Last week, Michele Kang’s purchase of 52.9% of Lyon Feminines was confirmed. The deal had been in the works for a number of months and made Lyon the third club to become part of Kang’s portfolio, with Washington Spirit and London City Lionesses also owned by her.
Kang has been widely lauded for her purchases and in truth is probably the most recognisable business figure within women’s football, if not women’s sport as a whole, right now.
Kang’s stated intention is to build a global multi-club group and she now has three teams all in separate markets. The challenge she faces is navigating those markets which all have very different demands and risk calculi. Washington Spirit play in the closed NWSL, Lyon are dominant in France and London City Lionesses are towards the bottom of the very competitive English second division.
Kang is a hugely popular figure within women’s sports predominantly for her purchase of Washington Spirit which took place at a time of immense hurt within the organisation. Kang had originally come in as a minority investor but when the existing ownership was accused of nepotism and retaliatory behaviour in the fallout from Richie Burke’s sacking for abusive behaviour, they were eventually forced to sell. By becoming the first woman of colour to be a majority owner of an NWSL club, she represented a changing of the guard as women’s football in America reckoned with the revelations of abuse and misogyny coming from across the league.
At the end of the day, Kang is a businesswoman and it is going to be intriguing to see how she maximises profit with these clubs.
It is clear that she sees attendances as low hanging fruit in this regard. Lyon, for example, attract one-off crowds of around 15-20000 for bigger games such as the recent match against Paris Saint-Germain. But for regular home matches this season, they play at a training ground pitch which only holds 1200 and rarely fill that. Only six matches across the entirety of the WSL this season have had lower attendances than 1200.
Kang is looking to construct a new stadium to bridge the gap between the training ground and the main Groupama stadium, but incentivising fans is not a foregone conclusion. Clubs like Barcelona and Arsenal have seen attendances sky-rocket in recent years but Chelsea have demonstrated that there is no silver bullet. All three have stronger existing fan bases and better built out marketing teams than Lyon.
Lyon have also shown that a team playing well and winning a lot is not necessarily a guaranteed sign of people taking notice. But beyond the improved training facilities and marketing strategies, running football clubs well is becoming increasingly important. Right now, Kang’s ability to make good footballing decisions is still unclear.
There is no doubt that prising Jonatan Giraldez away from Barcelona to become head coach of the Washington Spirit was an incredible PR move. But it will be interesting to see how his style of football adapts to the heavily transitional NWSL, particularly given he has never coached outside of Barcelona. It looks like Kang will also be seeking a new manager for Lyon, with Chelsea having made Sonia Bompastor a contract offer to take their vacant managerial role, although The Guardian are reporting that Kang wanted to make a change at the end of the season anyway.
London City Lionesses is probably the most testing purchase of all for Kang’s nascent multi-club model. Washington Spirit play in a closed league which minimises risk given there is no relegation whilst Lyon look unlikely to be dethroned as the best team in France any time soon, meaning guaranteed annual trophies and a UWCL group stage spot. London City Lionesses are a long way off any of that.
Currently 10th in the Women’s Championship, the second division in England, they will be in the relegation spots if bottom of the table Lewes win their game in hand. Even if they do manage to stay up this year - manager Carolina Morace was bizarrely sacked during their called off Continental Cup quarter-final against Arsenal - the Championship has become a very competitive league with more men’s teams investing heavily. The success of sides like Newcastle, Burnley and Nottingham Forest further down the pyramid means this will only intensify.
Will Kang be able to provide a level of investment that seriously moves the needle for London City Lionesses? The side notably signed a number of WSL players this summer on presumably high salaries already to little effect. Getting London City Lionesses to the WSL feels like it will require more than just money, but also intelligent football decisions. Kang recruiting people who are able to do this is crucial, because plenty of teams have demonstrated that once you reach the WSL, it is exceptionally hard to establish yourself there.
The criticisms of multi-club ownership groups seem to get rather lost within women’s football with everyone so willing to cheer investment. It is hard to argue against the validity of Kang’s ‘woman-first’ approach to training, but how the relationship between these three clubs develops will be key. Can Kang keep Lyon at the top within Europe as investment accelerates from other clubs in Europe which will undoubtedly have more money? Will London City Lionesses be able to genuinely break into the WSL or do they end up as Lyon’s strange little sister? Is it fair that teams like Lyon and Washington Spirit might be able to preferentially loan players across different season calendars? Only time will tell on these kinds of questions. Kang’s ownership model is the first of its kind in the women’s game - and is worth keeping a close eye on.