LOS ANGELES — Angel City, the most valuable franchise in the history of U.S. women's sports, might soon have a new controlling owner after its board hired a New York investment bank to manage a sale of the NWSL club.

The team's four principle owners voted to have Moelis & Co. seek an investor that would assume control of Angel City's board, which has reportedly been at odds for months over spending.

But Sarah Harden, a media entrepreneur and one of Angel City's earliest investors, characterized the search for a new controlling owner as fundraising.

"Angel City is exactly where it needs to be as a club," she said. "What's been built at Angel City in three short years is nothing short of incredible. And in high-growth companies it is absolutely normal to step back and look at 'what do we need to continue this growth?'

"This board has determined that this is the right time to bring in a new major investor. That's it. That is the story."

Yet maybe not the whole story.

Angel City, which will open its third season Sunday against expansion team Bay FC, is valued at $180 million, about three times the average for an NWSL team, according to the sports-business website Sportico, which Friday broke the story about the team's search for a controlling owner. The team's revenue last year was $31 million, according to the website, nearly double the next-best team.

The team also spent more than any other NWSL club, which led to a major rift among the team's four original investor-owners, who have been feuding for about six months.

None of the board members would speak on the record, citing a nondisclosure agreement meant to keep the talks private. But multiple league and team officials, who would speak only on condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the matter, said tech entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian, a founding owner, pushed for the change because of his unhappiness over the team's profligate spending.

"It's messy," said one official, who was not authorized to speak about the power struggle on the record.

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