Northern Super League launching expansion process to add team in 2027

TORONTO - The Northern Super League is looking at adding a seventh team in 2027, with plenty of ownership interest from overseas, according to league co-founder Diana Matheson.

The fledgling women's pro soccer league, which launched this season with franchises in Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver, had initially talked about increasing by two teams in 2027. But Matheson, the league's chief growth officer and part owner of the Ottawa Rapid, says that view has changed.

"We like the feel of adding one team in 2027. It allows us to really clearly target Central Canada and Western Canada," Matheson said in an interview. 

Looking for geographical balance and to expand player pathways, the league is looking from Manitoba to B.C., for the seventh team.

Matheson says the league has attracted ownership interest from both the U.S. and Europe.

"There's a lot of folks out there that are looking at women's sport as a growth industry, which it is," she said. "And they're looking at Canada as a top market within that industry."

With the Professional Women's Hockey League a single-entity league, the NSL is seen as a way to invest in women's sport in Canada, she added.

Matheson said while the league wants "really strong local connections" in any new ownership group, "I wouldn't be surprised if there was some international interest too in investing in a new Canadian club." 

The initial franchise fee for the league was $1 million, with a need for an estimated $8 million to $10 million in total invested capital over the first five seasons in addition to necessary spending on infrastructure.

Those numbers have since gone up, although Matheson declined to say by how much.

A seven-team league works in term of scheduling, with each team playing the other teams four times — twice at home and twice away — in an expected 24-game schedule.

And having seven teams means a bye every week, which Matheson says provides flexibility in scheduling given the lack of soccer infrastructure in Canada.

Under the current six-team format, each team plays each other five times. The 25 regular-season matches make for an uneven format with Ottawa, Calgary, and Halifax playing 13 home and 12 away matches and Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver playing 12 home and 13 away matches.

There is no timetable yet for adding an eighth franchise, Matheson said.

The league has an expansion committee made up of representatives of current team ownership and the league as well as the Whitecap Sports Group (WSG), a Florida-based international investment bank and advisory group that has been engaged to help find potential new owners.

WSG previously worked with AFC Toronto in finding a new majority owner in Mark Mitchell. The Michigan-based entrepreneur is founder of Mitchell Family Office (MFO), whose previous investments were primarily in the health care-industry.

Mitchell, whose home base of Birmingham, Mich., is 45 kilometres from Windsor, has Canadian heritage. His grandfather emigrated to Canada and his father, now 85 and based in Michigan, grew up in Winnipeg.

WSG recently announced the launch of its women’s sports division, led by former NWSL player Chelsee Washington. NSL expansion is the first project for the new division, the league said. 

The 2025 NSL season concludes with the championship game Nov. 15 at Toronto's BMO Field.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 8, 2025.