WFA Primed To Expand To Franchise Model, Bringing Women's Football To Canada

Forbes

6 hours ago

Women's Football Alliance (WFA) started in 2009 by now commissioner Lisa King and her husband, but in 2026 will be expanding to new heights as the league moves to a franchise model with new investors and owners including teams in Canada.
The league has come quite far in its short 17 year history with King at the helm. Currently, the WFA holds three divisions: Pro, Division II and Division III. The league has expanded internationally, has a youth emphasis, as well as into flag football which has increased in popularity in the United States for women and girls. Accordingly, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) reported that in 2023 roughly 500,000 girls played flag football across the US with nine states sanctioning it as a varsity girls sport and 19 more in the process of piloting or moving it towards that goal. With the addition of flag football to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, its traction will continue to increase.
Following many of the trends of other major women's sports, WFA has seen increased attention and viewership due to their partnership with ESPN. WFA games began on ESPN3 but due to their demand were moved to ESPN2. In 2023 and 2024 the WFA Pro Championship outpaced the viewership of the 2019 NWSL Finals, also held on ESPN2.
King sees this as a significant marker as the NWSL is ahead of the WFA in terms of their timeline and investment, but she is encouraged by the audience WFA is drawing when their games are broadcasted on TV. She said, 'Our 2024 National Championship had 25% more viewership on ESPN2 than the National Women's Soccer League National Championship did on their ESPN2 broadcast in 2019, so that's three, four years later. So in my mind, we're about four years behind these other major women's sports leagues. because our viewership numbers are bigger than theirs were four years ago.'
Similar to other women's sports leagues, the WFA has had to diversify its broadcasting offerings, outside of their multi-year deal with ESPN. Recently, the WFA has signed a deal with All Women's Sports Network (AWSN) which includes Pluto---extending their reach and audience further.
Beyond traditional media and television exposure, the league smartly invested in quality cameras to capture highlights of their own to post to their social pages and have seen it pay off in their social media impressions and conversations about the league online, a staple of organic growth in women's sports---creating buzz and an online community and presence.
According to WFA President Terry Smith, the inspiration behind the hit AppleTV show Ted Lasso, 'I think that was an area [capturing highlights] that has really helped us to grow and develop this year. All the highlights, cameras, and footage that we have been able to get out, but also our own shows like Road to the Championship and other content like that has had huge amounts of impact. And if you go back to ESPN in the early days when they had all the highlights, what separated them was the short clips, the highlight clips. That is what we really created with the league and highlights, that has been such an important element to open doors for us.'
The league also has a multitude of partnerships that have helped elevate the teams and players including Wilson, AdeNation hydration drink, cellhelmet, edX, educational platform, and most notably in regards to their championships, Visit Canton and Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. WFA signed a five year deal with Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium to host their National Championships for all three divisions, as well as flag football. This year these championships will take place July 25 and July 26.
The WFA and its front office core of King and Smith believe now is the right time to expand into a franchise model and capitalize on the momentum and boom of women's sports. Smith said, 'We are moving forward with the sale of expansion franchises because with the tremendous growth that is occurring in women's sports, then the WFA is the greatest investment opportunity available for people who want to own a professional team in any women's or men's sport.'
He continued with a comparison to the NWSL and how its astronomical growth in a short time can demonstrate to investors the impact and earning potential of women's sports teams, 'Eight years ago, the NWSL had only four teams in their league that were charging $2 million for a franchise. Today, the average NWSL team is worth $134 million, and individual teams are worth up to $280 million.'
The numbers in women's sports demonstrate this massive increase in business opportunities and ventures for savvy investors and owners. Recently, Forbes released its evaluation of NWSL and WNBA teams. The average of the WNBA's 12 team league (before the addition of the Golden State Valkyries) was $272 million with the New York Liberty ($400M) and Indiana Fever ($370M) taking the top two spots.
King also echoed that this is not only a moment in time for women's sports but for the WFA, "We feel that our pro teams are now at a place where they're going to continue getting more viewership, they're getting more sponsorship dollars, they're getting more people in the stands. They're getting more network deals. And so with our growth right now, it is at a place where we set a solid foundation, and the teams are playing at such a high level that it's a natural transition into becoming a professional league and paying our players. Well now we're at a level where we're sellable. It's marketable. People are paying to watch it. You know, sponsors are coming in and paying to have sponsorship dollars, and so now they can invest in the league, and we can share in the growth, we can share in the profit, and we can continue to grow together, rather than it being membership teams.
As for the evaluation of WFA teams, Smith asserted, "The WFA is the only major women's or men's sport remaining that is still poised to experience this explosive franchise value growth. Therefore, we expect our current $2 million franchise fee to increase in value just as rapidly.'
As the WFA looks beyond the US for its growth and franchise model they have partnered with Cosmos Sports & Entertainment, a sports-marketing firm based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada to search for ownership groups in Canada for teams to play in the league's pro division starting next season. According to Smith, 'About a week and a half ago, we signed an agreement in Canada where we have begun selling expansion franchises and creating an entire 6-8 team Canadian Division in the WFA.'
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