USC star Juju Watkins becomes the first college athlete to secure partial ownership of a sports team

University of Southern California women’s basketball star Juju Watkins is making history as one of the first college athletes to become a sports team owner.

Announced November 6, Watkins scored one minority stake in NWSL’s Boston Legacy FC, Bloomberg reports. While details of the deal remain under wraps, Watkins sees the partnership as a step beyond the massive NIL deals college athletes use to boost their wealth portfolios.

“When you talk about equality, those opportunities don’t come around as often as endorsements, so this raised my eyebrows and piqued my interest even more,” Watkins said.

Watkins joins Boston FC C investors alongside Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams, Indiana Fever star Aliyah Boston and actress Elizabeth Banks. Team chairman Jennifer van Dijk emphasized that the diverse selection is a strategic move to leverage the expertise of investors within the club’s activities.

Since college athletes were allowed to profit from their name, image and likeness (NIL), top players have acquired significant wealth from deals that were once prohibited. Watkins has taken advantage of this by making money an estimated one $750,000 to $1 million through endorsements with Gatorade, AT&T, State Farm, Unrivaled and a multi-year Nike deal.

Boston Unity Soccer Partners, the holding company for Boston Legacy FC, is led by controlling owner Jennifer Epstein, the daughter of former Celtics co-owner Robert Epstein. Monarch Sports Collective, a private equity fund focused on women’s sports, is also an investor. The group paid a $53 million expansion fee and secured financing of more than $100 million for stadium construction.

In addition to her franchise investment, Watkins also backed OffBall, a sports media brand founded in 2024 by industry veterans Michaela Hammond, Adam Mendelsohn and Chris Stone. She joins LeBron James and Naomi Osaka as investors.

“Working with JuJu and what that entails is being relentless in our mission and continuing to try to create compelling content across the spectrum, whether that’s vertical video, IP-driven, through partnerships, activations, nothing is off the table,” Hammond said.

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