Cleveland has been passed over for a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) expansion team for the second time.
It was reported on Tuesday afternoon that the league entered an exclusive negotiation with a group in Denver for the 16th NWSL franchise. According to Sportico, the expansion fee is likely between $105 million and $120 million, more than doubling the previous $53 million paid by the two most recent expansion teams, Boston and Bay FC.
Michael Murphy and Nolan Gallagher, the two co-founders of Cleveland Soccer Group, headed the local bid, which included building a new stadium in Cleveland specifically for women’s soccer and could hold other events, as well.
They put together a “Back the Bid” campaign to drum up support for bringing the NWSL to Cleveland. According to a post on X (formerly Twitter) by the group’s account, it had nearly 16,000 pledges for season tickets should an expansion team be awarded.
Cleveland did make it to the list of finalists from which Denver was chosen. The other finalist was a group in Cincinnati that featured WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark.
Cleveland Soccer Group previously applied for an NWSL expansion team and was denied in 2022.
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