USC's JuJu Watkins Invests in Boston's NWSL Expansion Team

The Trojans guard is partially making good on a goal her coach set for her.
JuJu Watkins will have skin in the game in the National Women's Soccer League.
JuJu Watkins will have skin in the game in the National Women's Soccer League. / Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images
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In Nov. 2024, USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb set a lofty goal for star guard JuJu Watkins—a player who has yet to play a WNBA game.

"I want her to own something one day," she told Luca Evans of the Orange County Register. "Not just play in the WNBA. Own a team."

A year later, Watkins is partially making good on that goal. Watkins is taking stock in Boston Legacy FC—Boston's National Women's Soccer League expansion team—the club announced Thursday morning.

“Boston Legacy FC is creating a space for women to achieve, lead, and inspire others at the highest level,” Watkins said, “and I’m proud to be part of the movement pushing women’s sports forward.”

Watkins is currently healing an ACL injury sustained in the NCAA tournament in March, and will not play in 2026. In her first two seasons with the Trojans, she took college basketball by storm, making back-to-back All-America teams to start her collegiate career.

Other investors in Boston Legacy FC include Fever center and forward Aliyah Boston, Celtics general manager Brad Stevens, and Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. The team is scheduled to begin play next year in Foxborough; it will move to Boston proper in 2027.


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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .