Alexis Ohanian: The Full P&L Breakdown of the World's Most Valuable Women's Sports Team | E1187
Alexis Ohanian (guest), Harry Stebbings (host), Harry Stebbings (host), Harry Stebbings (host), Narrator, Narrator
In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Alexis Ohanian and Harry Stebbings, Alexis Ohanian: The Full P&L Breakdown of the World's Most Valuable Women's Sports Team | E1187 explores alexis Ohanian Reveals Angel City’s Playbook For Women’s Sports Dominance Alexis Ohanian walks through how and why he founded Angel City FC, detailing his original thesis that women’s sports—and especially women’s soccer—were radically undervalued assets. He explains how he structured and financed the club like a startup, where he mis-structured control, and how media rights, sponsorships, and technology now drive the team’s growth. The conversation dives into the P&L of Angel City, the role of social media virality in determining which sports win, and how storytelling around female athletes is transforming both fandom and revenue. Ohanian also broadens out to the future of sports as content, private equity in leagues, creator-led brands like MrBeast’s Feastables, and the importance of being relentlessly focused as a founder and owner.
Alexis Ohanian Reveals Angel City’s Playbook For Women’s Sports Dominance
Alexis Ohanian walks through how and why he founded Angel City FC, detailing his original thesis that women’s sports—and especially women’s soccer—were radically undervalued assets. He explains how he structured and financed the club like a startup, where he mis-structured control, and how media rights, sponsorships, and technology now drive the team’s growth. The conversation dives into the P&L of Angel City, the role of social media virality in determining which sports win, and how storytelling around female athletes is transforming both fandom and revenue. Ohanian also broadens out to the future of sports as content, private equity in leagues, creator-led brands like MrBeast’s Feastables, and the importance of being relentlessly focused as a founder and owner.
Key Takeaways
Undervalued women’s sports can be billion‑dollar assets if treated as businesses, not charity.
Ohanian saw NWSL teams selling for a few million dollars despite global success of U. ...
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Media rights and blue‑chip sponsorships are the main revenue engines, not tickets or merch.
Angel City generates roughly $31M in annual revenue, with the vast majority from brand deals and league media rights (now ~$60M/year across the NWSL), while merch and tickets are single‑digit millions—valuable, but secondary flywheel inputs rather than the core P&L driver.
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Social media virality is a litmus test for which sports have real upside.
Ohanian argues that if highlight clips from a sport don’t go viral in the “freest market of ideas” online, it signals a ceiling on attention and commercial value—one reason he backed women’s soccer and avoided trends like pickleball that lack organic viral moments.
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Sports teams must behave like tech companies, building software and content capabilities in‑house.
He emphasizes using tools, automation, and direct-to-fan tactics (e. ...
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Storytelling around athletes off the field unlocks new revenue and new demographics.
By treating players as year‑round creators—especially women, who are already sophisticated online—clubs can package lifestyle content, docuseries, and social formats that attract sponsors from fashion, beauty, and tech, and deepen fan attachment beyond match days.
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Ownership structure and control must be aligned from day one in non‑traditional assets.
Ohanian made the team “look like a startup,” giving founders majority equity and not securing board control despite being the capital and league control owner—a mistake he later corrected by bringing in new investors (e. ...
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Apex creators can build massive CPG and software businesses by converting attention into trust.
His investment in MrBeast’s Feastables (10% at a $40M pre‑launch valuation) and the broader Beast HoldCo is based on the belief that deeply trusted creators can drive product adoption at unprecedented scale across snacks, SaaS tools, and streaming, creating multi‑billion‑dollar enterprises.
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Notable Quotes
“If you can’t show me a sport where the highlights go viral on social media, you might have some stuff missing.”
— Alexis Ohanian
“Part of the job of a club is to tell the story of our players every minute they’re not on the pitch.”
— Alexis Ohanian
“The bar is actually really low. Some of the worst owners in sports still make billions of dollars when they sell.”
— Alexis Ohanian
“All of sports has been told, by and large, through the male lens. We’re just starting to see how powerful it is to tell the story through a female lens.”
— Alexis Ohanian
“If you’re not relentless every day as an athlete trying to improve yourself, you’re gonna be left behind. The teams supporting these athletes need to have that same mindset.”
— Alexis Ohanian
Questions Answered in This Episode
How far can women’s sports valuations realistically go, and what conditions would be required for an NWSL club to surpass major men’s teams in enterprise value?
Alexis Ohanian walks through how and why he founded Angel City FC, detailing his original thesis that women’s sports—and especially women’s soccer—were radically undervalued assets. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
What are the ethical and cultural downsides of turning every athlete and club into a 24/7 content machine, and where should boundaries be set?
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How could smaller-market or less glamorous teams apply Ohanian’s tech-first, storytelling-heavy playbook without Hollywood backing or celebrity investors?
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What happens to traditional broadcasters and mid-tier entertainment (movies, scripted TV, reality shows) if live sports and creator-led content continue to capture more of the attention economy?
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How should future sports owners think about balancing fan accessibility (ticket prices, local community) with maximizing commercial revenue and valuations?
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Transcript Preview
... and if you can't show me a sport where the highlights go viral on social media, the freest market of ideas that has ever existed in the world, you might have some stuff missing. And so, part of the job of a club is to then tell the story of our players every minute they're not on the pitch, because, one, that's, some of those are brandable opportunities. If you're not relentless, every day, as an athlete, trying to improve yourself, trying to get better, you're gonna be left behind. The teams around and that are supporting these athletes need to have that same mindset.
Ready to go? (instrumental music plays) Alexis, dude, I am so excited for this. I mean, this is the first time-
Me too.
... that we got to do this in person.
That's right. We have met in person.
We have met in person-
But this is the first time-
... to be fair.
... we're recording in person.
And it makes such a difference. I don't know, do you-
Yeah.
... do you find it makes a big difference doing things in person? I do.
I think so. I'm, I'm convinced like the best p- part that came out of COVID was at least defaulting to, and we, we see this culture internally, defaulting to not having the casual meeting. It requires, I don't know, I, like, yes, I love coming together in person. I just tell the team all the time, "Let's make sure it's intentional. Let's make sure there's a reason why." It's not just, I don't wanna spend, I'm at a point in my life where I don't wanna just hang out for coffee for 30 minutes to like pick brains, right?
Or, or do a catch-up.
Or do a catch-up, yes.
L- I'm, uh, fuck, all these VCs that do catch-ups.
No, no, no, never.
I'm always just like, "What do you do?"
What are we accomplishing with this?
But I, all, I never know what to say, so I just ghost them.
There, it does.
Yeah, yeah, I, it's like, I, well, 'cause they're always just like, "Why?"
That's fair. Yeah, no.
Like, "What, why, what should we catch up on?"
You gotta guard your inbox. That's totally reasonable.
D-
But, so when it's in person and with an agenda and good people, it's, it's the best.
Dude, I wanna start-
I love humans.
... when we look at like the, the career-
(laughs)
... there's Reddit, there's-
Mm-hmm.
... obviously Initialized-
Yes.
... there's 776.
Yeah.
And we have this unwavering success across different technology elements from operating to investing.
Mm-hmm.
And then, it's like, "You know what? I'm gonna start owning sports teams."
Yeah.
As just an entry point.
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