Arcadia MapleLeaf Soccer is the new majority owner of the Ottawa Rapid FC, the club announced on Friday.
Arcadia, led by Nick Sakellariadis, Ellen Shumway and Micheal Savit, will join the club’s existing ownership group, which includes Fullscript founder and CEO Kyle Braatz, tech exec Jason Flick, and David Renfroe, president of Renfroe Land Management.
Whitecap Sports Group, a boutique sports investment banking firm based in Tampa, Fla., served as adviser to Ottawa Rapid FC in the transaction.
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“As we enter season two, it is essential to strengthen the foundation built in our inaugural year,” Thomas Gilbert, CEO of Ottawa Rapid FC and co-founder of the Northern Super League, said in a news release. “Women’s professional soccer is entering a period of sustained growth in Canada and this investment provides the long-term ownership and capital runway to continue investing in the fan experience, talent, and operations as we grow.”
In addition to Arcadia joining the ownership team, the club said existing Rapid owners will be increasing their investment in the club, “underscoring (the ownership group’s) conviction in the club’s long-term vision to elevate talent, strengthen community connection, and build lasting success in women’s professional soccer in Canada.”
Sakellariadis, who will serve as chair of the Rapid’s board of directors, is co-executive chairman of the Dayton Dragons, a minor league affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, having previously served as the Dragons’s co-chair and owner. He had a 35-year career in investment banking at Citigroup, having served as managing director of mergers and acquisitions and as head of the financial restructuring group.
Savit brings more than 40 years of experience in professional sports ownership and operations. He is the managing partner of Wellesley, Mass.-based HWS Group, a sports management firm that has owned many minor league baseball teams over the past 20 years.
Shumway recently retired following a 35-year career in consulting and financial services, including 21 years as senior managing director at Des Moines, Iowa-based Principal Financial Group and as a principal at McKinsey & Company. She has led initiatives generating significant brand and customer impact across markets in the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Speaking with OBJ on Friday, Sakellariadis said he had been looking for a new team to invest in since he sold his majority stake in the Dayton Dragons last year after more than a decade.
“I’d been focusing a lot on female sports, and some male sports as well. I looked at cricket, lacrosse, volleyball, softball, etc. By serendipity, a mutual friend introduced me to Christina Litz, the president of the Northern Super League. She started talking about the (soccer) industry in Canada, the foundation of the league and its successful first year.”
At that point, Sakellariadis expressed interest in investing in an expansion team to the NSL if one popped up on the Canadian East Coast. But Litz told him that the Ottawa Rapid was looking for additional capital – a prospect that greatly interested Sakellariadis.
“I started my research that confirmed that Canada has one of the top 10 (soccer) teams in the world. The intensity of youth sports for soccer in Ontario is second to none. Then I look at Ottawa. It’s a gorgeous city, very dynamic with a great business community and huge interest in women’s sports.
“It was like a green light welcoming us to build on a startup venture, but within the context of a country that loves soccer,” he said.
Given the league’s success after its first season last year, Sakellariadis said he saw an opportunity to jump in at a formative time for the Rapid.
“This is a great inflection point and opportunity to support women’s sports, women’s soccer in Canada and to be involved at least at some modest level in the overall governance,” he added.
Sakellariadis’s previous sports venture, the Dayton Dragons, holds the record for the longest consecutive sellout streak in American professional sports history. “The Dragons’ success demonstrates how devotion to the fan experience, strong community integration, and disciplined management can build a lasting franchise — an approach that will guide Ottawa Rapid FC’s next chapter,” the release said.
It’s the type of fan experience and strong community integration that Sakellariadis wants to bring to Ottawa.
“Those two elements are major components of the secret sauce that makes a sports franchise work,” he told OBJ. “(We are) embedding ourselves in that community and making the Ottawa Rapid feel like a home for everybody where it’s a refuge away from all the problems of daily life. You’re all there on the same team, literally, experiencing that great rush that pro sports can give.”
Looking ahead at the Rapid’s second season, which kicks off on April 25 in Halifax, Sakellariadis said he is excited about doubling down on what the team built in its first season and helping the team grow.
“There’s an opportunity now with the fact that the popularity of women’s soccer in Canada has been proven out and, with more capital, there’s an ability to just build on that.
“The vision is (to) keep that high excellence on the field intact, while building up the business and community infrastructure pieces. So, building a staff in ticketing, in sponsorship, in community relations so that we can really jump to the next level on attendance, on sponsorship and connectivity with the community.”
He added that his group is excited to “help this team get to the next level and become a real institution with strength and durability in Canada.”
