NWSL includes LA club including Reddit co-founder, Netflix VP as financiers

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NWSL adds LA club featuring Reddit co-founder, Netflix VP as investors

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Natalie Portman goes to LA Dance Project’s 2019 Fundraising Gala on October 19, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.

Vivien Killilea | Getty Images

Women’s soccer is concerning Los Angeles.

The National Women’s Soccer League, or NWSL, has actually included a growth group in Los Angeles led by leading investor, consisting of Kara Nortman, Julie Uhrman and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, and Hollywood stars. The brand-new club, revealed on Tuesday, will be the very first bulk women-owned group.

The Los Angeles club will debut in spring 2022 and end up being the league’s 11th group. Though a main name will be exposed later on, the group has actually been calling itself “Angel City” in honor of its brand-new home town, the league stated.

“We’ve long sought the right partner in LA considering the NWSL fanbase that already exists in the region and the massive interest in women’s soccer in general,” NWSL Commissioner Lisa Baird stated in a declaration. “Those factors, along with an incredible ownership group, make this an ideal situation and we couldn’t be more thrilled to move forward.”

Former U.S. Women’s National Team stars Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, Lauren Cheney Holiday, Rachel Buehler and Julie Foudy will likewise be included, according to the league’s declaration. Hollywood stars led by Academy Award-winning starlet and activist Natalie Portman, Jennifer Garner, Eva Longoria and Cindy Holland, Netflix’s VP of initial material, are stakeholders in the club.

“Today we take an exciting step by announcing the first women majority-owned and led ownership group,” Portman stated in a declaration. “I am thrilled by the opportunity to partner with this incredible group of people to bring a professional women’s soccer team to Los Angeles. Together, we aim to build not only a winning team on the field but also to develop a passionately loyal fan base.”

Alexis Ohanian

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The LA club is the 2nd included considering that last October when NWSL stated the Louisville group of the United Soccer League Championship would have its ladies’s club in location by the 2021 season. Based in Chicago, the NWSL is a single-entity operation that is supported by CONCACAF.

The NWSL ended up being the very first U.S. expert soccer league to go back to play from Covid-19 on June 27 with its 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup in Utah. The league likewise got in a multiyear media rights arrangement with CBS Sports and utilized its collaboration with Octagon to work out the offer.

The league likewise has collaborations in location with Google, Nike, Procter & Gamble and Amazon’s Twitch Interactive. Though the league is experiencing development considering that starting play in 2013, Baird stated the NWSL would continue to “be strategic and thoughtful about how fast we expand and the communities we partner.”

The Los Angeles club stated it will likewise support the Play Equity Fund and will partner with LA84 Foundation to “help us build out our community relations foundation from the very start,” stated Uhrman, likewise the club’s president.

“We come together with a collective passion for bringing about change,” Uhrman stated. “Change for our players, change for our fans, and change for our community. Change that begins today.”