The Cities That Believe In Women’s Soccer, And The NWSL, The Most

Earlier this week, Forbes released its 2025 list of the National Women’s Soccer League’s (NWSL) most valuable teams. The release of the list comes in the wake of a year of record-setting attendance for NWSL clubs across the league with a six percent increase in attendance compared to the previous season. The league also welcomed Bay FC and the Utah Royals for their inaugural season. Together, these milestones underscore the league’s accelerating momentum, not just on the pitch, but in the boardroom, where team valuations are beginning to reflect a growing belief in the commercial power of women’s soccer.

This belief is not evenly distributed across the league. By comparing NWSL and Major League Soccer (MLS) team valuations in cities where both leagues operate, we can see clear patterns in investment and market confidence. Using the MLS team as a baseline also helps control for the overall level of soccer interest, infrastructure, and market potential in each city, making it easier to isolate where women’s soccer is outperforming or underperforming relative to local conditions. Some cities are rapidly embracing the business potential of women’s soccer, with NWSL teams that exceed expectations relative to their MLS counterparts.

Analyzing NWSL and MLS Valuation Data

There are 11 U.S. cities that host franchises in both the NWSL and Major League Soccer: Los Angeles, Kansas City, San Jose, Washington, D.C., Portland, New York City, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Orlando, Houston, and Chicago. Using the most recent team valuations from Forbes, published in June 2025 for the NWSL and February 2025 for the MLS, I compiled a city-level dataset comparing each NWSL club with its MLS counterpart.

To better understand the relationship between team values across leagues, I ran a linear regression using MLS team value as the independent variable and NWSL team value as the dependent variable. This produced a trend line that reflects the average market relationship between the two leagues. Cities where NWSL team values exceed the trend line are considered to be outperforming expectations relative to their MLS peers, while those below the line are underperforming.

Los Angeles and New York City each have two MLS franchises, but for the purposes of this analysis, I selected the higher-valued club in each market to align with the NWSL team. In Los Angeles, LAFC serves as the logical counterpart to Angel City FC, given their affiliation. Given LAFC’s significantly valuation compared to the LA Galaxy, I used New York City FC as the MLS stand-in for New York City’s Gotham FC, as it holds a higher valuation than the New York Red Bulls.

Cities Which Value Their NWSL Team The Most

Using a simple regression model, I estimated how much an NWSL team should be worth based on the value of its local MLS counterpart. On average, the model suggests that NWSL teams are valued at roughly 20% of their MLS equivalents. While that trend holds at the league level, the city-level picture reveals a more dynamic landscape.

Los Angeles and Kansas City emerge as clear overperformers in this analysis. Angel City FC, now the most valuable team in the NWSL, holds a valuation equal to 22.4% of LAFC’s, the more valuable of the city’s two MLS franchises.

The Kansas City Current have surpassed expectations even more dramatically. With a valuation at 42.3% of Sporting Kansas City’s, the Current have redefined the ceiling for investment in women’s soccer, driven by aggressive private funding and the league’s first purpose-built stadium.

Bay FC also outpaces the national average, reaching 31.5% of the San Jose Earthquakes’ valuation despite being in its inaugural season. The club’s early momentum will be on full display later this summer when it hosts the Washington Spirit in the first NWSL game ever played in an MLB stadium.

Meanwhile, the Utah Royals, another expansion franchise returning to the league, are tracking close to the leaguewide average relative to Real Salt Lake. For a newly reconstituted club, this signals strong early alignment with broader league investment trends.

Map of NWSL Momentum

As the NWSL continues to expand and attract new investors, this kind of market-by-market analysis will become even more important. It not only highlights where women’s soccer is flourishing but also surfaces where there is still untapped potential. If the league’s current trajectory holds, today’s valuation gaps may become tomorrow’s growth stories, and the cities investing early will be the ones setting the standard.