Many Women’s Super League clubs are treated as “an afterthought” by their owners according to Kara Nortman, the co-founder of the women’s sport investment fund Monarch Collective and Angel City FC.
Monarch last month became the first women’s multi-sport group by buying a minority stake in Cleveland WNBA, the basketball franchise joining an ownership portfolio that includes the NWSL teams San Diego Wave and Boston Legacy, and the German club Viktoria Berlin.
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.
Nortman declined to comment on the status of Monarch’s discussions with West Ham over buying a stake in their women’s team – revealed by the Guardian last year – but said finding the right partner in England had proved challenging.
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’s team as a means of complying with profitability and sustainability regulations.
Chelsea, Aston Villa and Everton have sold stakes in their women’s 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, who play in WSL2.
Monarch, having completed a $250m funding round last year, has the resources to join them if it can find the right club.
“A lot of the WSL clubs are still afterthoughts, unfortunately, and adjuncts to the men’s team,” Nortman said. “They’re not investing what they could be. If they are afterthoughts, but there’s awareness around them being afterthoughts, that’s a beautiful place to spend time. But if they’re afterthoughts and they just want to add a little expertise or capital on the margins, that’s where it’s tricky.
“The owners need to say to us: ‘We believe in this team and we want to supercharge it with you, because you have experience now across five teams, two sports, two continents.’ Or alternatively: ‘It’s an afterthought and we want help.’ Those are both great scenarios so we’re still talking. We only made our first European investment in November in Berlin, but we’ll definitely do more in England.”
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.
“What’s changing is that people call us up all the time asking for advice, to share expertise, and we’re happy to collaborate,” she said. “I’ve spent a fair amount of time with the different ownership groups at Palace, for example. I’ve even been in the supporters’ 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: ‘No, but thank you anyway.’”
Despite occasional frustrations Nortman remains bullish about women’s football’s potential for growth, which is understandable given her experiences.
Monarch paid about $1m for Angel City to join the NWSL in 2020, and four years later sold to Walt Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger, and his wife, Willow Bay, for $250m, making it the most valuable women’s franchise in the world.
“The first capital we raised into Angel City was just shy of $1m,” Nortman said. “We quickly did another funding round, but it wasn’t big. It was at the start of Covid and no one thought at the time that people would be going back into stadiums.
“The 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: ‘How do you build community?’ We’re still asking the same question.”
Although football and basketball is Monarch’s current focus, it is exploring investing in other sports, and having recently opened an office in London is looking at opportunities in cricket and rugby union.
Katharine Curran, previously with Manchester City and City Football Group, heads the London office. “What did I spend my early morning talking to her about?” Nortman said. “The Cricket World Cup this summer, the numbers last summer in India, what’s 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.
“Cleveland was a hit for us on all fronts. They’re 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’s just a diehard sports market.”