Women’s professional soccer is eyeing a returning to Boston.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the National Women’s Soccer League is in “advanced discussions” to select Boston as one of three expansion teams.
The San Francisco Bay Area and Utah teams are slated to play in 2024, with Boston joining later, the WSJ reported.
The WSJ reported a women’s investment group including Jennifer Epstein has agreed to pay approximately $50 million for the team.
Boston had been home to the Breakers, who began play in 2001 as members of the short-lived Women’s United Soccer Association, which folded in 2003. The Breakers were re-established in 2007, playing in the Women’s Professional Soccer and Women’s Premier Soccer League Elite — both of which are now defunct — before joining the NWSL in late 2012. After five seasons without a playoff berth, the team folded in early 2018.
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The NWSL, which kicks off its 11th season in March, is home to women’s soccer stars such as Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe. The Los Angeles franchise, Angel City FC, averaged more than 19,000 fans last year.
But recently, the league fell under a cloud of investigations, which found coaches sexually and verbally abusing players, leading to multiple banishments.