Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang welcomed a new member to the ownership table on Thursday in NBA Hall of Famer Irving "Magic" Johnson as the two announced the move on CBS Mornings. Kang became the majority owner of the NWSL franchise in 2022 when she purchased the club for a then-league-record $35 million, and now she welcomes a sports figure who is not new when it comes to ownership.
He's a part owner of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks and MLS' Los Angeles FC, and he's a founding member of the Guggenheim Baseball Management, the managing entity of the MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers. He also has an ownership stake in the NFL's Washington Commanders.
"Michele and I met in Los Angeles and we clicked," Johnson told CBS Mornings on Thursday. "We took off. It was a great conversation. When you think about what happened with the Olympics and the women's soccer team dominated on the field, so the popularity of the game is exploding here in America. We knew worldwide it's already a big deal and now it's exploding here and so when she allowed me to be her partner."
.@MagicJohnson is joining the ownership group of @WashSpirit.
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) September 5, 2024
Johnson and Michele Kang, the Spirit’s majority owner, tell CBS Mornings about championing women’s sports: “I want to make sure that this sport, women’s soccer, can grow.” pic.twitter.com/hzP8VRlkKs
Johnson said he and Kang aligned on their vision for the club, as well as their own journeys on the business side of sports.
"I love to be in the ownership because it's important that they see minorities in an ownership position, but the main thing, too, is I love helping the athletes transition from their sport to hopefully business or whatever they want to do after their time being an athlete," he said. "Michele cares about the same thing and so we're going to help these women not only on the field. We want to win championships ... [but] here we're going to help them after their career as well."
The latest move by Kang in women's soccer comes just six weeks after the official launch of Kynisca Sports International Ltd, the first multi-team global organization dedicated to women's soccer. Before the official launch, Kang had formed the beginning of a multi-sports franchise ownership conglomerate, where she held majority ownership stakes in women's soccer clubs Washington Spirit, Olympique Lyonnais, and London City Lionesses.
Willow Bay, Bob Iger take over Angel City
Johnson's investment in the Spirit is not the only major ownership story in the NWSL on Thursday. Broadcast journalist Willow Bay and her husband, Disney CEO Bob Iger, officially became the controlling owners of Angel City, a move that now values the club at $250 million, the highest-ever valuation for a women's sports team.
Bay and Iger take over the controlling ownership role from Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, who remains an owner alongside the club's many high-profile investors, including Academy Award-winning actor Natalie Portman. Bay and Iger's initial involvement in Angel City also includes a $50 million cash injection into the club, which will support the club's operations and growth goals.
Valuations for existing clubs and expansion fees have skyrocketed over the last two years, and larger ownership groups featuring celebrities or former and current athletes are not uncommon. Angel City perhaps exemplifies the increasing investment more than any other club in the NWSL -- they reportedly paid an expansion fee of $2 million in 2020, collecting celebrity minority investors before eventually adding Bay and Iger as controlling owners.
The NWSL could hit another expansion fee record this year as it aims award a team to a new market. Ownership groups from Cincinnati and Denver met with league officials for the incoming team, per Sportico, and it will be worth seeing how the expansion fee compares to the $53 million a Boston-based group reportedly paid to begin play in 2026.
