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When entrepreneur and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian started to think about investing in women’s soccer, opposition to the idea came from an unlikely source: His wife, tennis legend Serena Williams. “When I first told Serena I was gonna buy or start a women’s soccer team here in the States, she actually tried to talk me out of it, because I think she had been so exposed to the infrastructure around women’s sports,” Ohanian explained to CNN Sports. “Because of her lived experience, she actually was trying to talk me out of it because she had to kick down a lot of doors.” Ohanian, who this month purchased a minority stake in England’s Chelsea FC Women, explained that such close proximity to the 23-time grand slam singles champion and her sister, Venus, showed “proof of the business viability of women’s professional sports.” Ohanian was the founding investor of Angel City FC, a Los Angeles-based team that began playing in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in 2022 – the top division of the women’s game in the US. The club then became the most valuable women’s professional sports team in the world after a huge takeover agreement in 2024. Ohanian, whose investment in Chelsea is reported by British media to be worth more than $26 million for a 10% share of the club, is just one of many putting cash into women’s sports. His investment announcement comes in the same month as the defending WNBA champion New York Liberty reportedly raised capital from investors at $450 million in what is thought to be a record valuation for a professional women’s sports franchise, according to The Athletic, who cited sources familiar with the deal. Meanwhile, Ohanian’s wife, Serena, is a minority owner of Angel City and Tiger Woods’ and Rory McIlroy’s innovative golf league the TGL, the Miami Dolphins – along with sister Venus – and in March, announced her ownership role in the expansion Canadian WNBA franchise, the Toronto Tempo. Ohanian said that he saw the reluctance of others to invest in women’s soccer as an opportunity. “When experts in a space try to talk me out of it, that’s actually when I tend to lean in more because it tells me that sort of dissent or that pushback is usually where there’s a tremendous opportunity for innovation and progress,” he said. Opportunity and ‘work to be done’ The 42-year-old Ohanian announced the deal to invest in Chelsea Women earlier in May, saying he was “proud” to help the “iconic club” – already one of the most successful teams in women’s soccer – become the most popular Women’s Super League (WSL) team in the US. “I think a lot of well-intentioned people historically have supported women’s sports in a way that … actually held it back because it was viewed too much as charity, or they led with things like, ‘Oh, I’m doing this because I have a daughter,’” he told CNN. “No, I’m doing this because I think these are tremendous athletes.” He added that sports and incredible athletes are going to thrive in a time of growing use of artificial intelligence because “the types of entertainment that are going to endure are the ones that are fundamentally human.” In 2024, Ohanian founded Athlos, a women’s-only track and field event that debuted later that year. The event offers $60,000 for race winners and aims to champion female athletes across the world. “One of the north stars for me five years ago – when I started on this journey of building, investing in and around women’s professional sports – has been: This investment isn’t just in the clubs, it’s in the surrounding infrastructure that’s gonna flow through every level of women’s sports. “For 100 years, professional sports has been by men for men. And when there have been women and women’s teams, in many ways, they’ve been literally treated as just small men, which is pretty ridiculous, right?” he explained to CNN Sports. Ohanian said that teams like Chelsea, who this month secured a sixth consecutive WSL title, a domestic treble and remained unbeaten for 22 consecutive games, offer “a chance to show folks something really, really special.” “I’m glad the discourse has now shifted where people are realizing there’s real opportunity here, but there’s still so much more work to be done, and I really believe that this club could and should be the first billion dollar franchise, billion dollar club in women’s sports.”
