Bay Area's First National Women's Soccer League Team Kicks Off With Public Launch

Bay Football Club, the Bay Area’s first National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team, got the ball rolling for the 2024 season at an official launch event at the Main Parade Lawn in San Francisco’s Presidio on Saturday.

“I’m so excited. I started watching the NWSL since the 2015 World Cup, and since then I’ve just been waiting for a team to come,” said Deepa Patel, a soccer fan from San Bruno, who was at FC Day for the Bay. “I put my deposit down already, for seats. I’m ready.”

Bay FC announced in an online press release on June 1 that it would be the 14th team in the National Women’s Soccer League, the top women’s professional soccer league in the U.S. The team was co-founded by four former U.S. national women’s team legends — Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osborne, Danielle Slaton and Aly Wagner — in partnership with global investment firm Sixth Street. The team colors — navy blue, warm poppy red and fog gray — and the Gothic-font logo with a nod to the Golden Gate Bridge, emphasize the new team’s mission to represent the entire Bay Area.

“We really, truly are focused on bringing our Bay Area together, being a bridge that unites the diverse communities we have here,” said Slaton in the press release. “We believe we will attract the best players, the best supporters, the best fans, the best sponsors from around the globe.”

San Rafael resident Monica McMillan, 59, celebrated with friends at the launch, where there were musical performances, food trucks, giveaways and soccer games. She said it was great to finally have a women’s pro soccer team in Northern California.

“We don’t have to fly to Portland. We don’t have to fly to LA. We don’t have to go to San Diego to watch. We got somebody representing Northern California,” said McMillan.

The decision to invest in a Bay Area women’s soccer team came from the long-term growth and popularity of women’s soccer over the last 20 years, said Sixth Street CEO and co-founder Alan Waxman. The Bay Area is also “one of the best ecosystems of women’s soccer,” he added.

“The support from people across the Bay Area has been overwhelming,” said Waxman, who is also co-chair of Bay FC. “It’s because the best women’s soccer in the world is played here in the U.S. … and 40% of the women’s U.S. national team has Bay Area ties. People are ready for this.”

NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman referred to the Bay Area as a “hotbed for women’s soccer,” which, she added, has been under-utilized and under-invested. But with teams like the Oakland Roots, which plays in the USL Championship, and amateur women’s team Oakland Soul, which just completed its first season to rousing home support, the Bay Area is already on the map in terms of high-level soccer. The addition of an NWSL team is expected to take Bay Area soccer to another level.

“This league is the best in the world and has the potential to bring in all possible fans and be the kind of inclusive environment that attracts the best players,” Berman said at the press release on Thursday.

Bay FC co-founder and former U.S. national team player Chastain told KQED at the launch it was a “monumental” day for women’s soccer as well as women in business.

“This day has been a long time in the making … We know that the nine counties [in the Bay Area] are essential to the success of our team. They are our team,” she said.

Where Bay FC will practice and play their matches hasn’t been decided yet, and they know the team has to be ready for the 2024 season.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do, to stand up the company and get this in a place that we’re ready to rock and roll and kick a ball come 2024,” said co-founder and former national team player Wagner. “We’ve got to bring in world-class executives to lead our vision, but we’ve also got to get players. We need a full roster.”

Bay FC investor and board member Sheryl Sandberg, formerly of Meta, said she considered Bay FC a win for girls, women, sports and the Bay.

“For all of us, this is much bigger and much more than soccer,” Sandberg said from the stage at FC Day for the Bay. “You may have noticed that men have run the world for a really long time. I don’t think it’s going that well. Women’s sports are critical to creating the path the world needs for change. Girls who play today become women who lead tomorrow.”

Some girls like Olivia, 6, are already eagerly watching. “I’m excited to see them all play really cool and just see them all score goals and make really good finishes,” she said.

KQED’s Attila Pelit, Emily Calix, Kelly O’Mara, Kori Suzuki and Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman contributed to this story.