THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — On a typically warm, sunny spring day in Southern California, Angel City FC sporting director Mark Parsons made it clear that he wasn’t interested in doing things normally. Why? Because Angel City FC is not just another club.
Parsons requested to move his interview with ESPN from the team’s news conference room to his office down the hall, where a slideshow presentation being projected onto the wall answered most conceivable questions about Angel City’s future. The interviewee had become the host, a subtle metaphor for how one of the world’s most famous women’s soccer teams is trying to take control of its own narrative on the field.
The presentation to ESPN was the same one, minus a few confidential pages, that Parsons had recently given to players and staff upon taking the job in January. His mission — and the reason the club hired him — is relatively simply laid out in the first slide: “Be world leaders in women’s soccer on and off the field.”
Indisputably, Angel City has quickly built a recognizable brand with its off-field moves since launching five years ago.
The Los Angeles-based NWSL franchise made a splash with a celebrity ownership group that includes Hollywood actress Natalie Portman, tennis icon Serena Williams, and pop star Becky G. The team broke ticket and sponsorship records before players kicked a ball in a competitive match. The team made headlines by mandating that all sponsors dedicate 10% of their deals to local philanthropy. Last year’s sale of the team at a $250 million valuation made it the most valuable women’s sports franchise in the world.
Success on the soccer field, however, is yet to follow. The team has never won a playoff game and has made it to the postseason only once in three attempts. Last year’s 12th-place finish was further marred by the first points deduction in NWSL history as punishment for salary cap violations. The team’s general manager and head coach exited four days apart in the offseason.
The most consistent on-field characteristic of Angel City in its early years was the inconsistency of the team’s performances. It’s a striking juxtaposition: The team with the most defined off-field brand in women’s soccer lacked any distinguishable identity on the field.
Parsons, a 38-year-old NWSL championship-winning coach, must find solutions to that problem. He is also only one new character in a wider Hollywood reboot.
New head coach Alexander Straus will arrive in L.A. next month after winning three straight Frauen-Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munich. U.S. women’s national team forward Alyssa Thompson is playing at MVP levels to lead a young, rejuvenated roster. And new majority owners Willow Bay and Bob Iger (CEO of Disney, which owns ESPN) have injected both historic cash and refreshing optimism into the entire operation, according to those throughout the building.
Early-season results have begun to follow. Angel City’s 4-3 road victory on May 2 over the Washington Spirit, last year’s championship runners-up, was one of the franchise’s signature victories. A goal deep in stoppage time by forward Riley Tiernan — a non-roster invitee who ranks second in the league in goals — embodied the developing grittiness of the team, a trait that had too often been lacking during late-game collapses of yesteryear.
Still, Angel City hasn’t won anything yet — and there lies the challenge. Los Angeles is a city defined by winners, like the NBA’s Lakers and MLB’s Dodgers. All the great work being done off the field only goes so far if Angel City is just a mid-table team every year.
“When things happen [here], it ripples,” Parsons told ESPN. “We haven’t even won trophies yet. Imagine what’s going to happen when we win trophies.
“I think we have a responsibility to win because people copy sports teams that win. [NBA star] Steph Curry starts shooting from wherever, everyone starts shooting from wherever. Angel City wins, what’s everyone going to start doing? They’re going to empower female athletes. They’re going to be rooted in the community and make a difference in their cities.”
Angel City has done that at times this season, including in that important victory over Washington. Still, the telltale signs of a project in its infancy remain. As good as Angel City has looked at times, the team has still collapsed in games and conceded 14 goals, second worst in the league. The win over the Spirit was preceded by a 3-2 loss to the Orlando Pride that saw Angel City blow a 2-0 lead late, and getting thrashed 4-0 by NJ/NY Gotham FC in LA.
Parsons points to those three teams and the Kansas City Current — last year’s top four finishers — as the model for Angel City’s arc. All four were at or near the bottom of the table in recent years before rebuilding to become champions or contenders.
Uhrman said she wants a home playoff game this year. Parsons would love that too, he said, but also knows that winning a trophy in 2025, at this stage of the team’s development “is not logical” if you look at those four teams as an example.
“We want to be a legacy off the pitch and a dynasty on the pitch,” Uhrman told ESPN. “That’s not one championship — that’s many. I believe we are laying the foundation today with our staff and our facilities, our coaching decisions, our player decisions.”
Change is still in progress. Straus won’t arrive as head coach until June, meaning he will have only about half the season to work with the team. Straus will be tasked with showing the players how they get to the point of achieving those dreams. “My job is to make us dream a little bit,” Parsons said of setting the high-level goals as sporting director.
Angel City is still in that dream stage, a startup wading its way out of some hard early lessons. Which direction it heads next will determine whether it inserts itself into LA lure, or risks being just another club.
