Serena Williams and her family are investors in what has now become the most valuable women’s sports franchise.
In 2020, the tennis star, alongside her husband and Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, joined a star-studded ownership group to establish Angel City FC, a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team representing Los Angeles, CA, which officially launched in 2022, according to BBC Sport.
Investors at the time included actresses Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria, Jennifer Garner, Uzo Aduba, and America Ferrera. Williams and Ohanian also added their daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., who was just 2 years old at the time, as one of the team’s investors. This led Olympia to make history as the youngest owner of a professional sports team at the time, and she held onto that title until it was taken by her younger sister Adira River Ohanian, as AFROTECH™ previously mentioned.
“We come together with a collective passion for bringing about change,” Julie Uhrman, Angel City FC co-founder and president, said, according to BBC Sport. “Change for our players, change for our fans, and change for our community. Change that begins today.”
Fast forward to 2024, and Angel City FC has undergone changes that have furthered its success. In July 2024, Willow Bay and Bob Iger became the team’s controlling owners by purchasing its majority stake while the club’s valuation stood at $250 million. The Athletic reports that the pair also made an additional $50 million commitment. Bay is dean of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and Iger is CEO of the Walt Disney Co.
“We are so excited to be here,” Bay told The Athletic. “I keep thinking how historic this moment is — historic in sports and in women’s sports. What we’re seeing now is breathtaking, and it’s only the beginning of the ascent, and that’s for women’s sports but particularly for this team.”
Angel City FC is now the most valuable franchise in women’s sports, according to Boardroom and Sportico. Trailing behind are the NWSL’s Kansas City Current ($182M); WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces ($140M), WNBA’s Seattle Storm ($135M), and NWSL’s San Diego Wave FC ($132M).
