Bay FC Set to Break NWSL Attendance Record in San Francisco

Bay FC will almost certainly break the NWSL’s single-game attendance record Saturday in San Francisco, when they host the Washington Spirit at the Giants’ ballpark.

The team, which averages over 13,400 fans at its usual stadium—PayPal Park in San Jose—says it has already sold over 35,000 tickets for Saturday’s match with hopes to get to 40,000. The previous single-game record, set by the Chicago Stars at Wrigley Field last year, was 35,038. 

Oracle Park has a capacity of approximately 42,300, but the max capacity for Saturday’s match is 40,000. 

“To be able to play at an iconic venue like Oracle Park and make history—as the first professional women’s soccer team to play there and by breaking the attendance record—felt like the right type of audacious goal in our second season,” Bay FC CEO Brady Stewart told Front Office Sports. 

Though more tickets can be sold, players have long been wary of games played on converted baseball fields as part of a union push to improve standards for playing surfaces. 

In 2016, the Western New York Flash—which was relocated and renamed the North Carolina Courage—moved a match to Rochester’s Frontier Field because a music festival was occupying their stadium. The field was just 58 yards wide, 12 yards narrower than the minimum allowed in the NWSL rulebook. Last year, a regular season game was moved from San Diego to Louisville over field concerns.  

Because Saturday’s game is on a baseball field, the move needed the NWSLPA’s approval after the union successfully negotiated to ban teams from playing at ballparks in the league’s collective bargaining agreement. 

Bay FC and the NWSL Players Association each brought in separate field consultants to ensure the field was converted properly to accommodate a soccer pitch. Players were part of the process too, including doing an early site visit and getting a preview of the surface and the facilities they will be using ahead of Saturday’s match to ensure it’s up to standard. 

“The balance of the two can be hard,” Bay FC cofounder Leslie Osborne told FOS. “Last year with Wrigley there were some players on the Stars that were apprehensive about saying yes but understood at the end of the day these are game changing moments in women’s sports, for women’s teams. There’s no way we are going to give up any room for below average fields.” 

A week ahead of the match, Osborne said players had embraced it.

“They can’t wait,” Osborne said. “I asked them ‘Why are you so excited?’ and they said ‘This is something we’ve never been able to do before.’” 

The NWSL awarded the Bay Area an expansion team in 2023, with an ownership group led by private equity firm Sixth Street paying a then-record $53 million expansion fee.

The Denver expansion team has since smashed it paying $110 million with a 2026 start date. 

Bay FC’s co-founders include USWNT stars Brandi Chastain, Osborne, Danielle Slaton, and Aly Wagner. Bay FC set a new record for most wins by an expansion team, becoming the second to make the playoffs in its inaugural season last year. They were fourth in league attendance in 2024, averaging 13,000 fans and led the league in merchandise sales. 

This season the team is 11th in league standings, three spots outside of the playoffs. 

The franchise will open a new training facility ahead of the 2027 NWSL season on Treasure Island in San Francisco complete with three soccer fields. The team’s goal is to “access fans across the whole Bay Area.” Stewart said the team is actively exploring its long-term stadium plans, but no decisions have been made yet. The team is in year two of its five-year lease in San Jose, about 47 miles southeast of Oracle Park. 

“We will look at every appropriate property across the Bay,” Stewart said about their stadium search. “We’ll figure out what’s the ideal location for our fans and what makes the most sense for our club long term. The goal is to build an iconic sports franchise. So we’ll also consider what location enables us to do that best.”