The Bay Area of Northern California will be the home of the 14th National Women’s Soccer League franchise, the league announced Tuesday.
The team will join the recently announced expansion Utah Royals in the league in 2024.
The majority owner of the Bay Area club will be Sixth Street, a global investment firm that also holds stakes in Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and the San Antonio Spurs. The New York Times reported the group will invest $125 million to launch the club, paying the league a $53 million expansion fee — more than 10 times what ownership in Kansas City paid for that franchise in 2021.
Between $30 million and $50 million of the initial funding will be spent on building a training facility, with the remainder for team operations and branding, per the Times.
“The number of bids and the increase in the league’s expansion fees are indicative of both the demand that exists for women’s soccer in the professional sports landscape and the validated growth trajectory of our league,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said in a news release.
Sixth Street worked with former U.S. Women’s National Team players Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osborne, Danielle Slaton and Aly Wagner in the bid. Known as the “Founding Football Four,” they will be represented on the majority female board and help to set the team’s direction.
Chastain, remembered for kicking the winner for the United States in a penalty shootout in the 1999 Women’s World Cup, is a San Jose native.
“The Bay Area is where this all began,” she said. “We are as excited about what this club will achieve on the field of play as we are for what it will represent for generations of women athletes and professionals yet to come. We look forward to the Bay fans embracing our team and celebrating the competitive spirit and talent we will put onto the field to continue the strong Bay tradition of playing to win championships.”
–Field Level Media