The latest additions to NWSL as part of the expansion were Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC in 2022. The LA-based franchise made the headlines as it became a professional women’s team with most female owners. Venture capitalist Kara Nortman, Hollywood actress Natalie Portman, and entrepreneur Julie Uhrman founded the club in 2019. In the same year, they received a massive investor in the form of Alexis Ohanian, thanks to Megan Rapinoe.

The Redditt co-owner recently shared how he became part of the consortium that owns Angel City FC. Interestingly, the sale of the club Megan Rapinoe was playing for in 2019 triggered the thought process of the venture capitalist. It was the sum involved in the transaction that surprised Ohanian.

Megan Rapinoe, the reason behind Alexis Ohanian’s investment?

In 2019, USWNT won the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Women’s soccer was starting to grow, and the second consecutive World Cup increased the interest. USWNT superstars like Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan were the names that garnered massive popularity. The social media following for both was enormous. 

Talking about the popularity of women’s soccer players, Ohanian said, “These women were incredibly popular. They were individually capable of generating millions of dollars and yet the league, the NWSL, was still kind of mess. I didn’t even know it existed.” However, one headline changed everything for Ohanian. He learned that they sold the club Rapinoe was playing for a mere $3 million.

He felt the worth of OL Reign forward was in millions. Redditt co-founder, said, “At a time, a team was sold for $3 million, and it was a same team Megan Rapinoe played on. Megan Rapinoe can generate atleast a few million dollars a year. She is worth atleast that much. Her entire team is only worth three million? Someone was epically messing up.”

It triggered the thought process of Ohanian and took it as an opportunity. The venture capitalist started thinking of buying an NWSL team.

Ohanian wanted to invest in a whole new team

Ohanian started tweeting about his desire to invest in a women’s soccer team. On getting enormous responses from social media, he said, “Twitter showed up in a big way.” He got positive as well as negative responses to his tweets. The die-hard women’s soccer fans asked him to walk the talk, whereas trollers refrained him from investing in women’s team.

READ MORE: Megan Rapinoe Sets New NWSL Record Following Strike Avoiding a Shock OL Reign Upset Against Winless Racing Louisville Side

Ohanian resorted to talking to existing owners and realized he will invest in a new team. Finally, he found the way. His proactive and honest efforts made one of the LAFC (MLS franchise) owners introduce him to the founders of Angel City FC. Portman, Nortman, and Uhrman were in the market in search of new investors and they didn’t find any.

Ohanian said, “‘I said, ‘I am doing this and getting connected to them.’ They shared a similar vision, and I wrote the cheque.” And Alexis Ohanian became part of a consortium that owned Angel City FC. His wife and tennis superstar Serena Williams also joined him.

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Let us know your thoughts on the increasing investments in women’s soccer.