The $58 million sale of Seattle Reign FC to a new ownership group that includes MLS’ Seattle Sounders FC is finally complete.

The Reign, along with former French owners OL Groupe, announced the news on Monday.

The Sounders are joined by private equity firm the Carlyle Group in the new ownership group. Carlyle Group is investing more than 50% of the joint venture, but the Sounders were “instrumental” in getting the deal done, said Alex Popov, Carlyle’s head of private credit.

The $58 million price tag is a dramatic increase in valuation of the team. OL Groupe bought the Reign for about $3.5 million in late 2019.

“It’s all about the potential going forward,” Popov told ESPN. “And frankly, our starting point was off. You know, that’s what attracted a lot of us to, including ourselves here at Carlyle, to think about investing in women’s sport. We have seen the potential.”

Team valuations have grown exponentially across the NWSL recently. San Diego Wave FC, which first joined the NWSL as an expansion team in 2022, is in the process of a two-part transaction that values the team between $113 million and $120 million.

NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said last year that she hoped the sale of the Reign would close around the new year. OL Groupe previously announced the deal in March, but exact details of the new ownership group were not shared.

The Reign’s sale to a group that includes the Sounders finally gives Seattle’s NWSL side a sense of true stability in the Emerald City. The Reign have won three NWSL Shields since the club’s inception in 2013, but the team has historically struggled to find its footing off the field.

Seattle previously played at Memorial Stadium downtown, but uncertainty around the venue’s future at the end of 2018 put the Reign’s future in the market in doubt.

The team moved to Tacoma in 2019 and removed “Seattle” from its name.

Less than a year later, OL Groupe, which owned the successful Lyon women’s side at the time, bought a majority stake in the Reign and the team was rebranded as OL Reign. The team made Lumen Field its permanent home in 2022 and averaged crowds of 13,610 fans per game in the 68,000-plus seat stadium last year.

Maya Mendoza-Exstrom, who spent 10 years with the Sounders and will now serve as the Reign’s chief business officer, said Lumen Field is unequivocally the Reign’s home.

“It feels a little bit like we have the gritty startup mentality of an expansion franchise in this exciting moment, but we have this benefit of having a dedicated fan base that has been dedicated to this club, even though it has moved a ton and changed a ton over the last few years,” she told ESPN. “So, I think the opportunity just to root this club in place — Lumen is our home. The club’s not moving anywhere.”

Filling the lower bowl of Lumen Field consistently is a realistic target for the Reign, but Mendoza-Exstrom and Popov both understand that what works for the Sounders might not be the right approach for the Reign. The Sounders averaged over 32,000 fans per game last year.

“We’ll figure out where our gaps are, and we’ll figure out where our synergies are, and then we will invest in the resources,” Mendoza-Exstrom said. “And that includes human resources to make sure that the Reign are resourced in a way that’s commensurate with what we need to do to grow. And that could be any number of human beings, that could be technology, that could be facilities. It’s all on the table.”

The Reign’s new ownership structure formally unifies Seattle’s MLS and NWSL teams after over a decade of operating independently. Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer became a minority owner in the Reign upon the team’s move to Tacoma, but exited when OL Groupe bought the team. Hanauer will now be part of the Reign’s ownership group again and serve as governor on the NWSL board, with Popov as the alternate.

“Today is a milestone day for soccer in our city and I am humbled to be a part of it,” Hanauer said in a statement. “This announcement is about keeping one of the top women’s teams in the world locally rooted in our community for generations of fans to enjoy.”

Faced with an unprecedented shortage of officers, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) is actively recruiting recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival Status (DACA) to become cops. It’s possible thanks to bipartisan legislation that went into effect on June 6.

Senate Bill 6157 allows DACA recipients to apply for civil service jobs across Washington State. These include police officer, firefighter and sheriff’s deputies. Prior to the legislation, they were prohibited from holding these positions.

The bill is getting renewed scrutiny after a LinkedIn job application post from the SPD for DACA recipients started receiving attention. The ad explains the SPD “is now accepting applications from DACA recipients! Apply Now!”

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Is it constitutional to hire DACA recipients for police jobs?

Seattle is not alone in hiring DACA recipients for police positions. Earlier in the year, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) made the same move. They even altered its written firearms policy to allow DACA cops to carry a firearm while off-duty.

With new guidance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), DACA recipients are allowed to carry firearms and ammunition if it’s part of official law enforcement officer duties. But any local agency hiring DACA recipients must reform their gun policies to make it clear that their DACA employees can carry firearms.

But the changes in policy and guidance leave open questions as to the constitutionality of the decision. Guidance from ATF isn’t forever binding, and it won’t change how a court uses the Gun Control Act should this legislation face challenges. The whole concept is also subject to changes with any new administration. And it’s contingent on DACA protections remaining in place.

With potential uncertainty, it could put DACA cops and their agencies in difficult and costly positions. Will a DACA recipient want to become a cop if their ability to carry a firearm is contingent on an agency not changing policy? It’s obviously not worth the resources to train if the policy suddenly changes under a new administration or via the courts.

Is it right for DACA recipients to become law enforcement?

There’s nothing inherently controversial about the decision to hire DACA recipients as police officers.

DACA recipients are allowed to work in the United States, though they do so under a renewable two-year work permit.

There’s also a need for new officers. Thanks to an alarming staffing crisis hitting departments like the SPD, agencies could use as many qualified applicants as possible. Based on the latest Seattle police staffing data available, only 424 patrol officers were in the department. Across all positions, there are 280 eligible for retirement this year. They need bodies to patrol the streets.

It’s true, however, to note the irony.

DACA recipients are in this country illegally and they’d be tasked with enforcing laws. But DACA recipients were brought to this country illegally through no action of their own. Even though a teen from 13-15 years old would have known what they were doing is illegal, it’s not a reasonable position to fault a child for following their parents into this country.

But the legislation has the potential problem of treating legal citizens unjustly.

Extra points for DACA recipients at the Seattle Police Department?

The City of Seattle has struggled with recruiting beyond dealing with the catastrophic defund movement, which demonized officers and scared off new recruits. But the Mayor’s Office hasn’t made recovery easy.

Under this new law, applicants may earn extra points for being fluent as a “native speaker” in a language (or languages) other than English. This gives an advantage to a DACA recipient that progressive hiring managers and agencies may use to reject an American citizen.

It would be unwise to offer this kind of preferential treatment when staffing is so dire. But it’s not hard to imagine how this could be used once staffing course-corrects. In fact, the Seattle Mayor’s Office has already shown an interest in socially engineering the SPD.

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City of Seattle looked to hire fewer white men, military veterans

Under strategist Ben Dalgetty from the Mayor’s Office, recruitment has struggled. Rather than seek applicants who are qualified, Dalgetty and other mayoral staff have sought a more diverse-looking department. But that means an SPD free from too many white men or military veterans.

In a March 2023 memo to SPD human resources staff titled “SPD Marketing More and Less,” Dalgetty asked for “less” images and videos of “officers who are white, male,” and “officers with military bearing.” In their place, Dalgetty asked for more “officers of color,” “officers of different genders,” and “officers who are younger.” And rather than reach as many possible applicants as possible, the strategy was to hyper-target black, Hispanic and Asian Seattleites with early marketing efforts.

After complaints from SPD, Dalgetty edited the memo several times. Moreover, the original memo was destroyed and not initially turned over via a public disclosure request by “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

Still, it’s reasonable policy

Despite the easy way to abuse this law, the policy itself is advantageous. It’s why all but one Republican in the Senate supported the bill.

Though it was adopted in a clearly unconstitutional way, it seems likely that DACA recipients are here to stay. If they’re interested in helping protect our communities, how can their employment be problematic? They’d still be subject to the other qualifications to become an officer or deputy. And they’d still be required to go through the same training.

The media (and the public) must ensure DACA recipients aren’t offered special treatment as a result of their status. If that happens, we should demand reforms. But short of abuse, that a DACA recipient wants to become a cop is something that should be celebrated.

This isn’t someone knowingly coming to this country illegally, jumping the line ahead of people who are waiting to be eligible the legal way. These are people who are trying to make good on illegal actions taken by their parents or guardians by giving back to the community.

Listen to “The Jason Rantz Show” on weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, and  Facebook.

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There are nights when everything seems to conspire against a team. That’s exactly what happened to Minnesota United on their visit to Seattle, where they faced the Sounders and came out defeated 2-0. The match began with a dramatic incident in the opening seconds, as a collision between Devin Padelford and Alex Roldan resulted in injuries that affected the course of the game.

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For the Loons, the lack of depth in the squad proved to be a difficult obstacle to overcome from the outset. With tactical adjustments forced by injuries, the Minnesota team never managed to find their rhythm. Sang Bin Jeong had to quickly adapt to a new position, while the planned attacking duo with Bongokuhle Hlongwane failed to click as expected.

The first half saw sporadic moments of promise, notably with Franco Fragapane showcasing individual skill that offered a glimmer of hope. At the 28th minute, the Sounders’ quality shone through as Albert Rusnák delivered a perfect cross for Jordan Morris to head home.

In the second half, the situation didn’t improve for the visitors. Despite brief moments of improvement, particularly in the early minutes after halftime, chances created by Caden Clark and Bongokuhle Hlongwane were not enough to change the scoreline. Attempts to combine between Fragapane and Robin Lod also faltered. In the 57th minute, Paul Rothrock extended the Sounders’ lead, capitalizing on a precise cross from Léo Chú.