A North American title, a Toronto FC connection and a C$2 million field helped FC London build a route through the game. Its harder assignment is making player development and the scoreboard agree.
Canada finally built a domestic professional league for its women. Ottawa's founding club made the playoffs in year one - then brought in new majority owners to solve the harder problem: making a new team feel inevitable.
A women's soccer club built by Hollywood, venture capital and athletes bet that fans, sponsors and equity could sit on the same balance sheet. In 2024 the market priced that bet at $250 million.
Sixteen clubs, four major media partners and one newly liberated player market have turned the NWSL into a revealing test of what happens when women’s soccer is treated as a durable business, not a charitable cause.