Angel City FC invests in team, community with multimillion dollar practice facility

The GIST: Angel City FC (ACFC) announced yesterday that it’s constructing a new and improved, nine-acre performance center on California Lutheran University’s campus, the largest such facility dedicated exclusively to an NWSL club. The move comes as ACFC continues to strive for business growth and upping its valuation.

• The GIST spoke with team president Julie Uhrman yesterday to gain insight on how the development of world-class facilities positions ACFC to become a global brand. Making money moves.

The details: The new digs will accommodate ACFC players and first-team staff for the next four years under the team’s existing partnership with Cal Lutheran. The performance center will include a full-size pitch (and a half!), as well as 50K square feet of indoor space.

• Uhrman described how the club’s university presence levels up its existing partnership beyond just in-stadium advertising, with ACFC recruiting interns from the student body and prompting players and investors to speak to students.

The trend: After the Las Vegas Aces opened the WNBA’s first practice facility built solely for a W team in 2023, franchises in Seattle, Phoenix, and Chicago enacted their own such plans. In the NWSL space, Uhrman noted that Racing Louisville, the Kansas City Current, the Utah Royals also sport purpose-built facilities, while Bay FC has plans for their own by 2027.

Zooming out: After just three seasons in the league, ACFC already leads across many categories, from its record valuation to sky-high attendance. And getting ahead on building a premier practice facility doesn’t just uplift players: It will better the university and the local community, while also giving ACFC’s many purpose-driven partners another space to activate.

• Uhrman hopes the club can entice existing and prospective sponsors to enhance athletes’ experiences at the new facility, saying “it can be nutritional, it could be beauty, it could be educational, it could be transportation — anything that removes any doubt, confusion, stress from my players so they can just focus on being the best professional athletes.” Preach.