The Wave’s performance is personal for Ellis. After leaving the U.S. women’s team, she began serving as a consultant for billionaire investor Ron Burkle, who wanted to start a new club in the NWSL. Listening to him describe the type of team he wanted to create, she realized she could be the one to do it.
“I was like, ‘Ron, you know, I didn’t go to Wharton,’” Ellis said, referring to the University of Pennsylvania’s business school. “But I think I can build a club, and I want to lead it all.”
So instead of roaming the sidelines and analyzing his opponents’ vulnerabilities, Ellis watches games from a suite, assessing attendance figures and weighing how many fans should have to pay for parking. Ellis has embraced the more logistical aspects of his new job, getting a crash course in terms like “dynamic pricing” and “digital marketing,” and deciding whether Wave’s uniform shorts should be pink or white (she opted for pink). She proudly points out that it was her idea to have a wave pattern running through the uniform numbers.
One thing Ellis didn’t need to learn, however, was that the key to the franchise’s overall success would be victories on the field. The first player she signed was someone she knew very well: Abby Dahlkemper, a defender Ellis recruited from the University of California, Los Angeles, whom she coached at the World Cup 2019 and decided to build the Wave team. For the Wave’s second signing, Ellis opted for Alex Morgan, the face of American football. Neither of them needed much convincing.
“Everything Jill is involved in, excellence is a part of it,” Dahlkemper said.
When it came time for Ellis to find a manager, she committed to hiring a woman. Another club president told him there weren’t many good female coaches in the recruiting pool, prompting Ellis to inform him that he had clearly been looking in the wrong places. It hired Casey Stoney, a former England player, who was named the league’s coach of the year for the 2022 season.
