Ottawa Rapid FC

What Ottawa Rapid FC does

Ottawa Rapid FC is a professional women's soccer club and one of six founding franchises of the Northern Super League (NSL), Canada's first professional women's soccer league. The club is headquartered at TD Place Stadium in Lansdowne Park, Ottawa, where it plays 13 of its 25 regular-season home matches between April and October. Founded in 2024 by Project 8 Sports Inc. and operational from April 2025, the club is led by CEO Thomas Gilbert, COO Stephanie Spruston (formerly of OSEG), and Hall-of-Fame head coach Katrine Pedersen, with Olympic gold medalist Desiree Scott as team captain. Majority ownership transitioned to Arcadia MapleLeaf Soccer in March 2026 under chair Nick Sakellariadis, joining existing minority owners including Ottawa Senators co-owners Seth Boro and Jen Hamilton and Fullscript founder Kyle Braatz.

The business model is a multi-stream sports franchise revenue stack: ticket sales (season seats starting at $339, single-match via Ticketmaster, and group/premium sales), recurring fan memberships (Rapid Connect at $50/yr with auto-renewal), merchandise (shop.rapidfc.ca), national broadcast rights distributed through NSL-level deals with TSN (9 games), CBC (2 games), RDS/Radio-Canada, TSN+, and CBC Gem, and corporate sponsorships with brands including Canadian Tire, National Bank of Canada, Toyota, and Intact Insurance. The club also operates cause-marketing partnerships (Ottawa Heart Institute Foundation kit-sleeve, Canadian Chiropractic Association) and themed match nights as community-driven revenue extensions.

The club's go-to-market combines community-led engagement (youth soccer outreach, themed nights, player appearances across Ottawa-Gatineau) with event-driven national broadcast distribution, leveraging its first-mover position in the National Capital Region and its roster of Olympic veterans and Ottawa-native players (six on the roster). The 2025 inaugural home opener drew 6,980 attendees, and the club climbed to first place in the NSL standings after Week 8 of its debut season, with forward D.B. Pridham leading the league in goals scored. Customer base spans season ticket holders, Rapid Connect members, single-match buyers, and family audiences, with group sales targeted at corporate and community clients.

Name

Ottawa Rapid FC

Legal name

Ottawa Rapid FC

Website

https://rapidfc.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

2024

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Ottawa Rapid FC is a professional women's soccer club and founding franchise of Canada's Northern Super League, playing 13 home matches per season at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa and generating revenue from tickets, memberships, merchandise, sponsorships, and national broadcast rights.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Women's Soccer Club

NAICS

Sports Teams and Clubs (711211), Spectator Sports (71121)

SIC

Services-Membership Sports & Recreation Clubs (7997), Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Team Sports Matches (Club & National) (MPAGAMAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Professional & Major League Stadiums (MPAKAEAA)

Keywords

• Professional soccer club
• Women's professional soccer
• Season ticket memberships
• Match day tickets
• Team merchandise retail

Headquarters

HQ city

Ottawa

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: Revenue from season ticket memberships, single match tickets, multi-game packages, and group tickets sold through Ticketmaster and direct club channels
2. Merchandise Sales: Official team merchandise including hoodies, scarves, and other fan gear sold through the club's online shop at shop.rapidfc.ca
3. Season Ticket Memberships: Season seat memberships providing guaranteed spots for all home games with benefits including playoff access, member pricing, and exclusive events
4. Rapid Connect Membership: Annual membership program offering scarf, member pricing on tickets, exclusive events, contests, community access, and merchandise discounts with auto-renewal
5. Broadcast Rights: National broadcast partnerships with TSN, CBC, and RDS/Radio-Canada for linear television and streaming coverage of regular season matches

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Ottawa Rapid FC is a professional women's soccer club competing in Canada's Northern Super League, playing 13 regular-season home matches per year at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa. The club sells season seat memberships, single-match tickets, and a community fan membership (RapidConnect), along with official team merchandise through its online shop, and offers corporate sponsorship and partnership packages. All home matches are part of the NSL's 25-match regular season broadcast nationally on TSN, CBC, and RDS.

Product overview

Ottawa Rapid FC is a professional women's soccer club competing in Canada's Northern Super League. The club operates as a single-product sports organization with complementary ticket and membership offerings. Core offerings include Season Seat Memberships providing guaranteed access to all home matches, a flexible RapidConnect Membership program for fans not committing to full seasons, and single-match tickets. The club also operates an online merchandise shop and offers corporate sponsorship and partnership packages. All ticket sales are managed through Ticketmaster, and matches are broadcast across TSN, CBC, RDS, and ESPN+ platforms.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Season Seat Memberships Full-season ticket packages providing guaranteed seats for all 13 home games, same seat locations, first right of refusal for events, guaranteed playoff access, lower pricing on seat categories, and inclusion of RapidConnect membership. Priced starting as low as $339 per season seat.
• RapidConnect Membership Annual fan membership priced at $50 with auto-renewal providing a scarf, member pricing on single-match and playoff tickets ($5-$10 savings on up to 6 additional tickets), bring-a-friend vouchers, exclusive events, contests, community access, newsletter, and merchandise discounts.
• Single Match Tickets Individual game tickets for NSL regular season home matches sold through the Ticketmaster platform and at the TD Place Stadium box office, with member discount pricing available for RapidConnect and season ticket holders.

Quantifiable outcome

• Season ticket holders receive lower pricing on seat categories and guaranteed playoff access
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Canadian Chiropractic AssociationminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 June 2025Feature story partnership highlighting player Julia Benati whose father is a chiropractor. Story published by Canadian Chiropractic Association and redistributed by Ottawa Rapid FC.
• Ottawa Heart Institute FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 June 2025Partnership to raise awareness of cardiac care and heart health. Ottawa Rapid FC wears the OHI's Canadian Women's Heart Health Centre name on kit sleeves. Joint initiatives include JUMP IN for Women's Heart Health campaign, mobile screening clinic at games, and community events promoting heart disease awareness and prevention.
• TD Place StadiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHome venue partnership with TD Place Stadium at Lansdowne Park. The stadium hosts all Ottawa Rapid FC home matches, 13 regular season games per year.
• Northern Super LeaguecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNSL is the league governing body for Ottawa Rapid FC and five other founding clubs. Provides broadcast partnerships with TSN, CBC, RDS, and streaming platforms. NSL season runs April through October with 25 regular season matches.
• Sponsor PartnersminorGTM or Marketing PartnerClub sponsors including Canadian Tire, National Bank of Canada, Toyota, Intact Insurance, CookUnity, Horn IT, Imaging Ottawa Gatineau, Iris + Arlo, ISN, KineMedics, Nordik+Spa Village, Ottawa Business Journal, Poulet Rouge, Submerge, Well.Ca

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Regional players

• Forge FC: Forge FC is a Canadian Premier League (men's) franchise in Hamilton, providing a useful Canadian-specific comparable on league-launch economics, broadcast distribution in TSN, and corporate sponsorship dynamics in smaller Canadian professional soccer markets.

Direct peers

• Atletico Ottawa: Atletico Ottawa is a Canadian Premier League men's franchise playing at the same TD Place Stadium venue. Direct comparable on venue economics (shared stadium), local market positioning, and Ottawa-specific corporate sponsorship competition for the same corporate partners.
• Halifax Tides FC: Halifax Tides FC is a founding NSL club and Ottawa's direct competitor on the pitch. Both are smaller-market Canadian cities, providing a useful comparison for fan adoption and sponsorship pricing in mid-sized Canadian markets outside the major three.
• Vancouver Rise FC: Vancouver Rise FC is a fellow NSL founding club and Ottawa Rapid FC's direct competitor on the pitch. Both operate as single-entity women's professional soccer franchises with the same matchday, broadcast, and sponsorship revenue mix, allowing direct benchmarking on attendance, season-ticket pricing, and sponsorship rates.
• AFC Toronto: AFC Toronto is a fellow founding club in Canada's Northern Super League and Ottawa Rapid FC's most direct peer—both compete in the same six-team league, share identical broadcast distribution (TSN, CBC, RDS), and play in larger Canadian metropolitan markets. Identical operating model, regulatory environment, and revenue streams.
• Montreal Roses FC: Montreal Roses FC is a founding NSL club competing in Canada's second-largest market. Direct comparable on all dimensions—league economics, broadcast, sponsorship mix, and women's sports market dynamics—with the additional bilingual market variable (French broadcast on RDS).
• Calgary Wild FC: Calgary Wild FC is another founding NSL club and direct competitor. Both franchises share the same league economics, the same broadcast partners, and face the same upside (women's sports momentum) and downside (league-scale risk) factors in the Canadian market.

Emerging players

• Bay FC: Bay FC is an NWSL expansion club (2024) targeting a similar growth-market women's sports audience. Provides a more developed comparable on sponsorship rate cards, season-ticket pricing tiers, and broadcast monetization for a recent-launch women's professional soccer franchise.
• Angel City FC: Angel City FC is an NWSL franchise built around community ownership, premium brand partnerships, and women's sports momentum. While a more mature NWSL peer, its marketing playbook, owner-driven sponsorship strategy, and women's sports valuation trajectory provide benchmarks for Ottawa's eventual scale.
• Racing Louisville FC: Racing Louisville FC is an NWSL franchise serving a mid-sized U.S. market, providing a useful international comparable for revenue scale, attendance benchmarks, and women's pro soccer franchise economics in a non-top-tier metro.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses2 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ottrapidfc
• Facebookfacebook.com/ottrapidfc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ottawa-rapid-fc
• Instagraminstagram.com/ottrapidfc
• TikToktiktok.com/@ottrapidfc?lang=en

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ottawa Rapid FC