Columbus-based OhioHealth has secured the naming rights to the training facility of Columbus NWSL 2028, the city’s new National Women’s Soccer League club, and will serve as the team’s official healthcare provider, Becker’s Hospital Review reported Oct. 29.
The health system and the club unveiled renderings Oct. 27 of the OhioHealth Training Grounds, according to Becker’s Hospital Review. The 45,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to open in January 2028 and will include three grass pitches, a weight room, locker rooms, and performance, wellness and rehabilitation space.
Three synthetic turf fields for youth development and community programs will follow once the full site is complete, Becker’s Hospital Review reported. As a founding partner, OhioHealth will provide sports medicine, healthcare and performance support for players at the training facility and at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field, the club’s home stadium.
OhioHealth’s physicians will work alongside club staff led by Tim Bezbatchenko, Haslam Sports Group’s president of global soccer, and general manager Lucy Rushton, according to Becker’s Hospital Review. “Bringing professional women’s soccer to Columbus is about much more than what happens on the field,” OhioHealth president and CEO Steve Markovich said, in comments reported by Becker’s Hospital Review, adding that the system’s sports medicine physicians will care for the athletes daily at the new facility.
The partnership also covers fan events and community health initiatives across Central Ohio, Becker’s Hospital Review reported. The facility will additionally host international teams preparing for the Olympic soccer tournament at the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Games, which awarded Columbus nine matches. Financial terms of the naming-rights deal were not disclosed.
Columbus landed the NWSL’s 18th franchise on April 21, according to Becker’s Hospital Review. Haslam Sports Group, Nationwide and Drs. Christine and Pete Edwards own the club, which will begin play in 2028.
OhioHealth is a nonprofit, 16-hospital system based in Columbus. It has partnered with the MLS Columbus Crew since 1997 and has held naming rights to the Crew’s OhioHealth Performance Center since 2020, Becker’s Hospital Review reported — a relationship the new training grounds extend to the city’s incoming women’s club.
What happens next is construction toward the January 2028 opening, as the club builds out its roster, staff and facilities ahead of its first NWSL season and Columbus prepares to host visiting Olympic teams that summer.
Photo: Nova Crystallis, CC BY-SA