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Disney CEO Bob Iger and his wife Willow Bay are “close to completing a deal" for majority ownership of NWSL club Angel City FC that would value the team at $250M, "nearly doubling the value of the most valuable women’s sports franchise in the world,” according to Kevin Baxter of the L.A. TIMES. The deal, which was
first reported by Puck, “could be completed quickly, with Bay and Iger replacing Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian as the team’s controlling shareholder.” Ohanian also reps the team on the NWSL Board of Governors; it was unclear who would assume that role. Ohanian, Angel City’s lead investor, last fall “raised objections to the team’s profligate spending.” The club had “by far the most revenue in the NWSL last year” at $31M, though it also is “spending the most, leaving it years away from profitability.” Angel City FC, which was created four years ago and debuted in 2022, was launched by actress Natalie Portman, venture capitalist Kara Nortman and entrepreneur Julie Uhrman, who recruited “more than 100 other investors from Hollywood and the sports world.” The majority of the team’s investors are women, giving the club the “largest female-led ownership group in pro sports history." That made Bay’s role in the investment “particularly important to many of the owner/investors who had to sign off on the deal” (
L.A. TIMES, 7/2).
DIVING INTO THE NUMBERS: SEMAFOR's Hoffman, Smith & Albergotti cite a source as saying that the club “now values itself at more than $300 million, indicating that the new investment is at least $50 million.” Another source indicated that former Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry and Manchester United co-owner Avie Glazer “bid competitively, but Bay and Iger pitched their long-term commitment to the enterprise and building the brand in the long term.” A pitch deck circulated by the new ownership group shows that they to “'ignite higher expectations’ for the club” (
SEMAFOR, 7/3).
