Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford on Friday joined the ever-expanding group of Angel City FC’s star-studded investment team as the NWSL club gets ready to kick off its second season Sunday against Gotham FC.
Stafford, his wife, Kelly and their daughters join a large group of Angel City investors from the sports and entertainment worlds, including former NFL center Ryan Kalil, actress and activist Gabrielle Union, WNBA legend Candace Parker, and founding investors Alexis Ohanian and Serena Williams.
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“We fell in love with attending an Angel City game last season and wanted our daughters to experience something so important and powerful first-hand,” Matthew and Kelly Stafford said in a news release.
Other Angel City investors from the sports industry include Billie Jean King and Illana Kloss, Cobi Jones, Abby Wambach, Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Lindsey Vonn, PK Subban, and Shawn Johnson East.
While Angel City has arguably the most celebrity ownership of any soccer club, The list of celebrities investing in soccer clubs continues to grow, including David Beckham (Inter Miami CF), Patrick Mahomes (Sporting KC), Kevin Durant (Philadelphia Union) and LeBron James (Liverpool), Elton John (formerly the chairman of Watford) Christina Aguilera and Natalie Portman (Angel City FC), Ryan Reynolds (Wrexham), and Will Ferrell (LAFC).
In its inaugural season last year, Angel City led the NWSL in attendance, averaging over 19,000 fans per game — the first time a team other than Portland set the mark in that category.
Angel City reached 16,000 season tickets sold by the end of the campaign and achieved a peak single-game gate revenue of over $1 million.