Photo courtesy of the city of Bridgeport

Connecticut Sports Group announce Wednesday that it’s reached a deal to launch a minor-league women’s professional soccer team in the state.

That move, though, is contingent on CTSG being able to deliver a waterfront stadium it’s proposed in Bridgeport, to be the new club’s home field.

The team will be a part of a new league planned to launch in 2027, WPSL Pro. The league will be the professional “second division” of amateur league Women’s Premier Soccer League, CTSG said.

All the entities are owned by the teams and approved by the United States Soccer Federation, the sport’s national governing body, but separate from the National Women’s Soccer League, the highest level of the country’s women’s soccer system.

The new Connecticut team will be WPSL Pro’s 18th and will launch in 2028. In announcing its deal with WPSL Pro, CTSG said its new team would contribute to “ensuring Connecticut continues to be recognized as a leader in advancing women’s athletics,” following in the footsteps of athletes in the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun and UConn women’s basketball.

“As someone who has personally benefited from the opportunities athletics can provide, I know how powerful this moment is for young women across Connecticut,” CTSG partner Michelle Swanston said in a statement. “This will be the first professional women’s soccer club in our state’s history, and it represents a tremendous opportunity for women to advance their sports careers both on and off the field.”

Whether the stadium will be built is still very much up in the air. While estimates suggest it will deliver a significant boost to the local and state economies, and build off of recent revitalization successes in Bridgeport, the site will need extensive environmental cleanup, and a state study that supporters hope will clinch the case for investing $127 million in public money in the $1 billion project has been delayed more than six months, to July 2026.