LA helped the Bay get an NWSL team. Now, Angel City and Bay FC are ready for a NorCal-SoCal rivalry
“They’re gonna rue the day that they didn’t ask us to be investors."
SAN FRANCISCO — The co-owners of Bay FC haven’t been shy about where they got their inspiration from — even if it breaks usual Bay Area sports tradition.
Led by four former U.S. women’s national team stars Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osbourne, Danielle Slaton and Aly Wagner, the foundation of Bay FC can be directly tied to Angel City FC, the National Women’s Soccer League team in Los Angeles.
“Honestly, when Angel City announced their team, I immediately called the girls and said, ‘If Angel City’s doing it, why are we not?’” Osbourne recalled on Saturday in San Francisco at Bay FC’s first public event.
Angel City representatives, including owner Julie Uhrman, were at the Presidio on Saturday for Bay FC’s effective kickoff event, celebrating a team that they helped bring to life.
“They’re the trendsetter in this space and women’s soccer in the United States,” Wagner said of Angel City. “The way that they launched their brand, the way that they did it by bringing their community together. We’re learning from them. They have been so incredible helping us every step of the way.
“[Bay FC] try to make really good decisions so that we’re successful. We know that, as a league, we are successful together as partners and we all rise if we’re doing the right thing.”
Uhrman told this news organization that it was a “privilege” to share information about their club with the ownership group up the coast, asking them to “take our playbook and make it better” across all aspects — marketing, ticketing, community building and more.
“Our goal has always been to set the highest expectations and to really change the game,” Uhrman said. “If they can leverage it and deliver even more, it’s great for the world of women’s football.”
Bay FC existing at all is a sign that they are already delivering even more, especially when you compare the prices of NWSL franchises. When Angel City joined the league in 2020, the expansion fee was reportedly as low as $2 million.
Less than three years later, Bay FC’s fee was a whopping $53 million.
But that number may not seem that outlandish anymore, even two months later. On Saturday, a report from L’Equipe, the leading sports newspaper in France, said that Lyon are in the process of selling their Seattle NWSL team, OL Reign, for a price around the same amount Bay FC paid to join the league, $53 million.
“You set the market, right? And enterprise value is what our focus is,” Wagner told this news organization in response to the OL Reign report. “I think that’s a really strong statement for where things are headed. And that’s just a short-term data point, but we’re in this for the long haul.”
Alan Waxman, who is the head of the global investment firm Sixth Street that primarily owns Bay FC, said in April that he felt $53 million would look “massive undervalued” in 5-7 years. But now, it may not even take 5-7 months to look that way.
“I think anything that validates the opportunity in global women’s sports, but particularly soccer, as great opportunities, I view that as to the good,” Waxman said. “I mean, we’re buying this at a 65% discount, even at the price we paid, to all sports comps, and we’re growing at two-to-five times faster than every other sports league. In the investing world, you just don’t see that.”
Uhrman added on the report, “It just shows the absolute growth in women’s football. How not only is it investable, but there is real value in the sport. These are the best players in the world, putting on an incredible product week in and week out. People are finally starting to recognize that.
“We’re not taking handouts anymore. We’re demanding our value and not accepting anything less.”
There clearly is a strong friendship and mutual respect between Angel City and Bay FC, with Uhrman saying, “I want them to crush it in every way possible, except on the pitch against us.”
But even without knowing where in the region Bay FC will play its matches yet, both sides are also itching to get the classic NorCal-SoCal, The Bay-versus-LA rivalry cranked up, too — something that has never truly existed in the world of professional women’s sports.
When asked about the potential for a rivalry, Uhrman declared, “There is only one best sports city in the world, and it is Los Angeles.”
As for how the owners at Bay FC feel toward Angel City? Love, sure. But also…
“They’re gonna rue the day that they didn’t ask us to be investors,” Wagner said.