The growth of women’s sports in the past year is undeniable—not just globally, but also within the Bay Area. The region known best as a hub for technology creation is thriving in a new type of innovation—women’s sports franchises. In the past 18 months, two new teams have launched, including the Women’s National Basketball Association’s Golden State Valkyries and the National Women’s Soccer League’s (NWSL) Bay Football Club, Northern California’s professional team.
The National Women’s Soccer League’s previous single-match attendance record was shattered in a match hosted by Bay FC, on Aug. 23, 2025. This new achievement gives promise for possible boosts in fan presence for female athletes at M-A.
In the past three years, M-A has seen growth in athletic offerings for female student-athletes. In 2024, the school followed the statewide trend of adding girls’ flag football—both varsity and JV teams—to its fall sports catalog. M-A also debuted a freshman girls soccer team in the winter of 2022, and has continued to field three teams since.
The rise of women’s sports was recently reaffirmed with the attendance record surpassment on the 23rd. The professional women’s soccer team, Bay FC, hosted the Washington Spirit at the converted baseball stadium, Oracle Park. The location was evidently more convenient for supporters living in San Fransico as it eliminated travel outside of the city. Normally, their home games are held in San Jose’s PayPal Park, but the change of stadium encouraged a total of 40,091 fans to attend the match. Breaking the previous record of 35,038, this is another sign of increased popularity that many argue is long overdue.
“I didn’t start playing soccer with the intention of being a professional soccer player, owning a team, or bringing soccer to a baseball stadium in San Francisco,” Brandi Chastain, one of the four all-women co-founders of Bay F.C., said.
Chastain, most famously known for scoring the game-winning penalty kick in the 1999 FIFA World Cup, is a U.S. soccer legend. “There’s a lot of love in my heart for everybody who showed up, because they could do a million other things, and they chose to be here to celebrate women’s soccer,” she said.
While there has been an expansion of girls teams at M-A in the past few years, this growth has not yet translated to game attendance. Girls flag football and girls basketball see far fewer fans in the stands than their male counterparts.
“Pretty much nobody comes to the games,” junior Emma Loose said. “Just our parents.” She played in both the flag football and soccer programs during the 2024-25 school year. Loose described how she wished more people could appreciate the work girls put into the season. “I think the energy at the games would be a lot better if people actually showed up,” she said.
Freshman Ella Evans is currently on the JV flag football team and plans on playing basketball in the winter. “Why do the boys football games get so much hype but the girls’ football games don’t get that much attention?” Evans said. “I believe that everyone should get to see sports like the WNBA, because it’s really cool and women are very powerful.”
This pattern of low attendance in girls’ high school sports is not consistent at the professional level today. Although, for years, female professional teams struggled with attendance at matches. Often percieved as less entertaining than men’s sports, the games did not achieve the same turnout. Female athletes, like Brandi Chastain, weren’t given the recognition they deserved in the media and within the sports world. However, this trend is rapidly changing.
Despite these two teams being newly established, Bay FC and the Valkyries have quickly achieved attendance levels that rival their long-existing male counterparts. In their first 10 home games, the Valkyries sold out Chase Center, which is the same facility the well-known Golden State Warriors play in.
The Valkyries have also broken their WNBA league attendance record for an expansion team. Similar to the shared stadium model that the two San Franciscan teams follow, Bay FC has continued to match and occasionally exceed the attendance levels of the San Jose Earthquakes, the Men’s Soccer league team.
The success found by these professional teams gives female athletes at M-A hope for their upcoming seasons. With more attention on women’s sports at the highest level, the possibility of greater attendance for sports like girls’ flag football and soccer will hopefully follow.
“Young girls out there should dream about whatever it is that they want and go for things that feel unconventional or uncomfortable,” Chastain said.
