Cleveland Soccer Group confirms the NWSL did not choose Northeast Ohio, with the franchise reportedly headed to Denver instead.
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More than a year after Cleveland Soccer Group announced its intention to bid for an expansion franchise, the organization announced Tuesday that Northeast Ohio will not be the home of the NWSL’s 16th team. While the league has yet to make an official announcement, Sportico is reporting the franchise is on track to be awarded to Denver, with “exclusive negotiations” involving an expansion fee of at least $105 million currently ongoing.
“It’s not over, Cleveland,” CSG wrote in a statement posted on X. “We won’t be the 16th team in the NWSL. But we’re exploring all paths to make women’s pro soccer in Northeast Ohio a reality, a success, our future.”
Cleveland had been named one of three finalists for expansion in November, with the other candidates being Denver and Cincinnati. Comparatively little was publicly known about Denver’s bid heading into this week, but the city does already host a Major League Soccer franchise that plays in its own suburban stadium. According to Sportico, the group behind the NWSL bid is planning to build a new venue for the women’s team.
Cincinnati also boasts an MLS franchise (along with a ready-built albeit shared stadium) and brought star power to their efforts to bring a women’s team to Ohio’s third-largest city — including the late introduction of Caitlin Clark as an investor. However, Cleveland was hoping to separate itself with its status as the largest media market in the country without a major pro soccer club of any kind, along with plans to build a brand-new stadium that would be one of the few in the country with a women’s team as its primary tenant.
Keri Sarver was an All-American at Jackson High School in Stark County before briefly playing in the Women’s United Soccer Association, the first fully professional women’s soccer league in the world. Now coaching the Internationals Soccer Club of Northeast Ohio, she was in New Zealand when she heard the news of Cleveland’s NWSL bid being rejected.
“The first reaction is disappointment,” Sarver told 3News, “but I also believe in what the Cleveland Pro Soccer Group is doing. And I believe that they’re committed to doing this long-term, and I don’t think that they’re going to give up.”
Cleveland Metroparks acquired nearly 13.6 acres of land from the Ohio Department of Transportation in support of CSG’s efforts to build a 12,500-seat stadium across the street from Progressive Field. The group had said it was seeking around $60 million in taxpayer funds to help finance the project.
CSG engaged with city, county and state officials to finalize the funding plan for the public-private partnership. Michael Murphy, CSG co-founder and CEO, previously told 3News’ Dave Chudowsky that the total price tag for the project was $283 million.
Another important step would be opening a training facility, both for the NWSL team and the MLS Next Pro men’s team that is expected to begin play sometime in the next two years. The group had publicly put an offer to purchase the site of Notre Dame College, which shuttered in May.
CSG claims it received nearly 16,000 season ticket pledges from fans eager to see women’s soccer in Cleveland. They’re using that figure as hope that a future franchise could still become a reality one day.
“Thank you so much for your continued support,” the group said. “Stay in it, stay tuned ✨”
Sarver is also hopeful that this is just the start.
“I think that they’re going to try to find another way to potentially get an NWSL franchise,” she said. “And if not, I believe that they’ll find other ways to reach out to high-level soccer and women’s soccer in Cleveland and somehow bring it here, even if it’s not this year.”
