U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday that it has accepted a $30 million gift from Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang, which marks the largest philanthropic investment in women's and girls' soccer in the federation's history.
Kang joined CBS Mornings alongside U.S. Soccer Federation president Cindy Parlow Cone to break the news of her investment, and also stopped by CBS Sports Golazo Network's Morning Footy to discuss the donation. Her investment will be spread out over a five year period. Funds from her gift will fuel U.S. Soccer's efforts to recruit and develop young players, as well as increase opportunities for women who are pursuing careers as coaches, referees and technical staff members.
"In the last couple of years, we've made incredible strides in developing the professional level -- the teams, the purpose-built, dedicated women's stadiums, dedicated training centers," she said on Morning Footy about the NWSL. "The viewerships are doubling, attendance are doubling and tripling but to maintain this momentum, we now have to invest in the very early stage of this ecosystem, which is youth. They are the future stars and they are the ones who are going to make this product incredibly exciting and thrilling for our fans and the talent, from a very early age, we need to identify. We need to track, we need to develop, we need to mentor and then for that to happen, we need coaches. We need talented and well-trained coaches. We need referees who are going to monitor the games and so forth and without those resources, this sport cannot continue."
"The ultimate goal is to make women's sports, especially women's soccer... one of the most competitive, thrilling, and entertaining sports products while we provide incredible career paths and opportunities for young girls and women." 🙌
— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) November 19, 2024
Michele Kang joins the Morning Footy crew… pic.twitter.com/MsNKScWtZg
Through Kang's gift, U.S. Soccer will be able to scale up its talent identification tools at the youth levels, including doubling the number of camps from six to 12 every year per age group. U.S. Soccer will also be able to increase the capacity of its digital talent identification platform, which will now have access to 100,000 youth players and will see 12 times the number of players enter the pipeline.
The investment will also ensure more educational and mentorship resources to 10,000 women in coaching, refereeing and technical staff roles.
Kang, the founder of medical technology company Cognosante, is the first woman of color to be the majority owner of an NWSL team. She entered the women's soccer scene when she acquired a 35% stake of the NWSL's Washington Spirit in Dec. 2020, her first venture as a professional sports team owner. She went on to become the team's majority owner in March 2022 after winning a power battle with former controlling owner Steve Baldwin, who was forced out after it was revealed that he condoned a toxic and abusive workplace.
Kang had the players' support throughout the months-long saga and upon becoming the majority owner, she pledged not only to ensure safe working conditions, but also to invest in the team considerably. The Spirit have reached the NWSL Championship twice since Kang joined the ownership group, winning in 2021 and playing for their second title on Saturday against the Orlando Pride (8 p.m. ET, CBS, Paramount+).
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In recent years, Kang has expanded her portfolio and has emerged as one of the first women's sports moguls. She reached an agreement in May 2023 to become the majority owner of Olympique Lyonnais Feminin, the record eight-time UEFA Women's Champions League winners. In Dec. 2023, she purchased London City Lionesses, the city's only independently-owned women's club in the top two tiers of English soccer. Each club falls under the umbrella of Kynisca Sports International, which also includes the Kynisca Innovation Hub (KIH) that was launched in Aug. 2024. The KIH is Kang's $50 million investment into expanding sports science resources for female athletes, since just 6% of research on the topic focuses on women.
Kang's portfolio also includes investment in media company Just Women's Sports, women's athletic footwear company IDA Sports, a $4 million gift to the U.S.' women's rugby team and a stake in MLB's Baltimore Orioles.
U.S. Soccer has recently begun leaning on wealthy donors to fund several projects, including in the recent hire of men's national team coach Mauricio Pochettino. Per The Athletic, a U.S. Soccer donor reached out to hedge fund manager and billionaire Ken Griffin to assist in their pursuit to hire the high-profile coach. Griffin's gift allowed U.S. Soccer to make Pochettino the federation's highest-paid coach ever, reportedly earning $6 million a year for his services.
Kang's investment, though, is designed to keep the women's national team competitive for years to come. Increased investment around the world has challenged the USWNT's longtime label as women's soccer's gold standard, though their recent gold medal win the the Olympics under new head coach Emma Hayes restored confidence in the program. A cash injection in the youth development structure, though, could offer a competitive advantage for U.S. Soccer as they aim to remain the best of the best in women's soccer.
