The ownership group, which is led by investment firm Sixth Street Partners 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 and FC Gold Pride, who both played in previous leagues. Sixth Street CEO Alan Waxman and former national team player Aly Wagner were named the club's co-chairpersons.[1][2] The team's name, Bay FC, and logo were announced on June 1, 2023.[3]
On June 21, 2022, former USWNT and professional club players Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osborne, Danielle Slaton, and Aly Wagner 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.[5][6] 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; Atlanta, Georgia; Austin, Texas; Cincinnati, Ohio; Toronto, Ontario; St. Louis, Missouri; and Nashville, Tennessee.[7]
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. These reports also revealed the involvement of San Francisco-based investment firm Sixth Street Partners as an investor in the club.[8] The reports provided no details about the club's planned venue, but noted that Slaton was leading the group's search for facilities.[9] 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.[10] The league declined to confirm any reports prior to an official announcement.[11]
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.[2][10]
On September 27, 2023, Albertin Montoya was announced as the team's first head coach.[12] 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.[13] 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.[14]
On February 13, 2024, Bay FC signed Zambian forward Racheal Kundananji from Madrid CFF for $860,000, setting a new record for most expensive transfer in women's soccer history. The deal lasts until 2027, with an option to extend for another year.[15][16]
Stadium
PayPal Park in 2015
Bay FC was initially announced without a permanent stadium and drew interest from several cities in the Bay Area looking to host the team. 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 shopping mall.[17]
On July 21, 2023, the team announced that they had signed a five-year agreement to play at PayPal Park in San Jose, the home of MLS's San Jose Earthquakes, while planning construction of their own stadium. A new, 3,600-square-foot (330 m2) facility at the stadium would house the team's locker room and office spaces.[18] 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.[19]
Ownership and investment group
The expansion announcement confirmed the involvement of Sixth Street Partners as the Bay Area group's lead investor.[1][2] Chastain, Osborne, Slaton, and Wagner were named as founding board members alongside Sixth Street CEO Alan Waxman, former San Francisco Giants executive Staci Slaughter, former Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg, and Golden State Warriors president and chief operating officer Rick Welts. Wagner and Waxman were announced as the club's co-chairpersons. Sandberg's husband Tom Bernthal was also listed as a club investor.[2] At a launch event on June 3, Waxman announced that Andre Iguodala was also a minority owner.[20]
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.[21] 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.[21]
The club would be the first professional sports team in the United States to have an institutional investor as a majority owner, in contrast to rules established by other United States sports leagues that restricted or prohibited such ownership.[21] NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman noted that the investment did not have a target hold period, and was funded from Sixth Street Tao Partners, a balance sheet fund[22] 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's San Antonio Spurs.[23]
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.[23] The club also named co-chair Wagner as an alternate representative to the league board.[2]
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 business for Levi Strauss & Co., as the team's chief executive officer and first front-office hire.[24] 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 Major League Soccer club D.C. United in October 2022.[25][26] On July 18, the club announced the hiring of Golden State Warriors chief marketing officer Jen Millet as its chief operating officer.[27]
Colors and crest
The club revealed its colors and crest on June 1, 2023. The crest is a circle with a blackletter monographic B integrating a support of the Golden Gate Bridge.[28] 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.[28]
Advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners consulted on the club's identity and logo design.[3] 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.[29]
