Bay Football Club (Bay FC) is an American professional women's

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

team based in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

of California. They are set to begin play in the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

(NWSL) as an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

in the 2024 season. Their home stadium will be PayPal Park in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

, a

soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-pu ...

with 18,000 seats that is also home to the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

(MLS). The ownership group, which is led by investment firm

Sixth Street Partners Sixth Street (formerly known as TSSP) is a global investment firm with $60 billion in assets under management. The firm operates nine investment platforms across its growth investing, adjacencies, direct lending, fundamental public strategies, i ...

and four former United States women's national team players, was awarded an expansion franchise on April 4, 2023. It is the first women's professional soccer team based in the Bay Area since the

San Jose CyberRays San Jose CyberRays was a professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Spartan Stadium on the South Campus of San José State University in San Jose, California. Stars included U.S. National ...

and FC Gold Pride, who both played in previous leagues. Sixth Street CEO Alan Waxman and former national team player

Aly Wagner Alyson Kay Wagner (born August 10, 1980) is an American sports broadcaster and retired soccer midfielder who last played for Los Angeles Sol of Women's Professional Soccer and the United States women's national soccer team. She is a two-time Ol ...

were named the club's co-chairpersons. The team's name, Bay FC, and logo were announced on June 1, 2023.

History

The

was previously home to two professional women's soccer teams: the

of the

Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first Women's association football, women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000 in sports, 2000, the league began its first se ...

and FC Gold Pride of Women's Professional Soccer. On June 21, 2022, former USWNT and professional club players

Brandi Chastain Brandi Denise Chastain (born July 21, 1968) is an American retired soccer player, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion, two-time Olympic gold-medalist, coach, and sports broadcaster. She played for the United States national team from 1988 ...

, Leslie Osborne,

Danielle Slaton Danielle Victoria Slaton (born June 10, 1980) is an American retired professional soccer player. She is currently a soccer analyst for the San Jose Earthquakes, Fox Sports and the Pac-12 Network. A five-year member of the United States women' ...

, and

announced the founding of a group called "NWSL to the Bay" that would lobby the NWSL for an expansion team in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their efforts to bring NWSL to the Bay started in 2020 just after Angel City in Los Angeles was founded by some of their former teammates on the USWNT. They joined forces with Jen Vescio, a sports, media, and technology executive. Together the five women put together a board that included Tim Connors, Ward Bullard, and CJ Napolitano and raised initial capital from a small group of investors. In May 2021 they brought on David Aufhauser another sports, media, and technology executive to lead the effort. Together they prepared the bid for an NWSL expansion team. The bid would compete with interest from groups in other cities, including

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

;

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

;

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

;

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

;

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

;

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

; and

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

. On December 16, 2022, reports suggested that the NWSL had narrowed the second of its two 2024 expansion selections to the Bay Area bid, another bid in the former Boston Breakers market of Boston, Massachusetts, and a third bid in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

. These reports also revealed the involvement of San Francisco-based investment firm

as an investor in the club. The reports provided no details about the club's planned venue, but noted that Slaton was leading the group's search for facilities. By January 2023, further reports suggested that Tampa had been eliminated and that the Bay Area and Boston would both be awarded expansion teams, with expansion fees estimated at $50 million each. The league declined to confirm any reports prior to an official announcement. On April 4, 2023, the league formally awarded one of its two planned 2024 expansion teams to the Bay Area group at a reported $53 million expansion fee, with the other expansion slot awarded to the revival of Utah Royals FC at a fee of $5 million or less, negotiated when the club's previous iteration was sold and relocated to

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

. On September 27, 2023,

Albertin Montoya Albertin Montoya (born February 19, 1975) is a Cuban-born American soccer coach and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently the interim head coach of Washington Spirit. As a player, Montoya spent two seasons with the San Jose ...

was announced as the team's first head coach. On November 15, former Alex Loera was revealed as the club's first ever signing, joining from KC Current for $175,000 in allocation money and protection from Bay FC in the 2024 Expansion Draft. Six days later, the club welcomed the 2021 Defender of the Year Caprice Dydasco as their second signing, the right back joining from Houston Dash.

Stadium

Bay FC was initially announced without a permanent stadium and drew interest from several cities in the Bay Area looking to host the team. PayPal Park in San Jose, the home of MLS's

, is speculated to be their temporary home. A separate stadium for Bay FC has been proposed by the San Francisco government at several sites, including Pier 70 and the

Westfield San Francisco Centre The Westfield San Francisco Centre is an upscale shopping mall located in San Francisco, California, managed by the Westfield Group and co-owned by Westfield and Brookfield Asset Management. It is anchored by Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's, and inc ...

shopping mall. On July 21, 2023, the team announced that they had signed a five-year agreement to play at PayPal Park while planning construction of their own stadium. A new, facility at the stadium would house the team's locker room and office spaces. Bay FC CEO Brady Stewart also suggested some of the team's matches might be played in other stadiums to make the team more accessible outside of the South Bay.

Ownership and investment group

The expansion announcement confirmed the involvement of

as the Bay Area group's lead investor. Chastain, Osborne, Slaton, and Wagner were named as founding board members alongside Sixth Street CEO Alan Waxman, former

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

executive Staci Slaughter, former

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

executive Sheryl Sandberg, and

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

president and chief operating officer

Rick Welts Rick Welts (born January 21, 1953) is an American sports executive who is an advisor for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Welts had also served as the president and chief executive officer of the Phoenix S ...

. Wagner and Waxman were announced as the club's co-chairpersons. Sandberg's husband

Tom Bernthal Thomas Bernthal is the founder and former CEO of a strategic consulting agency, Kelton Global, and former NBC News producer. Early life Bernthal was born in Washington, D.C., to Joan Lurie (née Marx) and Eric Lawrence "Rick" Bernthal, a former ...

was also listed as a club investor. At a launch event on June 3, Waxman announced that

Andre Iguodala Andre Tyler Iguodala ( ; born January 28, 1984) is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The swingman was an NBA All-Star in 2012 and has been named to t ...

was also a minority owner. The expansion fee was the league's largest to date, and 10 times the fee charged in the league's previous round of expansion in 2021. After the announcement, the Bay Area group also announced an additional $72 million in planned startup investment in the club, and Waxman said Sixth Street was committed to owning the franchise for at least 10 years. The club would be the first professional sports team in the United States to have an

institutional investor An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked co ...

as a majority owner, in contrast to rules established by other United States sports leagues that restricted or prohibited such ownership. NWSL commissioner

Jessica Berman Jessica may refer to: Given name * Jessica (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters with this name * Jessica Folcker, a Swedish singer known by the mononym Jessica * Jessica Jung, a Korean-American singer known by the m ...

noted that the investment did not have a target hold period, and was funded from Sixth Street Tao Partners, a

balance sheet In financial accounting, a balance sheet (also known as statement of financial position or statement of financial condition) is a summary of the financial balances of an individual or organization, whether it be a sole proprietorship, a business ...

fund with no requirement to be liquidated, which the league intended to treat like an individual owner with a large net worth. The Tao fund also covered Sixth Street's purchase of a 20-percent stake in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

. To mitigate the risks of a premature exit of Sixth Street, the league required as part of the expansion deal that Waxman provide assurances that he can allocate money to the club and also required him to represent the club on the NWSL board of governors. The club also named co-chair Wagner as an alternate representative to the league board. Prior to Sixth Street, the original ownership group raised the initial capital adding Motley Fool and Anne Hoge to the board of directors. They joined Jen Vescio, Tim Connors, Ward Bullard, CJ Napolitano and David Aufhauser alongside the four former USWNT players to lead the early efforts to bring NWSL to the Bay.

Front office

On June 14, 2023, Bay FC announced the hiring of Brady Stewart, who had led

direct-to-consumer Direct-to-consumer (DTC) or business-to-consumer (B2C) is the business model of selling products directly to customers and thereby bypassing any third-party retailers, wholesalers, or any other middlemen. Direct-to-consumer sales are usually tr ...

business for Levi Strauss & Co., as the team's chief executive officer and first front-office hire. On June 15, the club announced the hiring of Lucy Rushton as the club's first general manager. Rushton had most recently been fired as general manager of

club

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Suppo ...

in October 2022. On July 18, the club announced the hiring of

chief marketing officer Jen Millet as its chief operating officer.

Colors and crest

The club revealed its colors and crest on June 1, 2023. The crest is a circle with a

blackletter Blackletter (sometimes black letter), also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 until the 17th century. It continued to be commonly used for the Danish, Norweg ...

monographic ''B'' integrating a support of the

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...

. The club's primary colors are blue and warm red, described as Bay and Poppy, respectively. Its secondary colors are two shades of gray, described as Fog Gray and Steel. Advertising agency

Goodby Silverstein & Partners Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (also known as GSP) is an advertising agency based in San Francisco. History The agency was founded on April 15, 1983 as Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein by Jeff Goodby, Andy Berlin and Rich Silverstein. Andy Berlin lef ...

consulted on the club's identity and logo design. On the unveiling of the club's branding, Wagner noted that the club intentionally avoided nicknames and mascots in favor of a conceptual timelessness and simplicity.

Players

Current squad

References

External links

* {{California sports 2023 establishments in California Association football clubs established in 2023 National Women's Soccer League teams Women's soccer clubs in the United States Soccer clubs in California Proposed sports clubs and teams Soccer clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area