Bay FC eyes playoffs amid historic collective bargaining agreement
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Asisat Oshoala of Bay FC plays during a game at PayPal Park in May. Photo: Karen Hickey/ISI Photos/Getty Images
If Bay FC can stay the course, the team could make the National Women's Soccer League playoffs during their inaugural season.
Why it matters: It'd be a notable accomplishment for the club amid upcoming changes to the league's collective bargaining agreement, which will place a greater onus on teams to attract talent.
State of play: Bay FC faces the Utah Royals on Friday night in their first game back from the midseason break.
- The San Francisco team currently holds the last spot for the playoffs.
Context: The season resumes on the heels of the NWSL and players union reaching a historic CBA that will significantly raise athletes' minimum salaries and give them more freedom over where they can play.
- The new CBA also gets rid of the draft in favor of letting new players decide which teams they want to join.
By the numbers: The current minimum salary of $37,856 will be bumped to $48,500 in 2025 and $82,500 in 2030, and there is no limit for a player's maximum salary.
- The base salary cap will increase from $3.3 million in 2025 to just over $5 million in 2030.
- Bay FC did not respond to Axios' request for comment.
Between the lines: The team plays in Santa Clara County, where someone living alone and making $64,500 or less is considered very low-income, according to the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
- Once minimum pay increases in 2030, that salary of $82,500 would qualify as low-income.
Yes, but: All Bay FC players live in team housing in San Jose, so the Bay Area's notoriously high housing costs don't need to be a concern for players, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
- The apartment units are also furnished.
What they're saying: "This was a new market for everybody," Bay FC director of football operations Andrew Loomis told the Chronicle in June. "So what were the things we could do to lighten the burden for them? … There's still a cost, but this is an opportunity, too, to live in the Bay Area at a discounted cost."
The intrigue: The WNBA's CBA also requires teams to provide housing to players.
- Golden State Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin told Axios in July that she is tasked with finding "the best housing for them," whether in San Francisco or the East Bay.
- The goal, she said, is to "take away a lot of the thought around things like that for them to be able to provide them with the best experience."
What we're watching: Pay in women's sports leagues is notoriously low, so we're eager to see how the NWSL's historic agreement will inform future negotiations between professional women's sports teams and players.
WNBA players will soon be able to negotiate for a larger piece of the league's growing pie, as the WNBA will need to negotiate a new CBA with players by 2027.