Angel City started as a local football club. It changed women's sports
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Angel City Football Club is one of USA TODAY's Women of the Year 2026, a recognition of women who have had a significant impact on their communities and beyond. Meet this year's honorees here.
If you're going to your first home game of Angel City Football Club at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, you'll experience a vibe. Girls wearing very large player shirts - their parents in pink wigs. PodeRosas, a group of Spanish-speaking fans, singing: "Dale, dale, ACFC. Dale, City of the Angel."
You will see grandparents and girlfriends. Celebrity owners and families. Huge flags in the colors of the team, black and Pink Sun - a dusty pink representing the sun and the horizon of Southern California. The ubiquitous beaters will make you want to dance.
And when the home team scores, everyone will be standing.
Willow Bay, journalist and dean of USC Annenberg School, recalls her first game. It was the team's inaugural season, and it was electric. "I was impressed," she says. "It was just a special feeling. It seemed different, and it seemed cheerful in a way that kind of took my breath away."
WOMEN'S SPORTS: The latest news and internal insights from USA TODAY Studio IX.
This vibe inspired Bay, with her husband, Disney CEO Bob Iger, to acquire the club and become controlling owners. The move made Angel City one of the most valuable women's sports teams in the world, valued at $250 million. But that's not the only reason why the team is one of the most envied in all women's sports.
Making the impossible possible
The idea of a women's soccer team in Los Angeles began not with a former athlete, but with actress Natalie Portman. After seeing her son cheer for the players of the Women's World Cup, she sought out Kara Nortman, a venture capitalist she knew from her work at Time's Up, the women's empowerment movement. Nortman met businesswoman Julie Uhrman, and together the three sat down to think about what it would take to launch a women's soccer team.
"In 2019, the narrative was that no one watched women's sports. No one invested in women's sports. Nobody cares about women's sports," says Uhrman, 51 years old. Los Angeles was already an incredibly crowded market with 11 professional sports teams. "No one believed it was possible."
They had a lot to learn. "I had to look for the National Women's Soccer League," admits Uhrman. "I didn't even know it existed."
And there was no real business model to follow. "There was really only one professional sport in which female athletes were paid and had media distribution, and that was tennis," says Nortman. "There was no example of a female sports team that could generate revenue and cover costs and that could be more than a non-profit organization."
They were determined from the beginning that this would be a business. "Charities don't always continue," says Nortman. "To really show that something can be self-sustaining, that's how you guarantee your survival. Angel City must survive all of us. This is much bigger than any of us, always."
Initially, they didn't even have a team name. But they knew how they wanted it to be to watch a game. "We wanted to build an experience we wanted to go to, and we knew that if we did that, the fans would come," says Uhrman. "We want our community to feel a connection with us and a sense of belonging."
That meant appearing for their community. Part of what makes your business model unique is your 10% promise: 10% of all sponsorship dollars go back to the community. So far, it's almost $8 million throughout the club's life. The money helped deliver more than 3 million meals to people who are confined at home, and funded Footy Fridays, where local children receive free soccer training.
"It's not just about winning and losing," says Uhrman. "We are about to have this positive impact and build something together."
It also meant protecting its players. When defender Sarah Gorden started in the league, she was earning only $8,000 as a single mother. "Have the club and the people who care and want you to be the best mother and player you can be," says the defender, 33 years old. "Really, we've come so far."
Playing to win
Uhrman, who will leave this year as CEO to be the main advisor to the team's owners, says that starting Angel City was the biggest risk of his life. Now the team has the receipts: in the first year, it sold 16,000 season tickets. "We were the first team to sell stadiums in Los Angeles," says Norton. "We were the first team to really show that this could work commercially."
Bay, 62 years old, recognized the opportunity. "There was never a question in my mind that this was a sustainable and long-term business," she says. "This is a unique moment in the history of sport, where women's sports are driving cultural conversation. They are bringing new energy and excitement, frankly, to sports fans everywhere."
Now, as a controlling owner, entering a game looks very different. She thinks about the experience through the eyes of the fans; she cares about the athletes. "You stop being a fan, which is nothing but joy, to have a little anxiety about the result of the game," she says.
Her taking charge of the council was the first of several changes. In April, a new head coach, Alexander Straus, was announced.
"For me, as an 11-year-old professional, I've never seen so many changes in a season," says Gorden. "All this is very difficult to navigate." The team was also struggling with the sudden collapse of defender Savy King, 21, who in May had a heart attack during a match.
The headwinds brought a tenacity to the team. "They've been my rock," says King. "Every time I entered the locker room, I was swarming with hugs. Now I'm next to them in the field. It was absolutely amazing." Gorden also saw something else emerging: stability. "It seems different, constant," she says. "And building a solid and stable foundation is very important when you are trying to build a championship team."
"Championship" is a word that everyone is thinking about. The club hasn't won a title yet. And with investors like Alexis Ohanian, Eva Longoria, Jennifer Garner and Billie Jean King, there is a brilliant highlight in the team.
Nortman appreciates the challenge. "I love being kept on a higher standard. We built Angel City to boost women's sports, to show what is possible when you intentionally invest in the players, in the product on the field, in the game day experience in the community," she says.
"There is no secret sauce. We love to lead because we know that others will follow."
In January 2025, the team opened a new practice facility at the site previously used by the Los Angeles Rams. The multimillion-dollar renovations included performance technology, rehabilitation rooms and children's playrooms to support players and employees. The team also invested in coaching staff and players, including the extension of contracts with defender Gisele Thompson, 20, and Riley Tiernan, 23, who led the team in scoring last year as a rookie. Tiernan was part of the NWSL first class without a draft, something for which the player's union put a lot of pressure, and chose Angel City for the team's culture and fans. "I think this season will be something very special," she says.
King, who left UNC after her first year to join NWSL, is thrilled to play for Angel City and in front of her hometown. "As soon as I knew that LA would have a team - I think I was in high school when that happened - I knew this was a place where I had to play," she says. "The club is a big part of this community. It's such an amazing thing."
There is only one thing left for them to do: "Win a championship for Los Angeles," says Bay. "And then do it repeatedly."
The fans will be rooting.
Wendy Naugle is Executive Entertainment Editor of USA TODAY. Follow her on Instagram @wendy_naugle.
Published by Raphael Amorim