The Bay Area in California won the bid to become the home for the National Women’s Soccer League’s 14th team. The new club is backed by USWNT legends Brandi Chastain, Aly Wagner, Danielle Slaton and Leslie Osborne along with global investment firm Sixth Street.
It’s not clear yet where in the Bay Area the new club will be, but it will begin play in the 2024 season.
The NWSL is officially coming to the Bay Area in 2024!
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) April 4, 2023
NWSL is heading to the Bay Area
The league's 14th team is set to begin play in 2024.For more: https://t.co/x0n828UDaf pic.twitter.com/gQpo6dtnuW
— espnW (@espnW) April 4, 2023
It’s happening. @NWSL is coming to the Bay Area in 2024. Congrats, @nwsltothebay! #BayAreaUnite pic.twitter.com/uPYBgJtTuo
— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) April 4, 2023
This only gives the team a little under a year to decide on a team name. Thankfully the brilliant minds at The18 have come up with some team name suggestions.
Here were the best, or arguably worst, names we conjured up.
New Bay Area NWSL team name suggestions
Bay Area Bae FC
The word “bae” has been around for almost 10 years now. It’s usually a slang term to describe someone’s significant other but can also be used to hype up your friends. Bay Bae FC has a nice ring to it.
Oakland Raiders 2
Hopefully this team doesn’t jump ship and go to Las Vegas too. On the bright side this could create the fiercest fanbase in the NWSL.
SF/OAK/SJ/GTA San Andreas FC
Gotham FC did it first by claiming New York and New Jersey, but now the new Bay Area team can claim multiple territories. We'd love to see what their team abbreviation would be.
Golden State Bridges FC
Take the most iconic piece of architecture from the area, sprinkle in some Golden State Warriors references and you got yourself a new team name.
Bay-tthoven FC
This one sucks. We just liked the play on words.
Tide FC
New rivalries will be born in California as the Bay Area team will be the third NWSL side in the state. A San Diego Wave FC vs. Tide FC will be the perfect water rivalry.
NoCal FC
We round out our suggestions with the tamest answer. Please for the love of all that is holy don’t just slap “FC” on a city/region name. Major League Soccer has been incredibly guilty of this in recent years.
*cough* Charlotte FC, Austin FC, Nashville SC, FC Cincinnati, etc.
Be creative new Bay Area team. Find a cool name.