The expansion of the National Women's Soccer League began with the league's sophomore season in 2014, when the league expanded to a ninth team in Houston, and is an ongoing process that currently has seen five expansions, three direct or indirect relocations, and one contraction. The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) was established as the top level of professional women's soccer in the United States in 2013 in the wake of the defunct Women's United Soccer Association and Women's Professional Soccer.
The Houston Dash became the first expansion team in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and played its first season in 2014.
Sunil Gulati, president of the United States Soccer Federation in 2012, announced the NWSL's first eight teams in December.
Steve Malik purchased the Western New York Flash and relocated its player assets to a new expansion team in Cary, North Carolina, the North Carolina Courage, in 2017.
Lynn Family Stadium, completed for Louisville City FC in 2021, would also become the home venue of co-owned NWSL expansion team Racing Louisville FC.
Bay FC
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Bay Football Club is an American professional women's soccer team based in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. They began play in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) as an expansion team in the 2024 season. Their home stadium is PayPal Park in San Jose, California, a soccer-specific stadium with 18,000 seats that is also home to the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer (MLS).
PayPal Park in 2015