Sheryl Sandberg leans into pro women’s soccer in Silicon Valley

Sheryl Sandberg and her husband are investing in a new National Women’s Soccer League team in Silicon Valley.

Sandberg, founder of Lean In.Org and former COO of Facebook (Meta), and Tom Bernthal are strategic investors in the club and Sandberg will serve on the board. The club will be based in the San Francisco Bay Area but the precise city hasn’t been named yet.

The NWSL awarded expansion rights for team No. 14 to an investment group representing the region. Northern California has been a key generator of women’s soccer talent throughout the history of the sport, and the Bay Area is a top-ten media market known for its diverse culture and vibrant ecosystem of creativity and innovation. The new club will begin to play in 2024.

Sandberg is a billionaire and her involvement in the club follows a familiar pattern of successful tech executives investing in sports teams. But in this case, it’s notable that it’s a woman investing in a women’s league — something quite new for a male-dominated place like Silicon Valley.

Today’s announcement follows the recent expansion announcement of the Utah Royals as team No. 13, also beginning play in 2024. With the newly added duo, the NWSL now includes 14 member clubs, nearly doubling the league’s footprint since beginning operations in 2012.

“The number of bids and the increase in the league’s expansion fees are indicative of both the demand that exists for women’s soccer in the professional sports landscape and the validated growth trajectory of our league,” said NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman, in a statement. “We said at the start of the expansion process in July 2022 that we would be intentional in seeking out strong markets and ownership groups that not only had the structural integrity for our league to thrive but also demonstrated a genuine commitment to investing in and creating first-rate organizations on and off the pitch. I am confident that this ownership group and market will help us deliver on the league’s continued transformative growth and success and look forward to watching the Bay Area club kick off in 2024.”

The new Bay Area club’s majority investor is Sixth Street, a leading global investment firm with deep experience in sports including investments with Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, and the San Antonio Spurs.

The firm is also partnered with the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys through its majority investment in Legends, a global sports and live venue experience business.

Sixth Street is making the largest institutional investment in women’s professional soccer to date as the NWSL experiences record-breaking viewership, attendance, and sponsorship growth.

Sixth Street has partnered with four former U.S. Women’s National Team players in Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osborne, Danielle Slaton, and Aly Wagner, who originally launched the effort to bring an NWSL expansion team to the Bay Area with the support of women executives and community leaders from across the Bay.

As the club’s Founding Football Four, they will be represented on the club’s majority women board and will work alongside Sixth Street in setting the team’s strategic direction.

“We want to thank Commissioner Berman and the NWSL Board for their endorsement and their partnership throughout this process,” said Alan Waxman, CEO of Sixth Street, in a statement. “We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with this legendary group, who are lifelong role models to a generation of women, and we look forward to working with them to build a championship franchise on and off the field. We believe that many years from now we will look back at today as a landmark moment in Bay Area sports history, and a turning point for large-scale investment in women’s sports.”

“We appreciate each and every one of the thousands of people who have supported us through this process and helped us reach this important day, and to Sixth Street for stepping up to take this club to the next level,” said Aly Wagner, Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Club, Santa Clara ’02, two-time Olympic gold medalist, NCAA National Champion, and the first woman broadcaster to call a FIFA Men’s World Cup match. “As lifelong residents of the Bay Area, we know how important women’s soccer is to our region and we are going to work hard every day to ensure that this is a club that every player, supporter, and partner will be proud of. We can’t wait to get started.”

Sixth Street CEO Alan Waxman will serve on the NWSL’s board of governors and Wagner will serve as the alternative governor. Waxman and Wagner will co-chair the club’s board.

“The Bay Area is where this all began,” said Brandi Chastain, cofounder of the club and two-time FIFA World Cup champion, and two-time Olympic gold medalist, in a statement.

“We are as excited about what this club will achieve on the field of play as we are for what it will represent for generations of women athletes and professionals yet to come,” Chastain said. “We look forward to the Bay fans embracing our team and celebrating the competitive spirit and talent we will put onto the field to continue the strong Bay tradition of playing to win championships.”

Given the powerful connection between women’s sports and leadership, Sandberg and Bernthal will partner with the club to create leadership programs that empower women and girls and provide resources to sports and youth programs in underserved communities throughout the Bay Area.

“Tom and I are so excited to join Alan, David Stiepleman, and the entire Sixth Street team alongside a powerhouse group of soccer legends to bring this club to our hometown,” said Sandberg, in a statement. “Playing sports is such an important part of developing future leadership skills especially for women and girls. We are going to combine world-class resources with a leadership program that will produce great players and great leaders, on and off the pitch.”

The club’s board will also include Rick Welts, pioneering sports business executive who most recently served as COO of the Golden State Warriors. Welts’ career accomplishments include four NBA and two WNBA championships and the creation of both NBA All-Star Weekend and the marketing program for USA Basketball’s Olympic “Dream Team.”

The board will also include Staci Slaughter, former executive vice president and senior advisor to the CEO of the three-time World Series Champion San Francisco Giants.

The Bay Area investor group has committed to significant infrastructure investments to support the club’s growth and operations, including building a state-of-the art training venue in a to-be-announced location. The club is also in the process of hiring front-office positions with the goal of delivering a world-class experience for NWSL players as professionals on and off the field.

The NWSL remains engaged in the expansion process with an eye toward adding teams No. 15 and No. 16. Inner Circle Sports continues to represent and advise the league on expansion matters.

The NWSL opened its 11th year of play on March 25, and continued its recent success, breaking opening day attendance records for a single match at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego and the league-wide attendance record over the course of the opening weekend.