Former Star Players Leading Push for NWSL Expansion in Bay Area

A high-profile group of potential new owners has emerged for an NWSL team in the Bay Area.

Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osborne, Aly Wagner, and Danielle Slaton — all former professionals who also played for the U.S. women’s national team — are heading up a group aiming to create an expansion team, The Athletic reported. 

• The group did not provide a specific list of investors.
• Investors are from the “​​sport, tech, media, and the business” industries.
• 70% of the investors are female.
• All four athletes plan to work for the team as well as own a piece of it.

“We are very quickly realizing that athletes’ voices aren’t just nice to have, it’s essential for success,” Slaton told The Athletic.

Previous Success

The news comes on the heels of major success for the NWSL’s expansion teams in San Diego and Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles team, Angel City FC, was founded by actress Natalie Portman and backed by a group of female investors. After generating major buzz, the team’s inaugural home game on April 29 was played before a sellout crowd of 22,000 at Banc of California Stadium.

Expansion fees for San Diego, formerly Sacramento, were about $2 million in 2019. Kansas City Current ownership paid $5 million in 2021.

At the ESPNW Summit in New York in May, Berman said that fans appeared to be accepting the challenge of supporting the growth of women’s soccer.