Latest news with #AngelCityFC
New York Times
an hour ago
- Business
- New York Times
Women's sports investor Kara Nortman on outlook, experiences and opportunities
Kara Nortman has gained an interesting perspective on the women's sports landscape in recent years. She is known, most prominently, as one of the original owners of Angel City FC when the NWSL franchise launched in 2020. Then, after a long career in venture capital, she and investor Jasmine Robinson co-founded Monarch Collective, a private equity fund and investment firm. The company's thesis is unique: It only wants to invest in women's sports. Advertisement Now that Nortman is doing that full time, and after topping off its first $150 million fund with an extra $100 million in investment earlier this spring, she talked with The Athletic's Mike Vorkunov about how she sees the field of women's sports investment, at a time when the WNBA is expanding, the NWSL continues to grow and momentum across women's sports is accelerating at an unprecedented rate. (Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and length.) Can you walk me through your current investments in sports? Monarch is the first fund to exclusively focus on women's sports. We just closed on $250 million, and I think (it is) the only fund that is raised of that magnitude that has that exclusive focus. We've now made three investments: Boston Legacy, the Boston NWSL team; Angel City, the Los Angeles NWSL team; and the San Diego Wave. You had a lot of insight into the NWSL picture with your Angel City role and investment, as well as with Monarch and your three investments across the league. What kind of leaguewide insight have you gleaned? I'm sort of wired to the macro view. And as a firm, we go very, very deep with our teams. But then I think it's not just the three investments, but we really are doing work across multiple sports, all the most mature sports. So it tends to be soccer — or football between here and Europe, basketball in the U.S., golf, tennis, and we do spend time in volleyball and flag football and other areas. But I think having that perspective and working across different leagues, which are kind of evolving and emerging right now in a very different way on the women's side than the men's side, I think it just gives us perspective, candidly, on where to be patient and where to be impatient. And then it also gives us perspective, in particular, working across the teams we do, on how to share best practices. Advertisement Building Angel City from the ground up when no one had a real P&L? We were the first team (that) went from zero to $30 million in revenue and 16,000-plus season ticket holders, and we put mission at its core. Like, what does that look like in each team? And how do you make it specific for that market? When we're working with a team, what are the 80 percent of 'you know what you should do' that are just best practices, and then what's the 20 percent that's unique and different to you as control owners and this market with what you care about, with what your fans care about? You said you're learning when to be patient and when to be impatient. When do you need patience? Specifically, it's getting to know markets and stakeholders and decision makers, and understanding that that's often a multi-year-long process. I think the other part of patience is just really understanding that everything comes in stages. When you emerge from startup land and start building things more entrepreneurially, as I have, you can sometimes rush to secure the best media contract, the best merchandising platform, and the best X, Y, and Z in every role. You've got to define (what is) best for the stage of development, and what are the two or three things that are your highest priority, that are going to have the most impact long-term. Usually, that's the control owner, who you're working with, who you're bringing in to lead the team day-to-day. And then length of contracts, around things that will drive long-term revenue and visibility for teams at the league level. Those are things I think are deeply thoughtful and strategic about. So that's our patience. I think a lot of people get impatient when they can't get the actual thing they want done. Like, they can't invest in a particular team or league, and then they just go do something else that takes up all their time, versus being patient and waiting for the right thing, even if it takes a year or two or three to get there. Have you had to wait to join a team or league that you wanted to be part of? What has been the level of demand for your product compared to the level of demand in the broader market? We have a lot of conversations very early — or even first, where we can be — and we have been to many people who we don't necessarily work with: 'How would you think about structuring this? What kind of partner are you looking for?' What are your questions around this kind of strategic plan for this soccer team or this basketball team or this kind of league in another part of the world? And where we can just show up and take all of our knowledge and information — we all are ex-operators in sports — and just be helpful. Advertisement That has led to a couple of our investments. It's how we started with Boston. We just started helping Boston. We've done that with many others. We have to be thoughtful about that now, because a lot of people call us for help. We're very disciplined on how we set things up for partnership, both in terms of do you actually care about representation and the impact you can have by not just hiring the same old people? When we underwrite something, it's not just the fundamentals of the market, but it's 'Who are we working with?' and are we going to really empower a team to be the top 20 percent of any team out there? I think what has been reflected to us by some of our limited partners is we're great at dropping everything when a great opportunity shows up, digging in and doing the work. For being passive investors, it doesn't sound like you're very passive. I don't know what that word means. We very much abide by conflict policy and league rules. We view ourselves as change-agent capital at a stage where women's sports need it. The top teams are edging toward a billion dollars in revenue worldwide. There is a lot of work to be done to take teams from zero to something. So we are passive by league definitions. We stay completely out of the sporting side of the operation. Europe has different kinds of considerations. But we show up with our expertise, our talent, our playbooks, and we help people build a fan experience, as well as think through the business side, including real estate and practice facilities. With Boston, I think we're on the phone with them three times a day, but in thoughtful ways. With Angel City, it had the control sale to Willow Bay and Bob Iger at a record-setting number a few months ago. What did that mean for Monarch? I think for Monarch, it was a huge validation that we cannot just come in when there's a transaction with all the known pieces, but that we can come into moments where other people may not know how to price or even how to move forward with imperfect information. And we have a lot of confidence to understand how to evaluate things, where transaction multiples are all over the place, maturity of organizations is all over the place. We can come in, really thoughtfully look at a situation and come up with a win for all. Advertisement You also invested in Boston Legacy FC. The initial rollout for that franchise and the BOS Nation branding didn't go well. What happened? And how did Monarch help the control owners and management navigate that situation? I think a huge part of what we do is we immediately drop everything, and it doesn't matter the time of day, the weekend, and we all roll up our sleeves and say, 'OK, what's the problem? What's the solution?' And then we create a psychologically positive space to understand, 'OK, is this a crisis?' Is this the opposite? Is this just fine? And then how seriously you take it is important, not just for the response to the world, but for how you learn and grow and develop as an organization where there's a lot of pressure in women's sports to live up to the value in their missions. Specifically on Boston Legacy, we all got on the phone right away. The team is excellent. Came up with, quickly, a couple of key hires, a process to understand what was missed. We extend our network … who are the two or three other people who've gone through this? Get on the phone. And then how do you go and listen to the community? I think what's interesting is on the other end of it, and now, having sat through many calls and where the team was thoughtful and deliberate about how to decide how to move forward. I think a negative has become a big positive. Everyone in the world of sports knows about the Boston NWSL team. The organization got so much stronger and more mature through it. And it's not whether you make a mistake, it's how you react to it and respond to it. You announced another $100 million for your fund last month. Is that a reflection of the growth of the ambitions of Monarch or is that a reflection that you need more money now to be able to invest substantively in women's sports? We try to be thoughtfully ambitious. What that means is, if you go raise too much money right now, what are you going to put it to work in? And then what's your value proposition behind it, and can you live up to it? The women's sports market — Deloitte just came out with their numbers — is $2.4 billion compared to half a trillion for the men's. How many premium opportunities are there? And how can you do real work against them if you're kind of spread thin across a lot of them?> So our ambitions have always been big, but we've always wanted to map them to being able to put capital to work in a thoughtful way that aligned with our strategy. Our strategy has not changed. We'll make seven, eight, nine investments out of this pool of capital. And so that is exactly what we said when we raised the first dollar and closed it. Advertisement What happened was twofold on that first question. One was that you saw the market develop much faster than I think anyone expected, so more teams with real P&Ls across soccer and basketball. Again, when we started, it was just Angel City. Now you have a couple of teams — a few teams in the WNBA, a handful of teams in the NWSL. So valuations went up. We tend to be doing the most work alongside control owners, and we wanted to be able to put the right amount of capital against that when we do a transaction. Then our limited partners saw our work and were very impressed with how we were doing things, and wanted to put more capital in. Are you part of any bidding group for a WNBA team as part of its expansion process? Unfortunately, I can't comment on that one. I would say that the quality and number of opportunities we can spend time on at Monarch have also grown, really, exponentially since we started the fund. So we don't feel like any one thing is a must-do. We try to be thoughtful about who we work with and the fundamentals of the market. Do they want partners like us? Do we share values? And then, how can we structure this thoughtfully from a pricing standpoint? Because we spend our lives working on this and need to make sure we deliver returns as well. What are the biggest opportunities in women's sports now? What are we going to be talking about in a year when it comes to women's sports investing? I think we're going to be talking about how spikes translate into kind of smoother curves. And I think that's one of the things we're talking about coming out of March Madness, which is you see these spikes over time. I like to talk about the 60,000 people who showed up in Liverpool to watch the Dick, Kerr Ladies in 1920 before the FA banned women from playing football there in 1921. The hard work comes in between. And so I think it's going to be the non-sexy stuff. It's not: What's something that's coming out of the blue? It's: How do you get all the teams in all the leagues to raise attendance and to build a consistent fan experience that's best for their market? And then how do we do adjacent programming along with media rights to kind of build the interest and intrigue? What are we doing with our rights in media, commerce and gaming? Advertisement It is building out these smooth curves like this, coming out of the spikes, and not being so obsessed with the vanity metric of, 'Did you break a record, post-Caitlin Clark?' and more around, like, 'How is everybody doing with the blood, sweat and tears part?' All the less sexy stuff that comes from just doing the work behind the scenes. And if we get half the league, three-quarters of the league getting three-quarters of their arenas and stadiums filled for every game, I mean, media rights will continue to take off. You know the growth is going to be enormous, but it's going to come with hard work.
Reuters
18 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Former Bucks owner Marc Lasry still wants NWSL team
June 5 - Former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry still wants to buy a National Women's Soccer League team. Lasry, who made failed bids last year for Angel City FC and the North Carolina Courage, confirmed his continued interest in a recent interview with Front Office Sports. The 65-year-old billionaire's firm, Avenue Capital Group, lost out last July to Disney CEO Bob Iger and his wife, Willow Bay, in his attempt to purchase Angel City. "I don't know why Bob Iger got involved at the end, but he did," Lasry said. "He's a great guy. I think him and his wife Willow, I think it was a great investment for them. And they're great individuals, so I think it'll be super positive." Lasry and Avenue Capital next attempted to acquire a majority stake in the Courage but the deal fell through in December, reportedly due to league restrictions about private-equity ownership. "I think one of the issues was the fact that the league ultimately at the end sort of decided they wanted individual owners as opposed to funds," Lasry told Front Office Sports about the failed Courage deal. "I get that. And we're still trying to figure out if there's a way we can do it." Lasry sold his 25 percent stake in the NBA's Bucks in 2023 at a $3.5 billion valuation. --Field Level Media
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
New Angel City coach Alex Straus sees communication as key to building winning culture
Alexander Straus was fewer than two weeks from his first training session as Angel City FC coach. Yet, Angel City president and co-founder Julie Uhrman wanted to see her new manager at work. She flew to Portugal, where Straus was completing his three-season stint as FC Bayern Munich coach — a club the 49-year-old Norwegian led to three consecutive Frauen-Bundesliga titles and a 57-7-2 league record. As Uhrman watched Straus coach Bayern Munich at the inaugural World Sevens Football tournament, she already was familiar with his technical acumen that was on display en route to a championship victory over Manchester United. That was not a surprise. But what caught Uhrman's attention was Straus' relationships with his players. 'What I saw was something that you don't get in an interview process and you don't read on the [curriculum vitae,]' Uhrman said. 'The connection he had with his teams was palpable. The way that they would celebrate him, the joy that they brought him, and vice versa, was just something you can't learn in an interview process and it's something that's so critical to Angel City.' So, when Straus, reserved and quiet until he opened his mouth, began to speak during his introductory news conference Wednesday morning as the third Angel City head coach in four seasons since inception — with Uhrman and sporting director Mark Parsons bookending him at the podium — he leaned on his beliefs. How Straus wants Angel City to play on the pitch, is the same as how he wants to interact with his players in the locker room — and the state-of-the-art performance center on Cal Lutheran University's campus. 'My philosophy is centered around people,' said Straus, who asked the media to 'bear with' his English after spending four years in Germany. 'I'm here to facilitate for our players to be able to go out on a pitch, have a clear plan and know how to execute it.' Straus continued: 'I need to know people, and I need to know what makes them tick. So how can I get the best out of Sarah Gorden or Christen Press or Riley Tiernan or Alyssa Thompson? How can I get the best out of them?' Earlier in his career, Straus said he overly cared about trophies, medals and success. In 2018, he said his worldview shifted. Straus — who said he considered previous coaching opportunities in America, but didn't feel the timing was right — realized he needed to craft bonds and relationships with his players to cultivate a positive team culture, one that could lead to championships. Uhrman saw the bonds on display in Portugal while Straus was still with Bayern Munich and Parsons has watched the baby steps Straus is taking with Angel City in his first few days as official coach. 'Through this process, Meeting 1 to Meeting 3, I just didn't think this person existed,' Parsons said, adding that during the coaching search he spoke to Straus' former players and staff. 'I really mean that I didn't believe this type of quality existed, and I couldn't be happier that we've got him here.' What stood out to Parsons, he said, was that even players who didn't play much under Straus — who may have left for better opportunities — would still speak positively about the clarity, confidence that Angel City's new coach provided them. Straus — and the Angel City backroom staff — are well aware that winning isn't an overnight process. The club sits in seventh place in NWSL standings with a 4-2-4 record. In some matches, Angel City has exerted control and played the style Parsons said he wants to see asserted. But in other matches, such as recent defeats to Bay FC and Racing Louisville, Angel City has faltered — often losing despite controlling possession. Uhrman stressed she wanted a coach who could help the team bounce back from defeat, or setbacks. She and Parsons believe Straus can do that. He doesn't take falling short lightly. When pushed on his UEFA Women's Champions League record since 2022 on Wednesday during a side media session, Straus spent six-and-a-half minutes breaking down why Bayern Munich fell short in the quarterfinals or group stages, adding what he learned from each losing experience. Straus said he's always open to talking. Angel City players, however, will only have a few more days to get to know the new coach before Straus takes the touchline Saturday at BMO Stadium against the Chicago Stars. 'One thing is to win one year, one game,' Straus said. 'But it needs to be consistent, and it needs to be built on a foundation where you are always the ones that have been spoken about when it comes to challenging for winning the championship.' 'That's why we are here, and that's what we want to do.'
Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
The Sports Bra Expands To Four New Cities Across The United States
Inside The Sports Bra in Portland, Oregon The Sports Bra America's original women's sports bar is making big strides across the country. Today, the Sports Bra announced an expansion from coast to coast, with two major sports cities in between. This follows the September 2024 announcement that, in partnership with Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, founding control owner of Angel City FC, and founder of the 776 Foundation, the Sports Bra will franchise nationwide. The first Sports Bra franchises will open in Boston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, and St. Louis, all locations with professional womens sports teams. Local fans can cheer on WNBA's Las Vegas Aces and Indiana Fever, the Professional Women's Hockey League's Boston Fleet, the Women's Football Alliance's St. Louis Slam, the Women's National Football Conference's Las Vegas Silver Stars, and the National Women's Soccer League's Boston Legacy FC (set to begin play in the 2026 season). The Sports Bra opened in Portland in 2022, with a dedication to creating a space to watch women's sports. Since, several independently owned women's sports bars have opened across the country: Rough and Tumble opened in Seattle that same year, A Barof Their Own opened in Minneapolis in 2024, and Watch Me! recently opened in Long Beach, California. Several more women's sports bars are slated to open in 2025, with the count expected to quadruple by year's end. It's big business according to a report from Barbarian and The GIST, women's sports revenue has seen a 300% increase since 2022, and media coverage of women's sports has increased 275% over the past five years. 'The first four franchises of The Sports Bra will join our OG Portland location to become the 'Starting Five,'' said Nguyen, founder and CEO of The Sports Bra. "Together, we're serving fans nationwide who are hungry for spaces that not only champion women's sports, but create a community where everyone feels like they belong. There is no better moment than this to open these places.' Each new Sports Bra location will be locally owned and operated, with the aim to will spotlight local producers in each region. 'The Sports Bra is more than just a place to watch the game—it's a movement. Our team spoke with hundreds of interested people about opening a franchise location, and we've met some incredible people along the way,' Nguyen added. "These owner-operators are capable, enthusiastic, and deeply committed to The Bra's mission. We continue to support them as they locate the perfect spaces for their own Bras, and we can't wait to celebrate with them when it's time to open their doors!'
New York Times
29-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
NWSL suspends Racing Louisville's Kayla Fischer two additional matches for pulling player's hair
The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) announced Thursday that it is escalating its disciplinary decision on Racing Louisville forward Kayla Fischer, who received a straight red card and one-game suspension during a match against Angel City FC that ended in a 3-3 draw on May 24 in Los Angeles. Fischer now faces an additional two-game suspension for 'her actions in an incident that occurred' in the 64th minute of the match, the league's statement reads. Advertisement In the lead up to a Racing corner kick, Fischer grabbed the ponytail of Angel City midfielder Madison Hammond and yanked her by the head toward the ground as the kick was taken. 'After further review of the altercation, the Disciplinary Committee determined that Fischer's conduct violated Section 12.4.10, 'Major Game Misconduct,' of the League Operations Manual,' the league said. Prior to that incident, Fischer had been shown three yellow cards this season. In addition to Racing's June 6 match against the Utah Royals, for which Fischer was already ineligible due to the initial red card, she will also be unable to play in Racing's next two matches against the Orlando Pride on June 14 and the Kansas City Current on June 20. She will not be able to rejoin the squad in the regular season until after the summer break on Aug. 1, when the team faces the Current again. The league's judgment comes less than a month after another Racing player, Brazilian forward Ary Borges, also received additional disciplinary action following a tense meeting with the Portland Thorns on April 27, which also ended in a 3-3 draw. Borges was found to have pushed the center referee after the game and was initially handed a red card for her behavior, but the league increased her suspension from one match to three after further review of the incident. At 4-2-4, Racing occupies the eighth spot in the NWSL table, narrowly inside playoff contention.
