Women's Soccerwarz Part II: The business, real estate and government side of things
Real Estate drives American team sports in this day and age
Picking up where we left off in Part I, while NWSL is the established incumbent there is ample room for the USL Super League to move into space which either compliments or competes with NWSL.
Real Estate
Real estate has become the big play in US sports in recent years - most sports ownership changes or franchise relocations are real estate plays first and sporting competition or fan interest moves, second. For all of USL’s rhetoric about promotion and relegation as well as sporting competition, selling franchises in conjunction with real estate or existing facilities that need to fill dates is the league’s top priority.
Promotion and relegation can help to that end by creating more interest in the league but is almost certainly being pushed within that context- it’s a business proposition.
It’s often forgotten that Justin Papadakis isn’t just the COO and Deputy CEO of USL. He is also the league’s Chief Real Estate Officer. In fact, USL also has a VP of Expansion and Real Estate in Chris Boyajan. The two concepts, expansion and real estate are in fact, inseparable at this point.
USL has the ability by selling a women’s D1 league to go into MLS markets and attract non-MLS owners. We see this already in Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth, Washington D.C. and Fort Lauderdale, all locations with current MLS clubs. It also gives USL a remarkable power to bundle women’s and men’s franchises in other markets. Part of this play would be to have facilities where you fill all the possible event dates with USL clubs on both the men’s and women’s side. This helps drive the real estate side of the business.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Beyond The 90' to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.