amongst managers. The , a brand new league that intends to use for Division II sanctioning from U.S. Soccer, may also assist fill the ecosystem on the ladies’s aspect and supply one other entry level for coaches.

There are additionally folks working from a top-down method. Washington Spirit proprietor Michele Kang’s to U.S. Soccer final fall earmarked cash for teaching schooling. U.S. head coach Emma Hayes has additionally requested a training schooling director devoted to the ladies’s sport as a part of of the federation. Hayes believes that function may tailor U.S. Soccer’s schooling to be linked from the “B” license by means of the professional stage, “whether or not it’s physiologically, anatomically, technically, tactically, psychologically, socially, emotionally.”

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On the finish of the day, although, at the same time as assets are devoted to growing extra feminine coaches right here in America, the issue merely calls for time to be solved. Teaching licenses take months and significant expertise as an assistant coach or head coach at a decrease division takes even longer.

The league’s growth will solely amplify the issue. As Denver and Boston enter the league in 2026, that’s one other two technical staffs to construct out. Will they discover certified candidates right here in the united statesor will they should poach from overseas?

Proper now, it appears just like the latter. The marketplace for high technical workers expertise will solely get extra aggressive the extra groups the NWSL provides.

This text initially appeared in .

OL Reign, Angel Metropolis, Racing Louisville FC, Soccer, NWSL

2025 The Athletic Media Firm

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Concacaf League

Concacaf president joins refrain opposing 2030 World Cup growth to 64 groups

by Soccer-News
written by Soccer-News

Opposition is rising to the thought of increasing the World Cup to 64 groups (Getty Pictures)

The controversial proposal to develop the 2030 World Cup to 64 groups has been criticised by a number of continental federations, with each the and Asian Soccer Confederation presidents opposing the transfer.

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South American governing physique formally proposed the growth final week, lending momentum to an at a council assembly final month by Ignacio Alonso, the president of the Uruguayan Soccer Affiliation.

Conmebol president Alejandro Dominguez on the federation’s congress on Thursday, saying the growth would guarantee “no one on the planet is unnoticed of the social gathering.”

However the suggestion has been criticised by a number of different our bodies in world soccer.

that Victor Montagliani, president of Concacaf – which governs soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean – stated: “I do not consider increasing the lads’s World Cup to 64 groups is the suitable transfer for the event itself and the broader soccer ecosystem, from nationwide groups to membership competitions, leagues, and gamers.”

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“We have not even kicked off the brand new 48-team World Cup but, so personally, I do not suppose that increasing to 64 groups ought to even be on the desk.”

The 2026 World Cup, which might be held throughout the US, Canada and Mexico, would be the first to develop to 48 groups from the prevailing mannequin of 32. The choice to extend the variety of groups within the event was made following a unanimous vote at a Fifa congress in 2017.

Any additional growth to 64 groups would imply the 2030 version would contain 128 matches, double the quantity contested underneath the format viewers are acquainted with. The 2026 event will characteristic 104 matches performed out throughout 16 host cities.

The 2030 version already faces numerous logistical challenges resulting from its sprawling nature throughout three continents. Spain, Portugal and Morocco are designated hosts however Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina will all host opening matches to mark the centenary of the event, which was first hosted and received by Uruguay.

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Asian Soccer Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa stated the 64-team concept risked the World Cup descending into “chaos”.

“If the problem stays open to alter, then the door is not going to solely be open to increasing the event to 64 groups,” he stated on the thirty fifth AFC Congress.

“However somebody may come alongside and demand elevating the quantity to 132 groups. The place would we find yourself then? It might change into chaos.”

president , who can be a Fifa vice chairman, was one other to criticise the proposal. He stated: “It’s not a good suggestion for the World Cup itself and it isn’t a good suggestion for our qualifiers as nicely.”

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He additionally queried the sudden nature of the unique suggestion: “I do not know the place it got here from but it surely’s unusual that we did not know something earlier than this proposal on the FIFA Council.”

Fifa has but to touch upon the benefit of the thought however stated following the unique suggestion that it was obliged to contemplate it. The proposal could also be mentioned at Fifa’s upcoming seventy fifth Congress, which might be held in Asuncion, Paraguay on 15 Might.

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National Womens Soccer League

NWSL enlargement group Boston Legacy will get White Stadium court docket win

by Soccer-News
written by Soccer-News

NWSL enlargement group Boston Legacy will get White Stadium court docket win

A Superior Court docket Justice on Wednesday dominated that the renovation of White Stadium, the long run residence of , just isn’t in violation of state regulation.

Choose Matthew Nestor discovered that the Franklin Park stadium parcel, the place the stadium is being revitalized, just isn’t topic to Article 97 of the Massachusetts Structure, permitting the mission to proceed as deliberate.

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The choice is a significant win for Boston Legacy and the Metropolis of Boston, which have lengthy championed their imaginative and prescient of bringing skilled ladies’s soccer again to town by a public-private partnership that might renovate the historic stadium, which can stay at 10,000-seat capability as soon as the work has been accomplished.

The stadium can be shared by the skilled group and Boston Public Colleges (BPS). A launch from the Metropolis of Boston final month stated the renovation will triple the out there hours the BPS can use the stadium to between 750-900 per yr.

“With as we speak’s ruling, we’re happy to proceed the revitalization of White Stadium alongside town of Boston,” Jennifer Epstein, Boston Legacy FC’s controlling supervisor, stated in an announcement. “Boston Public Colleges college students and the communities round Franklin Park have lengthy deserved the kind of generational funding this mission delivers.”

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, a staunch supporter of the mission, referred to as the choice a “historic victory” in a separate assertion.

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“A renovated White Stadium might be open and utilized by BPS college students, coaches, and neighborhood 15 hours per day, greater than 345 days per yr,” Wu stated within the assertion. “We thank the Superior Court docket for twice affirming this important mission for our college students and neighborhood as a year-round facility that can encourage the subsequent era of Boston college students.”

The group is slated to start play in 2026 alongside one other enlargement membership in Denver. Building is anticipated to complete subsequent winter, in time for the beginning of the 2026 NWSL season.

The tip of this authorized problem removes a significant hurdle for Boston Legacy, which has had a turbulent journey since Boston Unity Soccer Companions LLC, the traders group behind the membership, was awarded NWSL enlargement rights in September 2023

The White Stadium lawsuit, filed 5 months later, hoped to halt the mission altogether.

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The plaintiffs — the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and a number of other residents who dwell close to Franklin Park — argued the mission would equate to the privatization of public land that was legally mandated to stay public.

The plaintiffs, of their problem towards White Stadium, have been met with varied setbacks alongside the best way. They did not persuade the Suffolk Superior Court docket decide to supply an injunction final March after which have been denied their request for a trial delay.

Sooner or later earlier than the trial, a ruling by Nestor primarily threw out half of the plaintiffs’ case, signaling that his resolution could ultimately sway within the defendant’s favor. The decide in that pre-trial listening to dominated that the conservancy had no standing to convey a case towards the defendants on the matter of whether or not the George Robert White Belief, which owns the stadium and the parcel of land the place it sits, may make a cope with town.

The conservancy’s president, Karen Mauney-Brodek, stated in an announcement on Wednesday that their group was “deeply dissatisfied” by Nestor’s resolution and that they “plan to evaluate our authorized choices.”

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“Our advocacy for Franklin Park and the neighborhood is about supporting our youngsters and the park with a really public stadium. The communities across the park must be central to decision-making for our parks, not requested their opinion after choices are already made,” Mauney-Brodek stated within the assertion. “We’re proud to face with neighborhood leaders who usually are not being heard. It’s our group’s mission to work with all to guard and help Franklin Park and the remainder of the Emerald Necklace for as we speak and the long run.”

The price of the stadium mission is anticipated to exceed $200 million, with the NWSL membership chargeable for greater than half of these prices. The talk over the way forward for White Stadium has grow to be a hotly debated topic within the metropolis’s present mayoral race, which inadvertently brings with it a model of soccer politics.

Boston’s present mayor, Michelle Wu, has been a staunch supporter of the White Stadium mission, in addition to the NWSL group behind it. The incumbent is dealing with a novel problem by Josh Kraft, who has been an outspoken critic of the stadium.

Kraft – son of New England Patriots and New England Revolution proprietor Robert Kraft – additionally has ties to his household’s push to construct their very own soccer-specific stadium for the Revolution in Everett, which might require an settlement with town.

This text initially appeared in .

NWSL, Sports activities Enterprise

2025 The Athletic Media Firm

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Soccer News

FIFA might think about World Cup enlargement to 64 groups in 2030, per report

by Soccer-News
written by Soccer-News

FIFA will think about a proposal to develop the 2030 males’s World Cup to a whopping 64 groups, twice the scale of the 2022 event and former editions.

The for the primary time in 2026. Though eventual enlargement to 64 might be inevitable, the expectation has been that 48-team fields can be the norm for not less than a decade, and doubtless two, in step with the event’s historical past of progress.

However, at Wednesday’s FIFA Council assembly, in line with a , the president of Uruguay’s soccer federation proposed a one-off enlargement for the 2030 World Cup, which can mark the a centesimal anniversary of the occasion.

That event can be . It should start with one sport apiece in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, the place the primary World Cup was held in 1930. It should then shift to Spain, Portugal and Morocco; these three neighbors, beneath the present format, can be tasked with internet hosting 101 of the 104 video games over 39 days.

An expanded World Cup would enhance the burden on all three. It might carry all kinds of logistical issues. Organizing the primary 48-team World Cup in 2026, unfold throughout america, Canada and Mexico, is already proving a colossal problem for FIFA and North American organizers.

A 64-team World Cup would seemingly be a 128-match affair.

It is a creating story and can be up to date.

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National Womens Soccer League

Serena Williams joins possession group of WNBA enlargement crew Toronto Tempo

by Soccer-News
written by Soccer-News

is increasing her portfolio {of professional} sports activities organizations to incorporate a crew.

was introduced Monday as a co-owner the Toronto Tempo, an enlargement crew that’s set to start out play in 2026. Williams is becoming a member of an possession group that’s , chairman of Kilmer Sports activities Ventures.

“I’m thrilled to announce my possession function within the first Canadian WNBA crew, the Toronto Tempo,” Williams mentioned in an announcement. “This second is not only about basketball; it’s about showcasing the true worth and potential of feminine athletes — I’ve all the time mentioned that girls’s sports activities are an unbelievable funding alternative. I’m excited to companion with Larry and all of Canada in creating this new WNBA franchise and legacy.”

In line with by the crew, Williams’ function as an proprietor will embody taking part in “an lively function in future jersey designs” and serving to to “forge distinctive merchandise collaborations with the crew.”

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Her inclusion within the Tempo possession is pending last league approval.

“Serena Williams is an icon, a task mannequin and a pressure for change on the earth” Tanenbaum mentioned in an announcement. “She’s earned each little bit of her unbelievable success with laborious work, tenacity and willpower within the face of numerous challenges. She exemplifies the perfect of what the Tempo stand for — we couldn’t be extra honoured to have Serena in our court docket.”

Williams received 23 main singles titles earlier than on the 2022 U.S. Open. A , Williams owns a minority stake in a number of groups throughout a wide range of sports activities, together with soccer (the NFL’s Miami Dolphins), soccer (the NWSL’s ) and golf (TGL’s Los Angeles Golf Membership).

“Serena is a champion,” Tempo president Teresa Resch mentioned in an announcement. “She’s the best athlete of all time, and her affect on this crew and this nation goes to be unbelievable. She’s set the bar for girls in sport, enterprise and the world — and her dedication to utilizing that success to create alternatives for different ladies is inspiring.”

Issues might get a bit awkward for Williams if she occurs to run into hip-hop star in his hometown of Toronto. Williams was seen onstage in the course of the Tremendous Bowl halftime present final month dancing gleefully a brutal that for report and track of the 12 months.

Williams has implied that her look in the course of the track had nothing to do with Drake, with whom she had been rumored to have been romantically linked in the course of the early 2010s.

This story initially appeared in .

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National Womens Soccer League

Linda Henry pulls out from possession stake in Boston’s NWSL enlargement workforce

by Soccer-News
written by Soccer-News

Linda Henry, the Boston Globe’s chief govt, has backed out of her possession stake within the NWSL’s enlargement workforce in Boston.

The announcement, which Henry shared to her Instagram story on Friday, comes because the workforce pushes towards its inaugural season in 2026. The divestment course of stays pending, with Henry informing the workforce of her plans to exit their group two months in the past.

“In December, I formally notified the Boston NWSL workforce that I might be exiting the investor group,” Henry mentioned on Friday, . “We’re working collectively and count on to finish the method quickly, and I’ll then simply be a Boston fan, not a part of the BosNation workforce in any approach.

“As an ardent supporter of girls’s sports activities, I fortunately joined as a restricted, passive investor when the group was forming. I stay very excited in regards to the development and future of girls’s sports activities in Boston and past.”

Henry is the CEO of Boston Globe Media, whose portfolio contains the Boston Globe. She co-owns the media firm together with her husband, John Henry, who can be the principal proprietor of Fenway Sports activities Group, which has controlling stakes within the Boston Purple Sox, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Liverpool FC within the English Premier League.

The monetary phrases of Henry’s funding within the enlargement workforce have been by no means disclosed. Henry was thought-about a minority, non-controlling investor within the membership.

The possession group is led by an all-female group that features Boston Celtics minority proprietor Jennifer Epstein, Stephanie Connaughton, Ami Danoff and Anna Palmer. The membership additionally has a pair of superstar buyers in actress Elizabeth Banks and Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman.

In a press release, the Boston NWSL workforce thanked Henry for her early curiosity within the membership.

“We need to thank Linda for her early funding into bringing skilled girls’s soccer again to Boston,” the assertion learn. “Our possession group continues to develop and we’re enthusiastic about what’s to come back as we kick off in 2026.”

The enlargement membership has confronted a string of setbacks because it inches towards its inaugural season. The workforce over its controversial advert marketing campaign launching the membership’s model identification, BOS Nation, and shortly after mentioned it’s contemplating a reputation change. In a number of weeks, the workforce is due in court docket to reply a residents’ lawsuit geared toward stopping the year-round industrial use of the historic White Stadium, the place the workforce plans to play in 2026.

This text initially appeared in .

NWSL, Sports activities Enterprise

2025 The Athletic Media Firm

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National Womens Soccer League

WNBA enlargement: Which cities are within the working to earn the sixteenth group?

by Soccer-News
written by Soccer-News

As free company kicked off final month and star gamers started shuffling across the WNBA, one other necessary date loomed on the league’s calendar.

Bids for the sixteenth WNBA franchise had been due on Jan. 30, based on a league supply briefed on the matter, leading to a flurry of curiosity. Greater than 10 potential possession teams submitted formal bids, based on folks concerned within the course of.

Because the WNBA determines the place it ought to award its subsequent enlargement group, listed here are the cities and teams we all know have made formal bids for group No. 16 and what the timeline is more likely to appear like for when a brand new franchise will likely be awarded.

Which cities submitted bids?

By means of the final six months, potential possession teams from throughout the U.S. indicated public curiosity within the WNBA sixteenth franchise.

The brand new group will be a part of latest enlargement groups in Golden State (launching this season) and Portland and Toronto (2026). Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has mentioned she felt assured the league may broaden to 16 groups by 2028.

Extra teams than these listed beneath might have submitted bids, however listed here are 9 teams has confirmed are nonetheless concerned within the course of:

Austin

A bunch making an attempt to carry a group to town has filed a proper bid with the WNBA, three sources briefed on the matter informed . Former Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry is the lead investor within the group making an attempt to carry one other group to Texas, by way of his funding agency, Avenue Capital, whereas perennial NBA All-Star Kevin Durant and former College of Texas star and Houston Comets participant Fran Harris are each concerned with the bid, based on an individual briefed on the bid. The group would possible play on the Moody Heart, the place the Longhorns compete. The group plans to construct a observe facility for the potential group if it wins the bid.

An NBA participant, like Durant, should buy as much as 4 p.c of a WNBA group, and NBA gamers in mixture can come clean with 8 p.c of a WNBA group, based on new guidelines handed within the NBA’s 2023 collective bargaining settlement. However a participant can’t be invested in a group if any of the opposite possession stakes belong to a present NBA proprietor; Lasry offered his share of the Milwaukee Bucks two years in the past.

Charlotte

A bunch that entails the Charlotte Hornets possession group is making an attempt to carry a group again to town, which was as soon as the house of the Charlotte Sting.  that Erica Berman is main the bid. A Hornets spokesperson confirmed to that the franchise is concerned within the effort. “Hornets Sports activities & Leisure believes strongly sooner or later progress of girls’s basketball and the WNBA,” the group mentioned in a press release. “The Charlotte Sting have a storied historical past and a passionate fanbase inside our neighborhood. We’re proud to again the Berman household and be part of this bigger group that’s bidding to carry the WNBA again to Charlotte.”

Cleveland

Dan Gilbert, the bulk proprietor of the Cleveland Cavaliers, formally put in a bid with the WNBA to carry an enlargement franchise to town, a spokesperson for Rock Leisure Group, the corporate that oversees Gilbert’s sports activities properties, confirmed to . Cleveland had been a WNBA market from the league’s debut, in 1997, to 2003, when the Cleveland Rockers folded. The potential Cleveland group would play at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the place the Cavaliers play. The bid additionally features a plan to get the WNBA group its personal observe facility.

Denver

A bunch led by the Dimond household submitted a proper bid with the WNBA to carry an enlargement group to Colorado. Ashley Dimond, who confirmed the bid to , would function the group’s governor if it had been to get a group, whereas her father, Stonebridge CEO Navin Dimond, is part of the bid as properly. Ibotta CEO Bryan Leach and his household are additionally a part of the investor group. They intend for the potential Denver group to play in a purpose-built area if the WNBA chooses their bid.

Detroit

Tom Gores, the proprietor of the Detroit Pistons, introduced {that a} group together with NBA Corridor of Famers Grant Hill and Chris Webber in addition to Lions proprietor Sheila Ford Hamp and quarterback Jared Goff submitted a bid to carry the WNBA again to Detroit. The brand new WNBA group would play at Little Caesars Enviornment, the house of the Pistons, however it could assemble a devoted WNBA observe facility. Detroit was a WNBA market from the league’s second season in 1998 till 2009.

“I really assume it’s actually only a query of when the Shock comes again,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver informed Pistons.com. “Over time, there’s going to be lots of enlargement within the WNBA. That’s a first-class group led by Tom, and Detroit must get a WNBA group once more.”

Houston

Tilman Fertitta, the proprietor of the Houston Rockets, submitted a bid for a WNBA franchise, a spokesperson for the Rockets confirmed to . The franchise would play at Toyota Heart. The Houston Comets gained the primary 4 WNBA titles however disbanded after the 2008 season.

Kansas Metropolis

A bunch led by the NWSL’s Kansas Metropolis Present co-owners Angie Lengthy, Chris Lengthy, Brittany Mahomes and Patrick Mahomes submitted a proper bid to carry an enlargement group to Kansas Metropolis. Present co-owner Chris Lengthy informed that the group has already signed an settlement with T-Cellular Heart to be the downtown stadium’s anchor tenant and that the Kansas Metropolis WNBA franchise would construct a 60,000-square-foot privately-financed observe facility on land the group already owns in the identical space because the Present’s facility.

Lengthy mentioned that if chosen the franchise would even be the one WNBA within the geographic area, as there’s not a WNBA group inside 400 miles of Kansas Metropolis. “I actually consider this isn’t only a metropolis play for the WNBA, however a regional play the place you set an anchor proper in the midst of the nation that clearly we predict is effective,” Lengthy mentioned.

Patrick Mahomes talks about why he’s making an attempt to carry a WNBA group to KC

‘I like sports activities, I understand how a lot town loves sports activities so let’s carry as many sports activities in right here and showcase how nice Kansas Metropolis is.’

The Chiefs quarterback, who joined the Present’s possession group in Jan. 2023, has repeatedly been outspoken about his want to carry a WNBA franchise to Kansas Metropolis. This fall he mentioned doing so was a “no-brainer” and cited the Present’s success as a replicable roadmap.

“I do know if we had been capable of get a WNBA group to Kansas Metropolis, it could be packed each single evening,” Mahomes mentioned final week. “That’s simply the kind of environment that we’ve got. I’m hoping we will get that achieved and we will proceed to push girls’s sports activities ahead.”

A Kansas Metropolis franchise can be the second WNBA group to share majority possession with an NWSL membership, becoming a member of the Portland WNBA group which additionally owns the Thorns.

Nashville

Nashville Predators proprietor Invoice Haslam and his spouse, Crissy, introduced they’d for a franchise. The group can be referred to as the Tennessee Summitt, a nod to former Tennessee Girl Vols coach Pat Summitt. Candace Parker, Peyton Manning, Religion Hill and Tim McGraw would even be a part of the possession group.

Philadelphia

The possession group behind the Philadelphia 76ers, Harris Blitzer Sports activities & Leisure, is trying to carry a franchise to town, a HBSE spokesperson confirmed to . The 76ers had made their curiosity identified earlier final month when proprietor Josh Harris, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and Philadelphia mayor Cherelle Parker introduced a plan to construct a brand new stadium within the metropolis. Comcast purchased a minority stake in HBSE — which owns the Sixers, New Jersey Devils and different sports activities properties — and will likely be part of the bidding group.

What the WNBA mentioned in regards to the course of

At her annual WNBA Finals information convention final October, Engelbert mentioned the WNBA want to have its sixteenth franchise start play in 2027 however goals to launch it no later than 2028. She added that there are “10 to 12 cities which are very viable that we’re evaluating.” Key elements embrace a franchise’s area, observe facility, participant expertise facilities, possession dedication and metropolis demographics and market analysis.

“It’s complicated since you want an area and a observe facility and participant housing and all of the issues, you want dedicated long-term possession teams,” Engelbert mentioned. “The good factor is we’re getting lots of calls.”

What the WNBA beforehand seemed for

Possession ties to the NBA are one commonality between the three latest enlargement teams. Joe Lacob, the bulk proprietor of the NBA’s Warriors, can also be the bulk proprietor of the Valkyries. Larry Tanenbaum and Kilmer Sports activities Ventures personal and function the Tempo in addition to the NBA’s Raptors.

Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal personal the Portland WNBA franchise. Their household is an investor within the NBA’s Kings, and their father, Raj, is the Kings principal co-owner and serves as majority proprietor Vivek Ranadive’s alternate on the NBA’s board of governors. In trying towards its subsequent franchise, the WNBA may select an possession group with NBA ties or look to an impartial group. Among the many 9 teams listed above, solely Nashville, Austin and Kansas Metropolis should not in NBA markets.

Services — each arenas and observe gyms — have been particularly necessary within the WNBA’s decision-making course of, and up to date participant motion in free company displays the significance gamers are placing on high-quality experiences. It’s no shock that potential franchises have typically made clear their major and second facility plans.

Timeline for a brand new franchise

October 2023

The WNBA introduced it awarded the Golden State Warriors possession group the league’s thirteenth group. The Valkyries, as they’d later be named, had a 12 months and a half to arrange for his or her first sport, which is able to tip off in Might.

Might 2024

The league introduced its 14th franchise, later named the Toronto Tempo two years earlier than they play their first sport.

September 2024

The WNBA named Portland as the location of the league’s fifteenth franchise final September, giving the group round 20 months of preparation between its announcement and tip.

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If the sixteenth franchise had been to start play in 2027, it wouldn’t be shocking to see an announcement this fall with the intention to give that group an analogous quantity of preparation. If the league determines a sixteenth franchise ought to enter in 2028, then it’s truthful to count on an announcement in 2026.

What’s the newest with Toronto, Portland and different cities?

With the Valkyries debuting this Might, the league’s enlargement course of is popping to franchises in Toronto and Portland, each of which is able to start play in 2026. In late January, the Toronto Tempo employed former Phoenix Mercury assistant normal supervisor Monica Wright Rogers as their first GM, a league supply confirmed to . Wright Rogers, who performed within the WNBA for seven seasons after a embellished profession on the College of Virginia, was additionally into account for the GM position in Washington this offseason earlier than she was employed as Toronto’s prime basketball decision-maker, league sources mentioned.

Though Toronto already unveiled its title, started promoting merchandise, and employed each its group president and GM, Portland has but to make many public bulletins. It plans to create a observe facility that may home each town’s WNBA franchise in addition to the NWSL’s Thorns (the 2 share possession). In accordance with Entrance Workplace Sports activities, it hopes to have a reputation by the spring.

Some teams that had reportedly proven curiosity haven’t positioned formal bids. Former WNBA president Donna Orender was a part of a bunch that explored the opportunity of bringing a WNBA franchise to Jacksonville, however she informed that she didn’t submit a bid. As an alternative, Orender lately helped launch a brand new skilled girls’s basketball league, the Upshot League, based mostly in 4 cities, together with Jacksonville. Although the Milwaukee Bucks possession group reportedly had an curiosity in bringing a WNBA group to Wisconsin, it didn’t file a proper bid with the WNBA, a Bucks spokesman mentioned.

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National Womens Soccer League

NWSL Makes Denver Enlargement Crew Official for File $110M Payment

by Soccer-News
written by Soccer-News

The Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League introduced that Denver has been awarded the league’s sixteenth franchise and can start play in 2026. The staff shall be managed by IMA Monetary Group CEO Robert Cohen.

In December, Sportico broke the information that Denver and the NWSL had entered to be the newest growth franchise. It emerged over candidates from Cleveland () and Cincinnati (MLS membership Cincinnati FC). The primary a part of Denver’s  growth payment, the biggest within the historical past of U.S. ladies’s sports activities, was paid earlier than the top of 2024, Sportico beforehand reported.

Extra from Sportico.com

The has come collectively over the previous couple of months, as Sportico reported this week. Ariel Investments invested by way of its subsidiary Undertaking Stage, led by Ariel co-CEO Mellody Hobson and former Washington Commanders president Jason Wright. The announcement mentioned Undertaking Stage is an asset administration agency affiliated with Ariel that seeks to “stage the enjoying area in ladies’s sports activities by way of funding and possession.”

Dhiren Jhaveri and his spouse, Neelima Joshi, are additionally a part of the cap desk. Joshi and Jhaveri, who stay in Denver, are investing within the staff personally, not through Kuvare. Jhaveri is the founder and chairman of the monetary providers platform and has made different sports activities investments by way of his firm. In 2023, the Chicago-based agency dedicated financing to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez of their ongoing pursuit to purchase the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx.

Siblings Jon-Erik Borgen and Kaia Borgen Moritz invested through their FirstTracks Sports activities Ventures. Molly Coors can be an investor; in line with , she was beforehand a director at AllianceBernstein.

Cohen would be the staff’s governor, whereas Hobson will function various governor. Hobson is a minority investor within the NFL’s Denver Broncos and sits on the boards of Starbucks and JPMorgan Chase. She can be a shareholder of the Chicago White Sox, the WNBA and League One Volleyball.

NWSL mentioned the Denver franchise is finalizing plans for a brand new stadium and observe facility. The staff identify, emblem and colours shall be introduced at a later date.

The NWSL added two groups this previous season: the Utah Royals and Bay FC. A Boston-based membership will be a part of the league in 2026; it agreed to pay the identical $53 million growth payment as Bay FC. Utah beforehand had an NWSL franchise and returned beneath a .

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National Womens Soccer League

Denver awarded NWSL franchise with report $110M enlargement charge: Report

by Soccer-News
written by Soccer-News

Denver has been awarded an NWSL franchise, in response to a on Thursday.

A bunch led by IMA Monetary Group CEO Robert Cohen pays a report enlargement charge of $110 million to develop into the NWSL’s sixteenth franchise. That whole is greater than double the $53 million paid by and after they had been awarded entry, and is reportedly the biggest enlargement charge ever paid for a U.S. ladies’s sports activities group.

The Denver franchise won’t start play till the 2026 season.

Bay FC and the Utah Royals performed their inaugural seasons in 2024. Boston would be the NWSL’s subsequent group to enter, starting with the 2025 season, and is presently “revisiting” its group identify after the .

Denver was certainly one of three cities that had been within the operating for an enlargement franchise together with Cincinnati, the place Caitlin Clark was a part of the possession bid, and , the place a improvement group not too long ago purchased land meant for a ladies’s soccer stadium.

The Denver franchise will start play in a brief venue whereas it finalizes plans for its personal soccer-specific stadium.

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