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Fifteen Women Business Leaders Join Cleveland Soccer Group As Investors in Prospective Women’s Professional Soccer Team

Local Leaders Join Movement to Invest in Women’s Sports and Transform Cleveland’s Sports Landscape

 

Cleveland — Aug. 8, 2024 – Cleveland Soccer Group (CSG) is pleased to announce and welcome a collective of 15 local, influential women as investors in a prospective National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team. These transformative business leaders, renowned in their industries and communities, have joined forces to support the movement to bring Cleveland, and the State of Ohio, its first women’s professional soccer team.

“Women have been a driving force in a watershed couple of years for sports, innovation and athletes across the industry,” says investor Tricia Griffith, President and Chief Executive Officer of Progressive Insurance. “And it’s just the beginning of this new era. My co-investors and I are proud to help Cleveland get into the game.”

CSG recently submitted a competitive bid to become the NWSL’s 16th expansion team. The bid underscores what makes Northeast Ohio the ideal market for the league – and that CSG is the right ownership group to ensure the team’s success. 

This investor collective includes:

  • Nancy Benacci – Board Member, Cincinnati Financial Corp, The Payden & Rygel Investment Group, and Regis Corporation; Former Managing Director and Head of Equity Research, KeyBanc Capital Markets
  • Kimberly Bigelow – Co-Owner, McRann Bigelow Acquisitions
  • Jaime Buehl-Reichard – CEO, Fowler’s Mill LLC
  • Carly Cahlik – Founder & CEO, OHR Rents and FleetNow
  • Juliana Pabon Carrus – Owner, Valley Bloom Therapy Group
  • Ashley Charek – Principal, Charek Capital
  • Lauren Rich Fine – Senior Managing Director, Gries Financial; Former Managing Director Merrill Lynch Equity Research/NY
  • Tricia Griffith – President and Chief Executive Officer, Progressive Insurance
  • Maia Hansen – Current Board Director, Carlisle Companies Incorporated; Former COO at Athersys; Former Managing Partner (Cleveland Office), McKinsey & Company
  • Rupal B. Malani, M.D. – Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company
  • Ariane Kirkpatrick – CEO, The AKA Team, Jabali Development Group and The Mavuno Group
  • Sarah Rathke – Co-Head, Sports & Entertainment Practice and Litigation Partner, Squire Patton Boggs
  • Robyn Minter Smyers – Partner, Executive Committee Member and Former Partner-in-Charge (Cleveland Office), Thompson Hine LLP 
  • Michelle Tomallo – Co-Founder & Chief People Officer, FIT Technologies
  • Vanessa Whiting – President & CEO, A.E.S. Management Corp.

Bringing women to the table and increasing diversity have been priorities for CSG. The collective features senior leadership from some of the region’s largest companies, respected firms and small businesses, entrepreneurs and prominent community leaders.

Griffith was appointed president and chief executive officer of Fortune 500 company Progressive Insurance and was elected to the Board of Directors in July 2016.

Minter Smyers, Kirkpatrick and Whiting have each been honored as Black Professionals of the Year by the Black Professionals Association Charitable Foundation. They are each widely respected as successful Black women business and community leaders and are representative of our city, its power and potential.

“We’ve seen it across the league: teams thrive when there’s representative leadership and investment,” says Michael Murphy, Co-Founder and CEO of Cleveland Soccer Group. “More than that, this is a group of local Cleveland powerhouses, who want to change the landscape of women’s sports – and Cleveland sports. We’re proud to have this opportunity to invest in this bold future together.”

Women’s sports have become a focal point for investors in recent years, with investments in the NWSL and Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) growing significantly year over year. 

“When women invest in and support women’s sports, it changes the game,” says Minter Smyers. “Consider the NWSL, WNBA and the Paris Olympics – it’s evident what results can be achieved when you put the right resources, access, investment and support into women’s sports. The results are powerful.”

Viewership and revenues for women’s major sports events – including gymnastics and swimming at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the 2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four, and the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup – have set records and eclipsed men’s events in recent years. 

Stand-out athletes – like Caitlin Clark, Simone Biles and Sophia Smith – have shown the strong economic power of women athletes. In Cleveland, the 2024 Women’s Final Four featured three sold-out games and gave the region a glimpse at the excitement, energy and economic impact women’s sports can have locally, too. 

As of August 2024, the NWSL is in the process of considering bids for the 16th expansion team. An announcement is expected in the fourth quarter of 2024. CSG envisions a state-of-the-art soccer stadium in downtown Cleveland that will galvanize the community and generate billions of dollars in economic activity over its useful life. 

It will be the first stadium in Ohio purpose-built for a women’s professional sports team and only the second one in the country. The prospective NWSL team will join league play in 2026.

For investor bios, investor group images, soccer images, videos and more resources, visit our MEDIA KIT: https://www.clevelandprosoccer.com/media-kit 

 

ABOUT CLEVELAND SOCCER GROUP:

Founded in 2022, the Cleveland Soccer Group (CSG) is committed to bringing professional soccer to Cleveland and using the sport as a vehicle to enrich local communities across the region. CSG will launch a new men’s professional soccer team in Cleveland that will play in MLS Next Pro. CSG is driven to make a difference by investing in the team, infrastructure and the region’s people to foster economic development, civic pride and unite fans of the sport in collaboration with Cleveland leadership and top organizations. The ownership group includes co-founders and native Clevelanders Michael Murphy and Nolan Gallagher. Murphy is also a member of the U.S. Soccer Federation’s Development Council. For more information, visit clevelandprosoccer.com and follow the organization on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook or X.