NWSL adds Utah Royals as latest expansion team

The NWSL is heading back to Utah with the announcement Saturday that the Utah Royals will begin play in 2024 as the league's newest expansion team.

The team is owned by David Blitzer and Ryan Smith, who also own Major League Soccer side Real Salt Lake. Sources confirmed to ESPN a Wall Street Journal report that the expansion fee is between $2 million and $5 million. A previous incarnation of the Royals in the NWSL existed from 2018-20.

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For both individuals, the acquisition of the Royals is the latest addition to their respective sports portfolios. Blitzer owns stakes in Premier League side Crystal Palace, Augsburg FC of the German Bundesliga, Portuguese side GD Estoril Praia and Waasland-Beveren of the Belgian top flight. The latter three teams fall under Blitzer's Global Football Holdings umbrella, as does RSL and the Royals.

Blitzer is also part owner of the NHL's New Jersey Devils and the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. Smith is the owner of the NBA's Utah Jazz.

Philadelphia 76ers executive Daryl Morey and Kraft Analytics Group CEO Jessica Gelman are also investors in the new ownership group.

Running the day-to-day operations will be team president Michelle Hyncik, a former collegiate soccer player at Harvard University who has had stints as general counsel with both RSL and the MLS league office.

«It's a sliding door moment, where we had this window of opportunity, and for [Blitzer and Smith] it was all about the community, right?» said Hyncik in an interview with ESPN.

«Ryan doesn't look at this as some private equity like investment. They are not looking at this as like some type of money maker. For them, it's just all about the community. The importance of women's for