The league is owned and operated by Project 8 Sports, Inc., an entity co-founded by former Canada women's national soccer team player Diana Matheson.

While attending Queen's, Matheson co-founded Project 8 Sports, Inc., in June 2022 with master's classmate Thomas Gilbert and began planning a professional domestic women's soccer league.

Matheson formally announced the league – known provisionally as Project 8 – on December 5, 2022, on The National alongside former national-team teammate Christine Sinclair, who advised the group.

The announcement included the league's first two teams in the Whitecaps and Calgary Foothills WFC, and first two sponsors in CIBC and Air Canada.

[18][19] On July 8, former CFL and Woodbine Entertainment Group executive Christina Litz was announced as the league's president with Matheson moving into the role of chief growth officer.