Natalie Portman and some of her colleagues/fellow soccer fans are bringing a women’s team to Los Angeles in 2022. According to Variety, Portman has teamed up with tech venture capitalist Kara Nortman, entrepreneur Julie Uhrman, venture capitalist Alexis Ohanian, and more to found the 11th National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team.
Jennifer Garner, America Ferrera, Serena Williams, Eva Longoria, Uzo Aduba, Lilly Singh, and author Glennon Doyle are also among the 32-member founding investor group. They’re joined by 12 former U.S. Women’s National Team players, including Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Lauren Cheney Holiday, and Abby Wambach. Ohanian also made an investment in the name of his and Williams’ daughter, Olympia, who is “now likely the youngest owner in sports at two months shy of three years old,” per the source.
The founding group is calling itself Angel City. It set up limited liability company WFC LA, Inc. in June, with Uhrman as CEO and president.
The soccer team will be LA’s first professional women’s team since 2010, “when the Los Angeles Sol of the now-defunct Women’s Professional Soccer League dissolved.” Community residents led grassroots efforts to help ensure an NWSL team would be established in the city.
Angel City is also partnering with LA84 Foundation, an org supporting non-profit youth sports, to formally support the Play Equity Fund, which aims to increase youth access to sports in underserved LA communities.
The demand for soccer, particularly women’s soccer, in the U.S. and beyond has been rising rapidly in recent years. “The expansion announcement comes on the heels of the USWNT’s [U.S. Women’s National Soccer team] 2019 FIFA World Cup win — where a record 1.12 billion viewers tuned into official broadcast coverage of the tournament — growth that continued with the NWSL’s own audience domestically and internationally,” Variety details. “The league’s 2019 average attendance was up 21.8% over 2018 and 71.8% over its inaugural 2013 season. The ongoing Challenge Cup tournament in Utah drew a record-setting audience of 572,000 viewers for its opening match, marking a 201% increase over the NWSL’s previous high of 190,000.”
“After spending time with the USWNT players, their union rep, and getting to know some of the owners of the NWSL and the league’s supporters, it became clear having a team in L.A. could not only elevate the league and players’ exposure, but also bring these incredibly talented women to the city of L.A. — my city,” Portman said. “We have the ability to engage, promote, and support the best players in the world in the most popular sport in the world on a yearly basis, not just every four years.”
The Oscar winner explained, “Our story from the beginning was different — from starting with three founding women to building a movement before even having the money, stadium, rights, or fans [to now] being able to grow our list of founding investors.” Portman continued, “We believe in setting higher expectations on and off the field, for our team, players, and fans. Success to us isn’t only on the field, but our impact in our community, payback to our players, and entertainment of the world. We are not a legacy team but a team of activists, athletes, and entrepreneurs who are used to challenging the status quo and reshaping expectations.”
