With this week's announcement that Fusion have filed a Letter of Intent with WPSL PRO for 2026, some things have become clearer, and some fuzzier.
WPSL PRO is seeking sanctioning (ie. permission to exist) as a Division III women's outdoor league [as they put it]. The standards themselves are under attack from MLS right now, but as long as they hold it means that we know two things.
1) Sajid Ghauri is worth $5m "or more", without counting his stake in Fusion or his "primary residence". Yes, I know, counting his ownership in Fusion reminds me of an old cliche. The best way to make a small fortune from football is to start with a large fortune.
2) Fusion PRO need a home stadium with a capacity of 1000. This is a surprisingly wide range of venues. Jim Gotta Stadium in Moorhead would probably have the inside track (because it already hosts Fusion NPSL/WPSL) if it wasn't for the fact that Mhd is in Minnesota - a bit inconvenient for the narrative of “ bringing WPSL PRO to North Dakota,” to quote Sajid.
So where then? Fall 2026 is ~ 30 months away, so the Ghauris have a runway. There might be some land owned by the family (or that they could buy) that we are unaware of. After all, they own the Manchester Building and a convenience store.
If I was to dream, I would put stadium infrastructure in the Pepsi Soccer Complex in North Fargo. That's right by the airport, on the "right" side of the river for repping ND and not far from NDSU's campus.
However, if there isn't a new stadium up their sleeves, there would seem to be 6 High School venues [Fargo Davies, Fargo North, Fargo South, Shanley, West Fargo High, West Fargo Sheyenne/Horace] (I have been unable to verify the capacities) and they could also play at NDSU, although that "stadium" is wedged in between other facilities.
With that said, it could be difficult scheduling a Fall-to-Spring team around the high school football (both codes) schedule.
I also have to note that D2 and D1 leagues require clubs to be based in certain "market sizes". For instance, it is "500,000 for the majority of teams" in any Women's D2 league. D3 has no such rules but the Designated Market Area (aka TV market) that includes Fargo is much wider than Fargo-Moorhead (DMA population is 621,600 whereas Fargo-Moorhead is 261,000). Using a TV market population for a footy team in our area is bizarre. The DMA goes all the way up to the Canadian border [160 miles North of Fargo] and down to Richland and Ransom County's farmland. East to West it includes Clearwater County (on the edge of the Rez) and Foster County (around Jamestown, which is less bizarre given the links between that city and soccer in this area... but still a big area)
Using TV markets to determine whether clubs are allowed to exist is enough to make me furious, but again these rules a) don't apply to D3 women's leagues and b) are so ridiculous that Fargo is actually big enough to be a D2 market. If you're curious the limit for D1 women's leagues (such as the USL Super League) is 1 million people. That puts both of the WPSL PRO sides up here outside looking in. OK, that rabbit hole was deeper than I thought.
What about other minor league pro sports? Well, the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks baseball club are 20 years old and the model of success but they have a stadium on NDSU's campus and the college as an anchor tenant.
Fargo Force hockey was created in 2008 and have only won one championship but their model is one of development (their USHL league is packed with college prospects), and in order to be NCAA compliant their players are not paid.
Nonetheless, the Force is run like a pro organization and maybe a reasonable model for Fusion. Basketball's pro history in Fargo is littered with failures, so I'll leave that alone.
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