Bay, Iger have tools to help Los Angeles' women's soccer franchise grow

LOS ANGELES —Angel City set out as a club looking to drive standards and promote equity. 

According to them, since joining the league, they have led the NWSL teams in attendance, sponsorship revenue, ticketing revenue, and community impact. 

The NWSL has also grown tremendously, with attendance numbers increasing sharply, a record-breaking broadcasting deal, and a new collective bargaining agreement.  

But Angel City can still grow. They do not have a dedicated training facility and are not selling out their stadium every game, even though they come close, with over 19,000 fans on average. 

That is where Bob Iger and Willow Bay can help. 

Iger and Bay purchased a controlling stake in Angel City, valued at $250 million, making the club the most valuable women’s sports team. Iger is the CEO of the Walt Disney Company, and Bay is the Dean of the USC Annenberg School of Communication.

The day-to-day involvement of Iger and Bay is still being determined, but Bay will play a more significant role in that regard. 

“It's very much day one," Angel City co-founder and president Julie Uhrman told The Sporting Tribune. “Willow Bay is the controlling owner. She will play the role at the Board of Governors at the league level and be the key point person and driver. 

"Bob [Iger] still has a strong commitment at Disney and that will be his number one focus.”

Bay is already working on ways to grow Angel City. 

“They're inquisitive,” Uhrman said. “Bob [Iger] is really excited about the sport. He's learning about soccer. He said he caught the bug.

"He almost seems a little bit like a kid in a candy shop. He is really excited to learn and to understand how it works. 

Willow is incredibly inquisitive, asks a lot of questions, and wants to help support our growth and support us develop. And so she's trying to learn as much as she can. She's already leaning in with sponsors and partners and focusing on the players.”

Bay and Iger are also investing $50 million “to support the club’s future growth.” While the specifics of how that money will be used have not been released, Angel City prioritizes specific measures, including the team’s training grounds.

Angel City trains at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California. The temporary setup allows them to train and hold meetings. However, having a dedicated training complex would allow Angel City to move their front office and content teams and have more space for training sessions.

Angel City is focused on improving their temporary setup first, then building a dedicated facility.

“Our first priority is providing better facilities and pitch for the players in this temporary time that we're in, but it's looking better,” Uhrman said. “We have some options, and with Bob [Iger] and Willow [Bay], I have the ability to negotiate harder and move faster because I know where the funds are coming. 

"With the way that Angel City was set up, where we had to raise money to support our growth. I couldn't put the cart before the horse because I wouldn't know how to pay for it. I didn't feel like I could get into a room and negotiate with enough power.

"Because we want to be in Los Angeles, it's hard to find the land and to find enough land for what we want to build. We don't want the minimum available. We want to have multiple pitches. Ideally, we'd like to have the front office over there so that we can have content over there and really create a culture of one team. But it's been a project we've been working on since 2020, and I actually feel like we're getting closer.”

When asked if Thousand Oaks counts as Los Angeles, Uhrman did not rule out the possibility of their future training ground being there. Thousand Oaks is in Ventura County, not Los Angeles County. 

“Being born and raised in LA, I feel like we can be very generous in the geography that we say Los Angeles, but I think we, as Los Angelenes, know very clearly what is not Los Angeles,” Uhrman said. “We're going to do the best we can.”

Another area Angel City wants to grow is their attendance. The club led the league in that category in 2022 (their inaugural year) and was second in 2023. Despite being around the league's top in crowd sizes, the single-game attendance record has evaded them. 

The Chicago Red Stars hold that tally at Wrigley Field with 35,038 fans in attendance. Angel City’s home venue, BMO Stadium, fits around 22,000 fans, so Angel City would have to play a game elsewhere to reach a higher mark. 

“We will absolutely set the single-game record for Angel City,” Uhrman said. “We want to be thoughtful and have enough time to build it right and pick the right partner to create the most incredible experience around it. Something that we're thinking about for ‘25.”

“We want to make it ours. We want the narrative and the history to be ours. That plays an important role. But if done right, we want to play in the biggest stadium we possibly can find.”

Breaking the single-game record is not the only important attendance-related matter, though. Angel City has to consider how to maintain and grow its weekly environment.

The team made the made playoffs on the final day of the season in 2023 but is on the outside looking in again in 2024. Angel City has yet to have a season in which it has competed for the NWSL Shield. And while the game-day experience is memorable for many reasons, including regular fan fests, impressive walkouts, and an inclusive community, winning also matters.

“First, the on-the-field product matters,” Uhrman said. “Winning matters, and we're focused on doing that. Bringing in players who support our playing style, who are representative of Los Angeles and with whom our community can connect also plays a major role in creating an incredible experience.”

Forward Christen Press is another reason for Angel City’s high attendance numbers. She was the player many fans wanted and has drawn people to BMO Stadium. 

“Christen Press was our first choice,” Uhrman said. “She was who the community wanted. She was who we wanted. We can be more thrilled that she's back on the pitch, contributing to our run for the playoffs."

Another player involved in Angel City’s success is forward Alex Morgan. While she most recently played for their rivals, the San Diego Wave, and never played for Angel City, she was pivotal in their origin.

Morgan inspired co-founder Natalie Portman. They had lunch when Portman learned more about women's soccer for her work with Time’s Up. Portman left the conversation inspired to make a change. 

Investor Alexis Ohanian also became confident in investing in the NWSL because of Alex Morgan. In 2019, Ohanian posted X about women’s soccer not drawing the same viewership as men’s soccer and a desire to become an NWSL owner. 

Morgan responded, “I can help you with that.”

“I'm not sure Angel City would be here if Alex Morgan didn't have lunch with Natalie Portman,” Uhrman said. “It is a really interesting full circle moment that Alex Morgan inspired Natalie to come up with the idea of Angel City that brought Kara [Nortman] and I in. 

"Then as we were fundraising, the person that convinced Alexis [Ohanian] to support the three of us and the building of Angel City was also Alex Morgan.”

Angel City has made tremendous strides in their first few seasons. But another one they have yet to check off is a match against a European club.

Many of Angel City’s preseason and midseason friendly matches have been against Liga MX Femenil sides. For example, they played FC Juarez in Aug. (7-0 victory) and Club America in 2023 (3-0 victory). 

Those matches are important, but Angel City also wants to play top teams from Europe, as other NWSL teams did in 2024. Some examples include the Washington Spirit playing Arsenal, Gotham playing Chelsea and Bay playing Barcelona. 

"We have had conversations with teams around the world, but the challenge is always the schedule and time of year,” Uhrman said. “We are starting to work on it much sooner. We have a much better idea of what the schedule looks like for ‘25 and when the open windows are, so we are having those conversations right now. 

"We want to create competitive games. We want to highlight Angel City playing against the best teams in the world, and it's important that they come here to play.”

Uhrman hopes those matches take place in the United States. But Angel City wants to go overseas when they win an NWSL Championship. Specifically, a game at Wembley Stadium, the home of England’s national team's and other events.

Angel City’s co-founders attended the USWNT versus England match in October 2022, when Uhrman said, “We can pack this” in the Angel City docuseries on Max. The venue can hold 90,000 fans. 

“Wembley is important because if you're in London, that is the stadium," Uhrman said. "That's the stadium where greatness occurs.

“When you look at the history of football, it began. It began in England. 100-year history. To go where football began, compete, and then win would be an incredible accomplishment for us.”

Angel City’s ambitions remain high. Bay and Iger joining as controlling owners fuel those hopes, with many vital steps to come.