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In response to
"Natalie Portman, National Women’s Soccer League Team Owner (for LA in 2022) -- (edited)"
by
mud
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Q&A: Natalie Portman on the origins and ambition of NWSL’s LA expansion team
Posted by
JD (aka Jason Dean)
Jul 21 '20, 18:32
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Text due to paywall
The NWSL has announced that it has awarded rights to a new expansion team in Los Angeles, marking the return of women’s professional soccer to California after a decade without a team. The team — coined “Angel City” for now — will wait for the 2022 season to begin play. The ownership group is led by actor and activist Natalie Portman, Kara Nortman, a partner at Upfront Ventures, media and gaming entrepreneur Julie Uhrman, and tech entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian.
The list of people in the ownership group extends well beyond those four, though. Serena Williams is also in, along with her daughter with Ohanian, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. (making her the youngest owner in pro sports at two years old). There are also 14 former USWNT players investing in the team, including Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Lauren Holiday and Abby Wambach. Portman is also joined by fellow actors Uzo Aduba, America Ferrera, Jennifer Garner and Eva Longoria.
As originally reported by The Athletic in June, Julie Uhrman is CEO and president of the new club, as well as taking the lead on the massive consortium of investors. There are now even more names to list, including more former USWNT players in Angela Hucles, Saskia Webber, Joy Fawcett, Rachel Van Hollebeke, Tisha Venturini Hoch, Shannon MacMillan, Amanda Cromwell, Lorrie Fair Allen and Ronnie Fair Sullins. Wambach is also joined by her wife, author and activist Glennon Doyle. Finally, YouTuber and singer Lilly Singh, Netflix VP of original series Cindy Holland, Baby2Baby founding board member Sabina Nathanson, tech entrepreneur and filmmaker ​Casey Neistat, media executive David Nathanson and Bad Robot president and COO Brian Weinstein round out the group, as it currently stands.
The Angel City organization has not revealed its final, official name (though, if fans don’t object, there’s a good chance that will be made permanent) or their preferred venue, though they have stated their intention to announce both before the end of 2020.
The team also announced that they are partnering with the LA84 Foundation, and directly supporting their Play Equity Fund. As Renata Simril, president & CEO of LA84, states in the official release, the organization treats play equity as a social justice issue, and “is committed to driving access to sports for underserved communities, including communities of color, girls, the physically challenged and developmentally disabled.”
Everything about Angel City is another giant step forward for the NWSL, following the success of the Challenge Cup, the increased ratings for the opening match on CBS, plus new corporate sponsorships with P&G, Secret, Verizon and Google. Getting back into the California market with a star-studded ownership group that’s also fully bought in and filled with former players? That’s a huge win for the league that will only drive up interest in expansion and further investment in the future.
Portman was at the root of the Los Angeles team’s formation, even though she did not originally set out with NWSL expansion in mind. But now that she’s involved, she’s passionate about the project and ready to do everything she can for Angel City. She spoke to The Athletic, detailing how the team first got started over a couple of very important lunches, the role of NWSL supporters — especially those in the LA market who have been asking for a team — played for her in the long journey to expansion, the value she sees in the NWSL and more.
When did you decide that you wanted to invest in the NWSL, specifically in an LA team? Who did you reach out to and when, and what were those first conversations like?
I didn’t go into this thinking I would build a team for LA. In December 2018, Kara (Nortman) and I had lunch and she lit up telling me about her passion for the USWNT situation (regarding equal pay), and the work the union was doing. She then introduced me to Becca Roux (director of the USWNT players association) and a handful of USWNT players to see if there was a way for my actress friends and soccer players to support each other, possibly by going to a game, especially ahead of the 2019 World Cup.
In February 2019, Alex Morgan, Becca and I had lunch as I was really interested in learning more about the USWNT’s pay equity fight. Both Alex and Becca were incredibly open, sharing with me the issues, players and current situation, as well as the need for women ownership in the NWSL. I also shared with them about the work TIME’S UP does to eradicate sexual harassment and pay inequality in the entertainment industry. Following our lunch, I wanted to continue to help shine a light on the USWNT and their talents on the field, and their work off the field to lead the way for pay equity in women’s sports and beyond.
The real turning point, though, was when Kara and I organized an event to expose more women in entertainment and tech to the USWNT. We organized the event with TIME’S UP and I invited some of my friends, including Uzo Aduba, Eva Longoria, Jennifer Garner and Jessica Chastain to the April 7, 2019 friendly match between the USWNT and Belgium. At the game, they too could meet the amazing players I’d gotten to know and see them in action.
Shortly thereafter, the USWNT won their second consecutive World Cup title. Then TIME’S UP and the USWNTPA joined forces to host a pay equity workshop in Los Angeles prior to the first Victory Tour game. The more time I spent with these women, the more I learned and the bigger impact I wanted to make.
It was just so obvious — we needed to see these women play in LA. We needed a team here.
How important is it to you to be involved in the team’s overall strategy and brand? How involved would you like to be in this team, from today until the team actually takes the field and starts play in the NWSL?
Whatever I do, I’m all in. I’m committed to developing this organization in a way that delivers on our promise to ignite higher expectations on and off the field. From bringing on Julie (Uhrman) to run the team to investors like Alexis Ohanian to meeting with Renata Simril to bringing LA84 Foundation on as a partner, I have been involved. We all have our different strengths, and I’ll lean in where I can provide the most value, but I’m all in.
Investing in a team is a long-term decision. What value do you see in the NWSL, on and off the field?
This league has proved it has legs. It has owners willing to fight for their players, not only increasing the salary cap this year but committing to pay the players regardless if they joined the Challenge Cup. They have brought in an exceptional commissioner in Lisa Baird, who inherited a league in the midst of a pandemic and, during that time, not only has it became the first professional sports league back in the U.S., but it created a safe environment where not one player has contracted COVID-19 so far during the tournament.
You shared a petition on your Instagram back in March asking for NWSL expansion in LA — obviously, by then, discussions were in the works. The fan support for a team in LA has always been there, the team also shouts out the folks from @NWSL_LA specifically, as well. What are your impressions of the potential LA supporters and the NWSL supporters in general, and how did their support impact your work to make this team happen?
It makes me think about the dedication, commitment and passion you need to support something when it doesn’t even exist yet. These people are out there every day, waving a flag, holding rallies and willing something into existence. Having the idea to bring a team to LA and knowing we would have a passionate fan base day one, the @NWSL_LA supporters pushed us even harder every day to make this happen.
We had a lot of meetings, met with a lot of investors and heard a lot of noes, but we never stopped pushing forward. We knew the city deserved better, the players deserved better and the fans deserved better. The @NWSL_LA community inspired us and we weren’t going to give up on this until we delivered for them.
As you mentioned, you’ve been to USWNT matches, but how much soccer have you been watching lately, and how is that translating into your ambitions for the team on the field? Are you watching the Challenge Cup, and are there any players currently in the league you admire most?
My husband is French so we watch a lot of soccer in our household. As I watch the Challenge Cup I’m constantly texting with Kara and Julie. These women are truly remarkable! Going into the semifinals, I have so much respect for the players. For all four remaining teams there are players and attributes l admire.
The team’s role in Los Angeles is obviously important to you, both from a supporters perspective but also a local community perspective. What responsibility do you see for the organization as a whole to build that sort of community around a NWSL team? Why was the partnership with LA84 important to you?
We are building something bigger than a game; a platform where mission and capital coexist. We want to build a fanbase that not only shows up for our team on the field, but also something for our larger community to show up for. Together we can leverage our platform, players and even our organization to show up and get young girls and boys more access to sports.
LA84 has done incredible work in the LA community addressing play equity. The historic movement around social justice this year has made us ever-more conscious of the systemic injustices for communities of color and my co-founders and I are committed to building a team in Los Angeles that makes positive change to expand access to sports for kids across this city. We aim to be champions on the field, and champions for equity off the field.
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