The Internet has been abuzz that a professional soccer team is coming to San Francisco.
A website named Bay Area Pro Soccer has appeared, with backing from people in the Bay Area’s startup culture. The website, in its alpha phase, is sparse, only stating:
In the past week, several Bay Area tech leaders, including Kevin Hartz, co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite, have posted about the website on their Twitter feeds under the hashtag #bayareafutbol:
New pro soccer team is coming soon- Excited to see the startup tech scene improve the fan experience! https://t.co/cEBxtDl09B #bayareafutbol
— Kevin Hartz (@kevinhartz) December 9, 2015
Hey soccer fans, a friend and entrepreneur is bringing a new pro soccer team to the Bay Area soon! https://t.co/EataNLHzrL #bayareafutbol
— Satya Patel (@satyap) December 9, 2015
There may or may not be a new pro soccer team coming to the Bay Area. Get excited, people! #BayAreaFutbol https://t.co/RSOfWDXcxc
— Danny Khatib (@khatibda) November 26, 2015
Hey soccer fans – I have it on good info that a new pro soccer team is coming to the Bay Area! https://t.co/F13PGCklNw #bayareafutbol
— alison rosenthal (@alisonrosenthal) December 5, 2015
Soccer writer Evan Ream with the Davis Enterprise also tweeted out last Friday that a new San Francisco soccer team will start in the NASL in 2017:
Sources are telling me that the SF NASL team will be announced after the Super Bowl and aims to begin play in 2017 (2/3)
— Evan Ream (@EvanReam) December 4, 2015
Earlier this year, several stories appeared in the press that North American Soccer League, the second-division soccer league in America, was very interested in having a team located in San Francisco. Currently, the only professional soccer team in the Bay Area is the San Jose Earthquakes who play in MLS, the top level of professional soccer in the United States.
Journalist Sulaiman Folarin tweeted that the NASL Board of governors met with a San Francisco and Brazilian group of investors during their league meetings in September.
#NASL board of governors met with #SanFran group at meetings whch includes Brazilian & Silicon Valley investors.
— Sulaiman Folarin (@sulaiman4real) September 29, 2015
Last March, NASL Commissioner Bill Peterson confirmed the league’s interest in the city to the San Francisco Business Times: “When you look at the makeup (of the Bay Area economy) — tech and finance — all of that is very attractive from a league perspective,” Peterson said. “It’s a robust economy. It’s a changing landscape: Silicon Valley has moved more into San Francisco. It’s a hip and happening place.”
A crowd of 7,219 came to Kezar Stadium in San Francisco to watch the San Jose Earthquakes play a “home” game against the Seattle Sounders in a US Open Cup Quarterfinal match in 2012. (Douglas Zimmerman)
Sacramento has a professional soccer team in the USL, the third division of pro soccer. They have been very successful on the field and at the gate, averaging over 10,000 fans a game.
It appears that the soccer startup is a different venture than San Francisco City FC, a non-profit, supporter (fan) owned club competing at the fourth tier of the US Soccer Federation pyramid. The club has attempted to organically grow a team from the ground up with the eventual goal of bringing a professional soccer team to San Francisco. Last season SF City FC had a successful campaign making it into the US Open Cup, America’s oldest ongoing national soccer competition.
San Francisco has had a checkered history of professional soccer. The city’s last team, the second division California Victory, survived only one season in 2007. The San Francisco Seals also ran a minor league soccer team in San Francisco from 1992-1999. The Seals had success on the field, including defeating two MLS sides in the 1997 US Open Cup before losing to DC United 2-1 in the semifinals. Several Seals players went on to have long MLS careers, including Troy Dayak (San Jose Earthquakes) and C.J. Brown (Chicago Fire).
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