A group of former players — including Aly Wagner and Brandi Chastain — has joined with global investment firm Sixth Street to bring a National Women's Soccer League team to the San Francisco Bay Area.
The expansion team, which is set to begin play next year, was formally announced by the league Tuesday. Details about where the team will play and its name will be announced in the future.
Joining Wagner and Chastain as founders of the new team are Danielle Slaton and Leslie Osborne. All four have connections to the Bay Area and played for the United States. San Francisco-based Sixth Street is the new team's majority backer. The firm has also invested in soccer clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona, as well as the NBA's San Antonio Spurs."Now people can put on their iPhone or iPad and they can basically watch the NWSL like my daughter does, like a lot of the girls on her team do. That didn't exist five years ago, didn't exist 50 years ago. And that's a structural change," Waxman said.