The NWSL has paid global law firm Hogan Lovells $130,000 since May for “government relations advice,” according to financial disclosures filed with the House of Representatives Clerk’s Office.
This marks the first time the NWSL has retained a firm in a lobbying capacity and had to file the necessary registration form with Congress. However, the filings to date indicate that Hogan Lovells has so far only provided consulting and has not directly lobbied federal lawmakers on the league’s behalf.
A league spokesperson in an email reiterated that Hogans Lovells’ work has been advisory in nature but declined to elaborate on its specific focus or the reasons for seeking it. A spokesperson for the firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The NWSL’s government relations team includes former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.)—who served in the Senate from 2003 to 2009—and Ches Garrison, a former top Democratic staffer on the Senate judiciary committee.
Coleman is also currently doing lobbying work for the FIFA 2026 World Cup host committees in San Francisco, Seattle and Miami, as well as for Major League Baseball.
Separate from the NWSL, the league’s Washington Spirit has employed the Daschle Group this year to lobby members on “issues related to equality in women’s sports and the growth of women’s soccer.”
Hogan Lovells already has extensive ties to NWSL ownership groups. Earlier this year, the firm advised Robert Cohen and the Colorado Women’s Soccer Coalition on securing rights to operate a new franchise in Denver. The firm previously represented Michele Kang in her 2022 purchase of controlling interest in the Spirit and advised on both the Seattle Sounders’ investment in the NWSL’s Seattle Reign and the purchase of the San Diego Wave by Lauren Leichtman and Arthur Levine.
Earlier this month, The Athletic quoted Matthew Eisler, the leader of Hogan Lovells’ global sports practice group, extolling the NWSL as being “incredibly attractive as an investment.”
Steve Argeris, who worked at Hogan Lovells for a number of years before recently jumping to the firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, has been a close advisor to Kang for years.
The NWSL’s engagement with Hogan Lovells came a few months after the league finalized a settlement agreement with the state attorneys general of Illinois, New York and Washington, D.C., resolving investigations into player abuse that rocked the NWSL in 2021 and 2022. The scandal also drew Congressional attention.
More recently, the NWSL has been confronted with the political hot-button issues surrounding the Trump Administration’s immigration enforcement activities and transgender athletes participation in female sports. The NWSL has been without a gender participation policy since abandoning its previous one in 2022, an omission that has drawn renewed attention this week.
