National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) awarded Los Angeles an expansion team. The new team will start its season in 2022.

The investor group includes some well-known names in entertainment and sports. Investors include Serena Williams, her husband Alexis Ohanian, and her daughter Olympia.  The group includes several former US women’s soccer team players including Abby Wambach. Natalie Portman and Lily Singh are also involved with the team. 

It is worth noting that Olympia Ohanian, who was born in 2017, is now an owner of a professional sports team. 

If the Los Angeles team starts in 2022 as planned, it will be a decade since California has had a first division women’s soccer team. 

The team will be called the “Angel City” until a permanent name is agreed upon. The new team will be the 11th franchise of the NWSL.

US Open has selected Laykold as the new court surface for the 2020 US Open.  USTA reached an agreement with Advanced Polymer Technology (APT) that will stay in place for five years.

APT is a member of Sport Group, the world’s largest business that designs and builds sports surfaces.  Laykold provides court surfaces for many professional tennis events around the world, including the Miami Open and New York Open.  In addition, three Fed Cup ties held in the United States have been on the Laykold surface.

Here is a time-lapse video showing how APT  built the courts for 2019 Miami Open.

This is the first big change to the US Open surface in 40 years.  Since 1978, US Open has been played on Pro DecoTurf.  DecoTurf is designed and built by California Court Surfaces.  In 2005, DecoTurf worked with the USTA to develop a blue tennis court named US Open Blue.

The USTA said in its press release that APT was awarded the contracted after an extensive RFP process.  It is worth noting that these big-name contracts involve the supplier (APT, in this case) paying the USTA.  It is likely that the current provider DecoTurf balked at USTA’s demands.

The USTA completed a $600 million project over five years to upgrade facilities at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center two year ago.