November 8, 2025
USC women’s basketball star Juju Watkins is making history with her minority stake in a sports franchise.
University of Southern California women’s basketball star Juju Watkins is making history as one of the first college athletes to secure ownership of a sports team.
Announced on Nov. 6, Watkins scored a 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 are using to kickstart their wealth portfolios.
“When you’re talking about equity, 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’s investors alongside Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams, Indiana Fever star Aliyah Boston, and actress Elizabeth Banks. Team President Jennifer van Dijk highlighted that the diverse roster is a strategic move to tap into the investors’ expertise across the club’s operations.
Since college athletes were allowed to profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL), top players have gained significant wealth from deals that were once prohibited. Watkins has capitalized on this, earning an estimated $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 over $100 million for stadium construction.
Along with 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 among its investors.
“Working with JuJu and what that presents is being relentless in our mission and continuing to try to create engaging content across the spectrum, whether that be vertical video, IP-driven, through partnerships, activations, nothing is off the table,” Hammond said.
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