“The goal is not to be the best women’s professional sports club,” said Alexis Ohanian, “The goal is to be the best sports franchise in the world.” From day one, Ohanian set this ambitious long-term goal for Angel City when it was launched in 2020, ahead of its on-pitch debut a couple of years later. And why wouldn’t he? After all, the husband of Serena Williams had invested a million dollars in something he truly believed in. Guess how things are today for the NWSL side. Well, how does a valuation of $300 million sound?

Yep, you heard it right. Witnessing a whopping 300x growth within the following years evidently showcases what the team is capable of. But from the looks of it, we don’t think the Los Angeles, California-based club will ever stop setting huge milestones. That’s because Ohanian is looking to achieve a number that hardly any women’s soccer league dreams of: A billion-dollar mark! Well, that’s how confident he is about his team.

Interestingly, the assertion was made during the chat with Emma Graham at the recent Web Summit. Ohanian shared a minute-long clip on X in which he shared his story of Angel City and how he aims to etch more history. The American entrepreneur began by recalling a time when an NWSL team had been sold for a mere $3 million. This was before Angel City FC was launched. In fact, at that point, Ohanian didn’t even follow the sport.

Yet, he was aware of Megan Rapinoe, one of the league’s star players, due to the dominance of the USWNT . What baffled him was the stark contrast in valuation, insisting that Rapinoe alone was worth at least that much annually in marketing alone. Hence, the idea that an entire franchise could be valued so low simply didn’t make sense to him. That realization led Alexis to take the pledge of owning a professional women’s soccer team.

And boy, did he follow through—driven by a single bold conviction: “One day, I believe, it can be worth a billion dollars,” said Ohanian. Having made such a big claim, this was bound to have resistance. “The amount of pushback I got for saying that a women’s professional team could one day be worth a billion dollars looked so different from the response I got to saying that I believed Bitcoin could be a store of value.”

Ohanian noted that this skepticism was enough to prove that success comes from being both early and right in the venture capital industry. And it’s quite unfortunate that even today, certain biases prevent many from recognizing and seizing opportunities that could have been highly profitable.

No wonder that today, the Reddit co-founder can proudly look back and say he made the right call. After all, Angel City is the most valuable women’s professional sports team in the world. “I think five or six years from now, we are going to see that [billion-dollar] milestone. I hope it’s Angel City, but regardless, we’ve seen a secular shift now in the investment in emerging sports, but in particular women’s sports. And I’ve just only gotten more and more confident in the years since.”

However, Ohanian clarified that his drive to do something for the women’s game hardly is about showcasing his philanthropy. “Don’t get it twisted; none of this is about charity; none of this is about, ‘Oh, it feels good.’ Yes, it does feel good for sure. If my daughters choose to play soccer when they grow up, I want them to get paid. But at the end of the day, it’s about good business. And I think that’s the opportunity in front of us,” concluded Ohanian.

Could we be any more touched by how passionate Ohanian is about the women’s game? Clearly, the American investor takes immense pride in his decision to launch Angel City. In fact, not just from a business POV, but also to bring a revolutionary change. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is something Ohanian just might have truly outdone himself in.

Alexis Ohanian – Pioneer of women’s soccer and NWSL’s Angel City

Well, making Angel City one of the best sports franchises in the world wasn’t the only goal for Alexis Ohanian. Earlier, the successful entrepreneur fervently mentioned, “NWSL will be bigger than MLS in 10 years.” Of course, making such a bold claim, that too by challenging America’s biggest men’s domestic competition is hardly done by anyone. But as surprising as it may sound, his prediction did come true.

In the 2024 U.S. Soccer League finals, the NWSL outperformed the MLS in viewership. Talking about the men’s league, the final between LA Galaxy and NY Red Bulls drew over 427K viewers on Fox Sports. Meanwhile, the NWSL final between Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit garnered a whopping 967K viewers on CBS. Clearly, the NWSL final had an edge over the MLS final with 126% more viewers.

That’s not all—during his appearance on the Seven Seven Six podcast, Ohanian revealed that Angel City has been generating over $31 million per season. He further took a jab at the MLS, stating that all European leagues are superior. In fact, he challenged that this won’t change even in the next ten years! “That is why I think the NWSL will be bigger than MLS in 10 years because we can tell a story of excellence in women’s football in America,” said Alexis.

People like Alexis Ohanian are ready to change the outlook of the women’s game. The message is clear; onwards and upwards simply!