National Women’s Soccer League expansion team Angel City has announced three front-office appointments ahead of the team’s inaugural season in 2022.
The Los Angeles-based team has a star-studded ownership group, which includes Hollywood actress and Oscar winner Natalie Portman as well as Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, his wife tennis superstar Serena Williams and even their two-year old daughter Alexis.
Angel City will be the NWSL’s first team in California and, at present, its 11th franchise when it enters the league in 2022, following the arrival of Racing Louisville FC next year.
The club has brought in Jessica Smith as head of corporate partnerships. Her initial focus is to build out the club’s partnership portfolio, starting with securing jersey partners – first team, training, and sleeve.
Smith previously worked for Major League Soccer’s San Jose Earthquakes, where she spent four years overseeing the club’s partnership portfolio, sponsorship revenue stream, and strategic partner initiatives.
To demonstrate its commitment to the community, Angel City will allocate 10 per cent of the value of its sponsorship deals to local causes, via product, asset, or monetary donation.
Also brought in is Kim McCauley as director of recruitment and analytics, as well as Catherine Dávila as head of community.
Angel City is also exploring building a training facility to be utilized by the team as well as a resource for the community. A stadium for the team has yet to be announced.
Last week, it was revealed that singer and actress Becky G has joined the team’s expansive ownership group.
Read this: First LA, then the world – NWSL’s Angel City sets sights on becoming global brand