FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Multimillion-Dollar Investment Establishes WFA as Global Hub for Women’s Tackle and Flag Football
CANTON, OHIO — June 30, 2026 — The Women’s Football Alliance (WFA) proudly announces the establishment of its new league headquarters at the Hall of Fame Village in Canton, Ohio, marking a transformative milestone in the league’s continued growth and national expansion.
Through a transformational partnership, Hall of Fame Village will become the official home of the Women’s Football Alliance, establishing the sport’s premier destination for league operations, championship competition, innovation, and fan engagement. The WFA will establish its headquarters within the Constellation Center for Excellence while calling Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium home for marquee league events and championship programming.
Located next to the Pro Football Hall of Fame at the iconic Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, the new League Headquarters at the Constellation Center for Excellence will include a newly constructed, fully integrated retail storefront offering WFA branded flag and tackle apparel, including the highly anticipated WFA branded women’s football clothing and protective apparel, as well as tackle and flag football equipment, uniforms and player accessories.
Beyond daily operations, the headquarters will serve as a premier destination for major events, including the 2026 WFA National Championship, the 2026 WFA Flag National Championship, elite flag and tackle camps and clinics, and live entertainment experiences such as concerts and community events. In addition to the retail store, the headquarters will include executive office suites, a television and podcast studio, conference rooms and a 100+ seat theater that are catered to allowing the WFA to continue to expand and professionalize its operations.
The expansion will also create new full-time executive roles within the organization, including a National Flag Coordinator, Vice President of Licensing and Retail, and Chief Partnerships Officer—further strengthening the WFA’s professional infrastructure and long-term strategic growth.
This unprecedented milestone for women’s football and women’s sports was planned for and designed by WFA President Terry Smith, who since becoming league president in September of 2024, has worked tirelessly to help elevate the WFA to an equal status with the WNBA and the NWSL.
Smith is widely known as the inspiration for the Ted Lasso character, as written by numerous publications and media outlets including Apple Magazine. His always positive-thinking personality, and his BELIEVE philosophy that Smith began during his football and soccer playing and coaching career was the guiding force behind his goal to make the Hall of Fame plan a reality for the WFA.
And just like this year’s fourth season Britain of Ted Lasso that has Lasso coaching a women’s soccer team, Smith has been a champion for women’s sports on both sides of the Atlantic, first helping women’s soccer to grow and develop in Great Britain, and now helping women’s football to grow and develop in America and around the world.
Smith worked with the Hall of Fame Village and SPD Sports’s Michael Cantor tirelessly to bring this historic agreement and investment together.
In addition to putting in this work, Smith is also personally providing the financial resources and funding for the WFA’s Hall of Fame Village location and headquarters.
Smith states, “The reason I was so motivated to create this for the Women’s Football Alliance is because the women who make up our WFA are some of the finest, kindest, most humble, and most amazing women in the world. And so it is an honor for me to be able to help our fantastic women in any way possible.
I want to thank Michael Cantor because he has worked incredibly hard to make this happen, and I want to thank the entire team and the ownership group at the Hall of Fame Village with acknowledgement of Stuart Lichter, Carol Smith, and Lisa Gould for all of their hard work and support. I also want to thank Jim Porter, the President of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, for all of his support.”
With this landmark development, the WFA continues to expand its footprint, enhance its professional ecosystem, and solidify its role as the driving force behind the advancement of women’s football worldwide.
One of the first steps the WFA will take from their league headquarters is an announcement in the near future of a 2027 WFA expansion franchise in Canton, Ohio, owned by the Hall of Fame Village and the WFA, playing its home games at the Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
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