The Bay Area reportedly is nearing the finish line to be one of the three expansion teams in the National Women’s Soccer League and would begin play in 2024, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Friday.
According to the report, the NWSL, the top-tier women’s professional soccer league in the U.S., is in “advanced discussions” with groups from the Bay Area, Boston and Utah. The Bay Area and Boston groups would pay around $50 million in franchise fees. Utah would buy for between $2-5 million under an agreement reached several years ago when Utah’s previous franchise moved to Kansas City.
If the bid is successful, the team would be the first major women’s professional team in the Bay Area since the FC Gold Pride played for two seasons in the Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) league from 2009-2010. Before that, there was the San Jose CyberRays of the Women’s United Soccer Association that existed for three full seasons (2001-2003) and the San Jose Lazers played parts of three seasons in the American Basketball League before that league folded during the 1998 season.
Northern California’s bid is fronted by several former Santa Clara and U.S. soccer stars: Brandi Chastain, Aly Wagner, Danielle Slaton and Leslie Osborne. Sportico reported that the bid also has financial backing from private equity firm Sixth Street, which owns part of the San Antonio Spurs as well as Spanish soccer giants Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Adding a team in the Bay Area would seem natural — and long overdue — given the success and stars local college teams such as Santa Clara and Stanford have produced on the college field and with the U.S. women’s soccer team over the years.
A prospective Bay Area team would likely play at San Jose’s PayPal Park, home of the Earthquakes.
Adding three teams would bring the NWSL to 15. Boston would not field a team until 2025, according to the Wall Street Journal report.
The report noted that in 2020, when Los Angeles and San Diego groups joined the NWSL, franchise fees were in the $2-5 million range, but the sale of the Washington Spirit to Michele Kang for $35 million last March was perhaps the biggest signal that interest in the league is on the rise — and the price would go up with it.
“We remain engaged in our expansion process and are excited about our prospects,” a league spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal. “When we have news to share, we will do so.”
The NWSL opens its 11th season in March. It is the third and longest-lasting top-tier women’s pro soccer league in the United States, with the previous two leagues folded after three seasons.
But the NWSL has also had its controversies. According to a report last December, more than half of the teams had reported NWSL coaches sexually or verbally abusing players going back several years, and in some instances league leaders ignored such allegations.
The NWSL isn’t the only league looking at the Bay Area as an expansion option. The WNBA, which is the longest-running women’s professional sports league in this country, is considering two possible candidates for an expansion franchise in the Bay Area: the Warriors in San Francisco and Oakland’s African-American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG), which also recently publicly expressed interest in an NWSL team.
But the WNBA has kicked the can on expanding for the time, and any possible new team wouldn’t start play until at least 2025 — and making the South Bay group the first major women’s professional sports team in the area in more than a decade.
