What does expansion to the Bay Area mean for the NWSL?

The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) is expanding. 

Rather early on Tuesday morning, 8 a.m. ET (but 5 a.m. PT) to be exact, the NWSL announced it had awarded expansion rights for the league’s 14th team to an investment group representing the Bay Area. The new California club is set to begin play in 2024.

The announcement brought some newly coined "NWSL Before Light" energy, with the residents and community of the new club caught off guard by the news breaking before dawn on the West Coast. 

The Bay Area expansion comes hot on the heels of the NWSL announcing the return of the Utah Royals as the league’s 13th club last month. Originally joining the league in 2018, the Royals folded in 2020 but were given a holdover expansion fee agreement should they want to return. That team, majority owned by Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake owners David Blitzer and Ryan Smith, is also set to begin play in 2024. 

The face of the Bay Area expansion group was a familiar quartet of former soccer USA national team players that all call Northern California home: Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osborne, Danielle Slaton and Aly Wagner.

The club’s "Founding Football Four," who launched the NWSL To The Bay project in 2020, partnered up with investment group Sixth Street in order to secure the financial backing needed to get the expansion rights. 

Headed up by CEO Alan Waxman, Sixth Street has plenty of experience in the sports business world. Reputable past investment partners include Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, and the San Antonio Spurs. It is estimated that the firm, headquartered in San Francisco, manages $65 billion worth of assets across nine investment platforms. 

Transformative growth

While the NWSL has been growing rapidly over the past few years, this most recent expansion team feels like a new dawn for the league, given the sheer size of this investment. Never before has the league seen a new independent ownership group wield the kind of capital investment connections of a group like Sixth Street. 

According to Sportico, the Bay Area expansion group paid a league-record $53 million expansion fee. That’s roughly 25 times the rumored expansion fee that Royals had agreed upon in 2020 and anywhere from 10 to 15 times what reports have said that California expansion teams Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC paid to join the league in 2022.

“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,” said NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman.

Furthermore, per ESPN, the Bay Area group has already pledged to spend around $40 to 50 million on building an exclusive training facility in the area. The team also forecasts another $25 million will be spent on assembling the team and club staff. Off the bat, that’s an estimated investment of $125 million before a ball is kicked.

Waxman and Wagner will co-chair the club’s board, with Waxman additionally set to serve on the NWSL board of governors. 

“We said at the start of the expansion process in July 2022 that we would be intentional in seeking out strong markets and ownership groups that not only had the structural integrity for our league to thrive but also demonstrated a genuine commitment to investing in and creating first-rate organizations on and off the pitch,” Berman explained. 

So what makes this spending new? 

While the steep rise in the expansion fee paid by the Bay Area group is unparalleled, the KC Current, who joined the NWSL in 2021, is in the middle of a $135 million investment in its facilities. That includes a $15 million privately-funded training complex that opened in 2022, and a brand new $120 million stadium overlooking the Missouri River in downtown Kansas City. That stadium is set to be the first ever purposely built for a professional women’s soccer team in the United States. 

What the Current and the Bay Area group have in common is they are not connected with existing MLS owners. This is a specific and intentional investment in women’s soccer that puts women’s soccer first. 

In 2024, the Royals will move straight into RSL’s training facilities and play their home matches at the same stadium as the men’s team. Previous expansion clubs — the Portland Thorns, Houston Dash, and Orlando Pride — all followed the same model that tapped into the existing infrastructure and resources of the ownership’s MLS clubs. 

It should be noted that the Thorns are currently up for sale and could soon be a separate entity from the Portland Timbers. In January, ESPN reported a group led by Melanie Strong was preparing a $60 million bid to buy the Thorns. The 2022 NWSL Champions also often train at Providence Park rather than at the Timbers’ training facility in nearly Beaverton, Ore.

While independent clubs ACFC and Wave FC have boasted some of the league's best attendances and sponsorship revenue in the NWSL since joining in 2022, neither has yet put a spade in the ground like the Bay Area group intends to do. In that respect, they were able to cut some corners in terms of investment in team-specific facilities. 

In Los Angeles, Angel City has a lease agreement with BMO Stadium, owned by LAFC, and trains on California Lutheran University’s campus. In San Diego, the Wave plays its matches at Snapdragon Stadium, owned by San Diego State University, and holds its practices at Surf Sports Park, a local soccer complex.

It is fair to predict that with the hefty capital of the Sixth Street investment group backing this project, the future of investing in the NWSL could be changed forever. 

“We are so grateful for the community of early investors that made this bid possible," said Osborne, one of the cofounders. "We know the entire Bay is going to help us make this club one that will set the bar. We can’t wait for this dream to become a reality on the field and see the Bay Area represented as a soccer powerhouse."

What does this mean for California? 

The Bay Area expansion announcement confirmed California will become the first U.S. state to have three NWSL clubs. That mirrors MLS, where there are also three clubs in the Golden State. 

Not only has the state consistently produced some of the best players in the country, but Northern California in particular has always been a driving force for women’s soccer in the U.S. 

“The Bay Area is where this all began,” said Chastain, another club cofounder and two-time World Cup champion with the U.S women's national team. “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.

Stanford University and Santa Clara University are two of the most prestigious college teams in the country and boast five NCAA championships between them. A parade of stars, including Sophia Smith (Stanford 2018-19), Christen Press (Stanford 2007-10), Julie Ertz (Santa Clara 2010-13) and Maria Sanchez (Santa Clara 2017-18), rose to stardom in the area.

There has also been a history of women’s professional soccer in the area. Unfortunately, it was short lived.

Prior to the NWSL, the Bay Area housed two professional clubs. Between 2001 and 2003, the curiously named Bay Area CyberRays played in the now-defunct Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA). Between 2008 and 2010, FC Gold Pride competed in the Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) league. 

In addition to their impressive metrics off the pitch, Angel City and the Wave created a heated rivalry on the pitch almost instantly. With exquisite goals, late drama, tifos, and sold-out stadiums, the Southern California derby matches were already becoming a premier contest in the NWSL. Add the Bay Area to the mix and the state could emerge as the epicenter of the league, with more impetus put on regional rivalries to drive interest and storylines. 

The Bay Area has been consistently a top 10 metropolitan area in the television ratings for NWSL, World Cups and European league soccer. San Francisco and Oakland's national and international cultural appeal is also like to help increase the spotlight on the club and its revenue opportunities. 

Where are we heading next?

The NWSL's expansion does not end in the Bay Area. Included in the league's press release on Tuesday was confirmation of its intention to add a 15th and 16th club. 

"The NWSL remains engaged in the expansion process with an eye towards adding teams #15 and #16," the league declared. "Inner Circle Sports continues to represent and advise the league on expansion matters." 

Having started with eight clubs in its inaugural 2013 season, the NWSL is well on its way to doubling its membership by the end of this expansion cycle. According to the Wall Street Journal, a Boston-based group led by Jennifer Epstein of Juno Equity is already being lined up as the 15th club. Reports suggest that the Boston NWSL team will not start playing until 2025 or potentially even 2026. 

While it was hard to gauge too much from the reintroduction of the Royals as the league's 13th club, because of their prior license that allowed for re-entry into the NWSL, the Bay Area expansion gives us some clues as to what the league is prioritizing when it comes to expansion. 

Time and time again, NWSL has heralded investment in facilities as paramount to what the NWSL — and, crucially, its players — wants to see from ownership. The long tradition of the NWSL schedule struggling to be released in a timely manner is caused largely by very few of the clubs being primary tenants in stadia. The Current's new stadium will be one huge step in the right direction for this league to have more autonomy when it comes to creating a schedule. 

Similarly, investing in the players and the product on the pitch is vital to making the NWSL the best women's league in the world. In 2023, the NWSL became the first-ever women's league to incorporate VAR, revamped the league's broadcasting equipment, and increasing the salary cap by 25%. These are three significant six-figure investments that have shown the capital needed to push the league forward. 

When it comes to the values and culture of the NWSL, there has been concern over the league expanding into cities and states where the rights of LGBTQIA+ and birthing people's rights have been diminished. Upon announcing the Royals, the club and the league published new policies covering the costs of any staff members that required healthcare unavailable in the state. 

With expansion fees rising exponentially, new stadiums, and an increased salary cap becoming the norm, the 16th club has to be one that can both capture the financial imagination of the NWSL's board of governors while presenting a community that will fall in love with an inclusive soccer club. 

During this expansion process, many fans were enthralled by USL-W team Minnesota Aurora FC's bid. In its inaugural season, the Twin Cities-based club outperformed nearly half of the NWSL in terms of average ticket sales and revenue from merchandise. 

However, Aurora FC will require significant investment or a change to ownership requirements if it wants to make the step. The club is community-owned and the U.S. Soccer Federation requires that professional clubs have a principal owner who claims a minimum 35% share of the club. It is also mandatory for the principal owner to have a minimum net worth of $15 million outside of the club's revenue. 

That being said, Aurora FC already has a built-in fan base and a strong relationship with the Twin Cities community. The club is confident it could either renovate its current home to meet the necessary NWSL requirements or become a tenant of Minnesota United's MLS stadium. 

The Bay Area expansion group is heavily rumored to be leasing out PayPal Park from the San Jose Earthquakes, but many questions remain over where the Boston group intends to play its matches should the team be ready for 2025. 

With the Royals and Bay Area announcements arriving roughly one year before the teams are due to start playing, there is a good chance a team preparing to play in 2025 will be announced before the start of the 2024 season.

Two more wrinkles to monitor are the NWSL's current broadcasting deal with CBS and the league's first-ever collective bargaining agreement. Those will expire at the end of 2023 and 2026 respectively. Any new ownership groups coming into the NWSL boardroom will have to either be active in negotiations for the future or be aware of what is to come. Over the next four seasons, by the time this current CBA expires, the investment needed to operate in this league could be almost unrecognizable from what it is today. 

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