On Friday, Sportico‘s Kurt Badenhausen reported that Houston Dash controlling owner Ted Segal has retained investment bank PJT Partners for the purposes of “assess[ing] potential investment options” for the Houston Dash, including a sale of Segal’s controlling interesting in the Dash. Sportico‘s reporting is based primarily on a memo sent to team employees.
Segal is also the majority owner of the Major League Soccer club Houston Dynamo, which, according to the employee memo, is not currently for sale.
The possible investment options include (1) sale of Segal’s controlling interest in the Dash, (2) additional outside investment by adding new equity investors, or (3) no change in the current ownership.
Relocation of Houston’s franchise is not currently an option, according to reports from the NWSL’s recent media day event (Justin Horneker’s Substack).
Although ownership of the Dash has changed hands before, in 2015 and 2021, both of those previous transactions also involved the Dynamo.
Should the controlling interest in the Houston Dash be sold, it would become the second NWSL team to no longer share a controlling owner with an MLS ‘sibling’ club, following the sale of the Portland Thorns by Merritt Paulson to RAJ Sports in January 2024.
The valuations of NWSL clubs have skyrocketed in the past few years, with prices paid for existing teams and new franchises both exceeding $100 million. In 2024, when Angel City’s controlling interest was sold, the club was valued at $250 million. Four years earlier, in 2020, the franchise fee for Angel City and the San Diego Wave was only about $2 million each (Forbes article). The newest NWSL expansion team, which will almost certainly be in Denver, is expected to pay a fee of around $110 million to join the league. That price is about double the amount that its fellow 2026 expansion team, the new Boston franchise, agreed to in September 2023.
The Houston Dash were the first expansion team of the National Women’s Soccer League, with the club’s franchise being awarded on a rushed timeline. News of expansion talk was made public on November 19, 2013 (Houston Chronicle article). The franchise was granted less than a month later, on December 11, 2013, and just five weeks ahead of the 2014 NWSL Draft.
Commentary: A cautiously welcomed development
Additional investment and/or the selling of the Houston Dash to an interested and capable owner should result in a more competitive team, which is good overall for the NWSL. However, if the club is sold to new ownership who are more focused on acquiring an appreciating asset, holding it for a while with minimal investment, and flipping it a few years down the road, then it is doubtful that the Dash will make any meaningful improvements.
The Dash: A history of being below average
In its 11 year history, the Houston Dash have rarely dazzled, with disappoint being the norm:
- Outside of winning the 2020 Challenge Cup during the first year of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Dash have no other NWSL trophies.
- The Dash have just once finished in the top half of the NWSL league table. (The Dash also a fifth-place finish in 2015, when the league had nine teams.)
- The Dash’s best finish was fourth, in 2022. This was the only time that they have qualified for the postseason.
- In 2024, the Dash had the second-lowest median attendance per match and the lowest total attendance of all 14 NWSL teams. (The Chicago Red Stars would have had the lowest total attendance had their heavily promoted match at Wrigley Field been a normal match at SeatGeek Stadium.)
- Of the league’s first ten teams, the Houston Dash are one of just two current franchises to not win at least one NWSL Shield or NWSL Championship. (The Chicago Stars is the other. Also, the Boston Breakers failed to win a trophy before they folded after the 2017 season.)
- Of the eight NWSL teams that have played 150 or more regular season matches, the Houston Dash have the lowest win percentage*. Despite playing 44 less regular season matches (186 versus 230), the Orlando Pride (69 wins, 39 draws, and 78 losses) have just one fewer win than the Dash (70 wins, 50 draws, and 110 losses).
*Calculated as (Wins + 0.5*Draws)/(Total Matches)
For the 2024 season, the Dash finished at the bottom of the NWSL table for the first time since their debut year of 2013.
In addition to their on-field struggles in 2024, the Dash also had more than their share of off-field issues:
- In April, the Dash had to trade away one of their best players, midfielder María Sánchez. Sánchez requested to be traded in late March, less than six months after signing a new three-year contract (Pro Soccer Wire).
- Head coach Fran Alonso was absent from the team, starting in late June, until his official departure on October 1st.
- Also, general manager Alex Singer was fired on July 25th (press release) and a permanent replacement was not named until December when former Angel City general manager Angela Hucles Mangano was hired.
Active Owners Welcomed; Caretaker Investors, Not So Much
Ted Segal acquired the Houston Dash during the 2021 NWSL season (June 2021 press release). The Dash subsequently had their best ever regular season finish in 2022, placing fourth overall and qualifying for the playoffs for the first time. However, the Dash then went on a downward slide, finishing 10th out of 12 teams in 2023 and 14th out of 14 teams in 2024.
The additions of forward Yazmeen Ryan and midfielder Delanie Sheehan, along with the re-signing of midfielder Kiki Van Zanten, are some of the positive moves that the Dash are making for the 2025 NWSL season.
However, much more would need to be done to make the Dash a properly competitive team in the league. If current ownership is willing to fully invest in the Dash by pushing its player compensation much closer to the salary cap limit and acquiring high-caliber players who can deliver on the pitch and off, by increasing the Dash’s lagging fanbase, then a sale is not really needed.
However, if Segal is primarily interested in cashing out on a suddenly appreciated asset, then the Dash and the league may be in a situation where there is no good option, especially if the highest bidder merely views the Dash as an appreciating asset and has no interest in significantly improving the Dash as a club.
Selling the Dash to new ownership, separate from the Dynamo, should mean that the new controlling owner is more focused on the Dash and less likely to have conflicts of interest. This should mean a higher probability of growing the Dash’s fanbase, especially if the new ownership is active and energetic, along the lines of a Michele Kang.
Had the Dash not been sold to new ownership since its rushed entry into the NWSL at the end of 2013, I would have been in favor of a surcharge akin to a “capital gains tax” or “excess profits tax” on the sale of the Dash’s controlling interest, primarily based on the apparent lack of proper investment in and management of the Dash organization. The money from the surcharge would go into a fund that would be used by the NWSL for growing the league. However, one potential downside of such a surcharge is that it could make it less likely that the Dash are sold to a good owner.
Women's Soccer Express 