Though it had been rumored since May of last year, London City Lionesses, not OL Féminin, officially became the second team to join Washington Spirit under Michele Kang’s ownership. That changed Thursday as Lyon held a press conference in which Kang announced that her bid for 52% was finally approved.

A few factors likely got in the way. The OL Group still had control of the NWSL’s OL Reign, and while new owners for the Seattle club have yet to be announced, Vincent Ponsot, General Director of Lyon Women who sat beside Kang during the press conference, revealed that the partnership ended December 31, 2023. Also, Lyon’s men’s team had been languishing in the relegation zone, which probably held ownership’s primary focus. Then, the French authorities had to have their peek at all the financials and give their final say.

With all that done, Kang was able to deliver more of her vision for the club in the presser. It’s a delicate position. Despite Barcelona’s recent successes, Lyon are still the most decorated and historically dominant club in women’s football. But there are quite a few things to address, such as home attendance. The club currently splits time between two venues – something Spirit supporters are familiar with – and have averaged just over 2,500 fans per home game this season because of it.

Kang noted that the ultimate goal is to build a 15-20,000 seat stadium in the Lyon metro area to make matches more accessible, and so Lyon can call a single venue home. In a video posted to Twitter, Kang delivered a plea for fans to come to games, and hilariously called it “soccer” before catching herself.

Of note to Spirit and London City Lionesses supporters, Kang also addressed her purpose with the multi-club ownership model. In men’s sports, multi-club ownership is frowned upon. Each takeover feels corporate, a hierarchy is established, and club cultures and brandings can be erased and overwritten. Kang noted that she’s aware of the concerns, but her goal has far more to do with her investments in infrastructure having a broader scale than a single club.

“Men’s leagues and team have quite significant revenue coming in from media deals, so they can invest in training methodology and all that – they have adequate resources,” said Kang. “Women’s teams do not have that level of luxury in terms of significant revenue coming in, but we need all this investment. So for us to do the level of investment…we’re going to design the same high level standard for the training center, and wherever we end up we’re going to build exactly the same thing. … You can do that once and then share across multiple teams; so this is not a luxury, this is not a vanity purchase, this is really a necessity for women.”

Kang also mentions that the team at the Spirit who are developing training methodologies and building performance infrastructure are also making regular visits to Lyon to assist with identifying areas of improvement and hiring new staff.

She also discussed how her investments in and impact on women’s football has elevated her profile, and what’s driving her to invest so significantly across women’s football. “This is my first press conference ever, of any kind. I don’t like to be photographed, I don’t like to be videotaped, I don’t like to do press conferences. I was a very private person and overnight it changed on me,” Kang revealed through nervous laughs.

“I was not a soccer fan until I got exposed to the USWNT that won the World Cup in 2019 in Paris, and I became exposed to women’s football and realized that some significant professionalization is necessary,” she explained. “These are the best of the best athletes all around the world…and I saw significant lack of resources and attention, and as a business person also I saw this as an opportunity to really totally change the course for women’s football. I saw the possibility that women’s football could explode with just a little nudge and a little investment.”

Another bit of information of interest to Spirit supporters was Kang’s answer to a question about her clubs eventually playing each other. “They’re all being planned, so we’ll see. You’ll have to wait a little bit to hear our announcement, I have to leave something in suspense,” she joked before relenting, “it’s a matter of when, not if.”