{"id":604679,"date":"2026-04-13T19:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T19:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/604679\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T19:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T19:07:08","slug":"owners-treat-many-wsl-clubs-as-an-afterthought-angel-citys-co-founder-says-womens-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/604679\/","title":{"rendered":"Owners treat many WSL clubs as \u2018an afterthought\u2019, Angel City\u2019s co-founder says | Women’s football"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many Women\u2019s Super League clubs are treated as \u201can afterthought\u201d by their owners according to Kara Nortman, the co-founder of the women\u2019s sport investment fund Monarch Collective and Angel City FC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Monarch last month became the first women\u2019s multi-sport group by buying a minority stake in Cleveland WNBA, the basketball franchise joining an ownership portfolio<\/a> that includes the NWSL teams San Diego Wave and Boston Legacy, and the German club Viktoria Berlin.<\/p>\n

Since Nortman co-created Monarch in 2023, four years after launching the NWSL expansion franchise Angel City with the actor Natalie Portman and businesswoman Julie Uhrman, she has held discussions with about a dozen clubs in England about investing without closing a deal.<\/p>\n

Nortman declined to comment on the status of Monarch\u2019s discussions with West Ham over buying a stake in their women\u2019s team \u2013 revealed by the Guardian last year \u2013 but said finding the right partner in England had proved challenging.<\/p>\n

Numerous international investors have held talks with WSL clubs over the past few years, but there is a feeling among some would-be buyers that the primary focus of many owners is using the women\u2019s team as a means of complying with profitability and sustainability regulations.<\/p>\n

Chelsea, Aston Villa and Everton have sold stakes in their women\u2019s teams to related-party companies in the past 12 months, although another US multi-club group, Bay Collective, last week finalised a deal to become the majority owner of Sunderland Women<\/a>, who play in WSL2.<\/p>\n

Kara Nortman declined to comment on the status of Monarch\u2019s discussions with West Ham over buying a stake in their women\u2019s team. Photograph: Leila Coker\/WSL\/WSL Football\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Monarch, having completed a $250m funding round last year, has the resources to join them if it can find the right club.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the WSL clubs are still afterthoughts, unfortunately, and adjuncts to the men\u2019s team,\u201d Nortman said. \u201cThey\u2019re not investing what they could be. If they are afterthoughts, but there\u2019s awareness around them being afterthoughts, that\u2019s a beautiful place to spend time. But if they\u2019re afterthoughts and they just want to add a little expertise or capital on the margins, that\u2019s where it\u2019s tricky.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe owners need to say to us: \u2018We believe in this team and we want to supercharge it with you, because you have experience now across five teams, two sports, two continents.\u2019 Or alternatively: \u2018It\u2019s an afterthought and we want help.\u2019 Those are both great scenarios so we\u2019re still talking. We only made our first European investment in November in Berlin, but we\u2019ll definitely do more in England.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monarch also offers its expertise to clubs in an advisory capacity, with Nortman revealing one amusing exchange with fans during a trip to Crystal Palace.<\/p>\n

Aston Villa and Everton have sold stakes in their women\u2019s teams to related-party companies in the past 12 months. Photograph: Charlotte Tattersall\/WSL\/WSL Football\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s changing is that people call us up all the time asking for advice, to share expertise, and we\u2019re happy to collaborate,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve spent a fair amount of time with the different ownership groups at Palace, for example. I\u2019ve even been in the supporters\u2019 section, where somebody asked me if I was a Wag! It was like the best day of my life, as I had just turned 50! I had to say: \u2018No, but thank you anyway.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite occasional frustrations Nortman remains bullish about women\u2019s football\u2019s potential for growth, which is understandable given her experiences.<\/p>\n

Monarch paid about $1m for Angel City to join the NWSL in 2020, and four years later sold to Walt Disney\u2019s CEO, Bob Iger, and his wife, Willow Bay, for $250m, making it the most valuable women\u2019s franchise in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first capital we raised into Angel City was just shy of $1m,\u201d Nortman said. \u201cWe quickly did another funding round, but it wasn\u2019t big. It was at the start of Covid and no one thought at the time that people would be going back into stadiums.<\/p>\n

Monarch paid about $1m for Angel City to join the NWSL in 2020. Photograph: Denis Poroy\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason it worked is because Julie, Natalie and I were obsessed and were excellent in each one of our fields. We talked about 18 hours a day, around the clock, but it all started with asking: \u2018How do you build community?\u2019 We\u2019re still asking the same question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although football and basketball are Monarch\u2019s current focus areas, it is exploring investment opportunities in other sports and now, with a team member in London, is looking at opportunities in cricket and rugby union.<\/p>\n

Katharine Curran, previously with Manchester City and City Football Group, heads the London office. \u201cWhat did I spend my early morning talking to her about?\u201d Nortman said. \u201cThe Cricket World Cup this summer, the numbers last summer in India, what\u2019s happening in netball, the impact of the Rugby World Cup. Cricket is probably the area we as a firm are spending the most time on right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cCleveland was a hit for us on all fronts. They\u2019re one of the top teams in the NBA, they just won the team of the year award and the impact team of the year award. They share our values of combining excellence and winning with community and representation. It\u2019s just a diehard sports market.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many Women\u2019s Super League clubs are treated as \u201can afterthought\u201d by their owners according to Kara Nortman, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-604679","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}