Bay FC ženy

The San Francisco Bay Area was previously home to two professional women's soccer teams: the San Jose CyberRays of the Women's United Soccer Association and FC Gold Pride of Women's Professional Soccer.

On June 21, 2022, former USWNT and professional club players Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osborne, Danielle Slaton, and Aly Wagner announced the founding of a group called "NWSL to the Bay" that would lobby the NWSL for an expansion team in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their efforts to bring NWSL to the Bay started in 2020 just after Angel City in Los Angeles was founded by some of their former teammates on the USWNT. They joined forces with Jen Vescio, a sports, media, and technology executive. Together the five women put together a board that included Tim Connors, Ward Bullard, and CJ Napolitano and raised initial capital from a small group of investors. In May 2021 they brought on David Aufhauser, another sports, media, and technology executive, to lead the effort. Together they prepared the bid for an NWSL expansion team. The bid would compete with interest from groups in other cities, including Columbus, Ohio; Atlanta, Georgia; Austin, Texas; Cincinnati, Ohio; Toronto, Ontario; St. Louis, Missouri; and Nashville, Tennessee.

On December 16, 2022, reports suggested that the NWSL had narrowed the second of its two 2024 expansion selections to the Bay Area bid, another bid in the former Boston Breakers market of Boston, Massachusetts, and a third bid in Tampa, Florida. These reports also revealed the involvement of San Francisco-based investment firm Sixth Street Partners as an investor in the club. The reports provided no details about the club's planned venue, but noted that Slaton was leading the group's search for facilities. By January 2023, further reports suggested that Tampa had been eliminated and that the Bay Area and Boston would both be awarded expansion teams, with expansion fees estimated at $50 million each. The league declined to confirm any reports prior to an official announcement.

On April 4, 2023, the league formally awarded one of its two planned 2024 expansion teams to the Bay Area group at a reported $53 million expansion fee, with the other expansion slot awarded to the revival of Utah Royals FC at a fee of $5 million or less, negotiated when the club's previous iteration was sold and relocated to Kansas City.

On September 27, 2023, Albertin Montoya was announced as the team's first head coach. On November 15, defender Alex Loera was revealed as the club's first ever signing, joining from KC Current for $175,000 in allocation money and protection from Bay FC in the 2024 Expansion Draft. Six days later, the club welcomed the 2021 Defender of the Year Caprice Dydasco as their second signing, the right back joining from Houston Dash. On December 13, 2023, the club announced their full coaching staff, with Angela Salem and Jason Goodson brought in as assistant coaches, and Diego Restrepo as head of goalkeeping. Head coach Montoya had worked with Salem during his interim head coaching stint with Washington Spirit in the 2022 NWSL season, and Restrepo had been head of goalkeeping at D.C. United while Bay FC general manager Lucy Rushton served as GM of the club.

On February 13, 2024, Bay FC signed Zambian forward Racheal Kundananji from Madrid CFF for $860,000, setting a new record for most expensive transfer in women's soccer history. The deal lasts until 2027, with an option to extend for another year.