Columbus’ new National Women’s Soccer League franchise unveiled detailed renderings Monday, October 26, for its training home, the OhioHealth Training Grounds, ahead of a groundbreaking Tuesday, October 27, at McCoy Park. The two-story, 45,000-square-foot center will be built by Columbus NWSL 2028 and owners Haslam Sports Group, with OhioHealth named the club’s official health care provider and the facility’s naming-rights partner.
The project is scheduled to open in January 2028, before the team debuts in spring 2028 as the NWSL’s 18th franchise, awarded in April and owned by Haslam Sports Group, Nationwide and Drs. Christine and Pete Edwards. Plans call for three grass pitches, a weight room with top-line equipment, multiple locker rooms, pools, a sauna, and performance, wellness and rehabilitation spaces, plus offices and meeting rooms.
Club leaders said the building was designed for female athletes, rather than adapted from a men’s facility. Mary Shepro, president of business operations for the NWSL team and the Columbus Crew, told The Columbus Dispatch the team is building it for women from the ground up, bringing recovery, preventive care and strength training under one roof. OhioHealth, a Crew partner since 1997 and sponsor at the Crew’s MLS training facility, will help shape care for women athletes, including ACL injuries and pregnancy and postpartum health.
Whitney Haslam Johnson, managing partner of Haslam Sports Group, said the mission is to set a new global standard across women’s sports, starting with world-class facilities. OhioHealth President and CEO Steve Markovich called bringing pro women’s soccer to Columbus an investment in women, community health and the next generation of girls, adding that OhioHealth sports medicine physicians will care for the athletes there every day.
The completed site will also include three synthetic turf fields for youth development and community access, programmed with the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department. Haslam Sports Group President of Global Soccer Tim Bezbatchenko told The Dispatch the facility is already a factor in player recruitment and should separate Columbus from the rest of the NWSL, while strengthening its case to host international teams.
The project arrives with public investment and local debate. The Dispatch reported the ownership group is investing more than $300 million, with $50 million in public dollars from Franklin County and the City of Columbus, and that using McCoy Park — where neighborhood renovations had been promised — drew backlash before the city announced a replacement park nearby. Columbus is also set to host Olympic soccer matches in 2028 and is bidding with Cleveland for the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
For Central Ohio residents, the next step is Tuesday’s groundbreaking at McCoy Park, off Stimmel Road near Lou Berliner Sports Park. Construction will then race toward the January 2028 opening, with the inaugural roster training there before taking the field that spring at the Crew’s Columbus stadium — and community fields intended to keep the site serving neighborhood soccer long after the first team arrives.
Photo: Nova Crystallis, CC BY-SA