NWSL expands to the Bay Area and opens the door for two more teams

The NWSL made it official Tuesday that the Bay Area of California will get the league’s next expansion team, joining the returning Utah Royals in Salt Lake City next year as the 13th and 14th clubs in the circuit.

But surprisingly, that wasn’t the only thing the NWSL announced on the expansion front.

“The NWSL remains engaged in the expansion process with an eye towards adding teams #15 and #16,” the announcement said, marking the first time the league has formally acknowledged a 16-team target.

Team 15 is widely expected to be in Boston. The Wall Street Journal reported that in late January in the same article where it revealed that the Bay Area was the other big winner of the expansion race.

That report came a month and a half after Sportico revealed that the race was down to those two markets and Tampa, Fla.

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When the NWSL brought its college draft to Philadelphia in January, a source with knowledge of the matter told The Inquirer that there had been “at least 10 formal bids,” with none for a team here.

Then came the Journal’s report. Though no timeline was put on the Boston bid (mainly because of questions over a stadium), it set the league on a course to have 15 teams.

It isn’t ideal for a league to have an odd number of teams because it makes scheduling more difficult. NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman acknowledged that in a news conference last month when she was asked about the expansion timeline. But she also said the league wouldn’t go to 16 teams just to have an even number.

“There’s really nothing more important than having the right kind of owners in place, not just from a financial resources perspective, but a willingness to invest,” she said. “While it will continue to be a consideration — in an ideal world, we prefer to have an even number of teams — we’ll always make sure we get to the right result, which is the right owners. And never be rushed to make the wrong decision with an artificial deadline or any other consideration.”

Now the league is comfortable enough to move the ball forward. Along with the official announcement, Berman told Equalizer Soccer that she doesn’t think “we have a cap right now” on where expansion would end.

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“We’re very much in a long-term strategic planning process,” she said. “We need to figure out what we want to be and when, and from that we’ll learn more about the short term. I don’t expect even after that process that we’ll be able to say we think we want to be only 16 teams. I think the growth potential of women’s soccer in this country is far deeper than that.”

That seems a fair mix of ambition and caution. What’s certain is that in the short term, the Bay Area team has set the bar high for future candidates.

There’s big money from global investment firm Sixth Street Capital, a $53 million expansion fee and promises of $125 million in total spending; and star power in former U.S. women’s team players Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osborne, Danielle Slaton, and Aly Wagner. The team likely will play at the San Jose Earthquakes’ PayPal Park.

(Slaton also is on the U.S. Soccer Federation’s board of directors and has a big role in its work against abuse in women’s soccer; Wagner broadcasts NWSL games for CBS and World Cup games for Fox.)

At least the door is open. Now the wait continues to see if anyone from the Philadelphia area walks up to it.

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