Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Christy James, and welcome to another episode of
CEOs You Should Know, a podcast that focuses on the
innovative and forward thinking leaders of companies that matter to
you and in the San Francisco Bay Area, sports matter
and one of the newest teams in the Bay is
headed up by our special guest today, Brady Stewart, the
chief executive officer of BAYFC.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Thank you so much for having me. It is awesome
to be here today.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Brady is leading the fourteenth expansion team of the National
Women's Soccer League, the winningest expansion team.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Might I have history of the league?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
And I could rattle off that you graduated from Princeton
in NBA, from Harvard, you were the chief commercial officer
at former brand. She spent fourteen years at Levi Strauss.
But really, how did you get here? How does one
become the CEO of a National Women's Soccer League team?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
You know, it's so interesting. I would first say that
this job is an absolute dream job for me. The
minute I heard that we were going to have an
expansion team here, I was struck with I've got to
be a part of that I think the vision and
the dream of what we're trying to build, we really
do have a chance to change the world with what
(01:18):
we're doing. And I'm not even saying that lightly or
in any way making it more than it is. We
truly have that chance because we can change the way
that women's sports are perceived, the way female athletes are perceived,
you know, understanding the business community of the business model
of women's sports. So we have all these opportunities and
(01:40):
I knew that and I wanted to be a part
of it. You know, I've I've lived in the Bay
Area now since two thousand and seven. I was here
before business school from ninety nine to two, and this
is my home, right this is where my kids were born,
and this is where I'm building my family. And just
the opportunity to leave a mark on the Bay Area,
the place that I call home, is so oh exciting.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well, you're definitely off to a great start.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
As I mentioned before, BFC is the winningest expansion team
in the National Women's Soccer League history.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
And only the second ever to make the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I remember hearing about that win against Houston. It was
a big deal for not only Bay Area sports fans,
but for women's soccer fans too. I mean, that's a
total Cinderella story. Your first season you make the playoffs.
Who doesn't love that? And the more and more you
hear about BAFC, the FC stands for football Club in
case you're wondering, I found that out. You hear about
(02:34):
the culture that you've created, and that is a culture
that is player centric and community focused. You see player
interviews and coach interviews, and that is a reoccurring theme
with this organization, player centric and community focused. And with
that in mind, you know, there's been a growing emphasis
on player well being, pay equity, yeah, working conditions, especially
(02:57):
in women's sports. How are you, as the leader of
BFC and this team prioritizing these issues?
Speaker 3 (03:04):
You know, I would say for me personally and frankly
for everyone at AFC, this is one of the things
that is most important to us and that we're most
proud about. Right. I mean, if you think about soccer
or football, most popular sport in the world, and we
know that American women are the dominant players in the sport,
so you could say these are the best athletes in
(03:25):
the world at the most popular sport in the world.
And it's crazy to me, but these athletes haven't been
treated the way they deserve over time, right, you know,
I think in an earlier version of the league, a
lot of the players were like having to live with
families because they couldn't afford their own apartments. And so,
you know, our vision is that we celebrate these athletes
and we elevate them and we kind of make them
(03:48):
be known and compensated as the superstars as they are.
And so the way that philosophy takes over everything we
do with our players. We make sure that they have
fantastic housing, We have the best in class facilities that
we've built for them, and we're going to build you know,
kind of groundbreaking facility and our training facility and Treasure
Island that's opening in twenty twenty seven. Our staff is
(04:11):
world class. We think about their nutrition, their health, their
mental health, their well being, their you know kind of
ability to continue to grow outside of the sport. That's
those things permeate what we do every day.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
And the training facility, I'm glad you mentioned that because
that is a big deal. People don't really understand. There
aren't a lot of dedicated women's training facilities in women's sports.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
It's crazy there haven't been. Now I think you're seeing
a huge ground swell of more and more organizations recognizing
that it's required. That WNBA is certainly leading the way
in that, but even last week up in Portland, there
was announcement that the Bethal family, who owns both a
WNBA team and the NWSL team there, they're building a
(04:59):
joint train facility for both teams. So you're seeing more
activity just recognizing that women need those facilities, and you
know we're at the leading edge of that here in
San Francisco.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Well, thank you because there is a need for it,
and I appreciate it as a as a sports fan
and as a woman that you are focusing on these
things that do actually matter. And aside from being player centric,
BFC is also creating a culture that's community focused. And
can you talk about some of the ways that the
club is connecting to members of the San Francisco Bay
(05:32):
Area community.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
So the way we think about community is we want
to positively impact all nine counties of the Bay Area.
Right this is our home. These are our fans. We
want to give back to them, and we're really focused
on two things. Number one is access to the sport
and number two is leadership. And so for access to
the sport, we have done things like we've put on
(05:53):
clinics where our players go and work with a group
of girls not only on soccer skills, but we've also,
in partnership with our kid sponsors, set our Health, we
have done some real digging on what are the things
that have young girls drop out of sports? Right well,
what causes them to drop out, and that's things like
mental health, body awareness, support from their families, and so
(06:18):
we have designed in these clinics, Hey, here are some
barrier busters that keep young women in sports. Because we
know not every girl is going to be a professional player. However,
we also know that eighty percent of Fortune five hundred
executives who are women played sports, and so keeping girls
in sports is about creating the next generation of leaders.
So we got access to the sport and leadership. And
(06:41):
for leadership, we have done a ton in the community
around education and developing the next generation of leaders. Bringing
female coaches into the sport is really important. We want
young players to have role models in the sport. And
so you know we're really really in year one. Well
now we're in year two. But it's a huge focus
of everything we do well.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
The Bay Area is the perfect place right now, especially
to foster a culture of women's sports and the love
for it. Just the past few years alone has been
I want to say groundbreaking, but that even that feels
like an understatement.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
I think if you looked at sports markets, it's unprecedented
what's happened in the Bay Area over the last three years.
So twenty twenty five of the Valkyries, twenty twenty four, BAFC,
twenty twenty three, the Oakland sul like three professional women's teams, Bam,
bam bam.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Is so true. And this is just the beginning.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
So it's really exciting to see everything from the start
and be a part of it as a fan. And
if I could switch gears for a moment. You mentioned
the kit. I just found out that kits are a
named for Jersey. So if you're like, okay, what is
a kit? Am I picking something up in a box?
What's going on?
Speaker 3 (07:50):
You got to sew it yourself? Exactly, No, you don't.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
So if you're not familiar, a soccer jersey basically from
head to toe, So the jersey, the shore where it's
the socks, everything, that's the kit.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yes, we'll throw an English accent on it, the kit kit.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
It's true. And you know, actually I found this out
before I started in this job because I have two
young youth soccer players in my home and they are
obsessed with their kits and making sure they have. In fact,
I'll give you make it more British the proper kits.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Okay, Well, there's definitely a shift towards more like creative
and bold kit designs in women's soccer and just women's
sports merchandise as a whole. I mean, other National Women's
Soccer League teams have shown that the merchandise can be
more than just team gear or a revenue stream. It
(08:39):
really speaks to the culture and really takes fandom to
another level. So how does BFC approach branding and the
kit designed?
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Because you guys just dropped your new kit. We did,
and I love it.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
I'm obsessed with it. So I think, even taking a
step back, I think you're totally right that merchandise is
about telling the brand story. And it's a little bit actually.
So I don't come from the sports industry, but I
come from the apparel and beauty industries, and so much
of what we do in those industries is about telling
brand stories and about connecting with our consumers. So at BFC,
(09:17):
when we look at our merchandise, you know, taking those
threads from other industries, we say, how can we use
this to connect with our fans, educate on who BAFC is,
and make people feel really proud to be part of
our fandom. I will say I think it's working so far.
We actually, in our first year we were the number
one merchandise selling team in the league, so pretty phenomenal.
(09:39):
We're going to try to top ourselves this year and
keep it going. But I think if you look at
even from the very beginning, the BAFC brand, our brand
iconography is I think really phenomenal, and it's all about
both looking timeless but also looking really edgy at the
same time. So I like to think that when you
see people wearing bayfs gear, which you do more and
(10:01):
more across the Bay Area, that you think, oh, I
should know what that is. That's a that's a team
I should know about. Why don't know know about it?
What can I learn about it? And that's you know,
by the way, for all of our fans out there,
thank you for repping for us. Keep doing it. It's
amazing seeing you out on, you know, on the Bay
Area streets and cheering for us. Keep doing it, keep
(10:21):
telling our story. But we do have new kits, so
we should talk about that because they're so cool.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Yes, and when you see that BAFC logo, it may
look like a big bee from Afar, but there was
so much thought put into it. Can you kind of
break down the thought process and the intention behind not
only just the BAFC logo, but the new kits as well.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Oh yeah, every everything in our you know, brand iconography
is very deliberate and it's kind of a love letter
to the Bay Area. It is a love letter to
our fans, and it speaks to our pride in getting
to play for the bay So the first is, if
you look at our team colors, we've got the blue
obviously the blue of the Bay, and then we have
the poppy, which is the same color as the Golden
(11:05):
Gate Bridge, so that's the Golden Gate Bridge. And then
the other thing is we have a gray which is
the fog. So just the colors represent the Bay Area.
And then if you look on our bee number one,
it's the poppy color usually, so that's the Golden gay Bridge.
And then you can actually see in it on the
side of the bee there's two little lines and that
is intended to look like the Golden gay Bridge as well.
(11:27):
And so that's just the kind of core branding that
you'll see. And actually sometimes we have a whole collection
called the Poppy Collection, which we really love, and that's
where we're actually playing with the California poppy all over
the merchandise. It's a really fun, kind of playful touch
in the merchandise. But we have our new kit coming
out for our second year and those are very very
(11:48):
deliberately designed to look like the Bay So the color
it's called obsidian, but it's really just a very dark
navy it's obsidian. And then we've got poppy stripes running
through it, which are probably accents running through it, which
is really beautiful visually. But what we also have ish
there are kind of nine lines running through the kits
(12:11):
and stripes, and the lines you see, they have a
little bit of texture, and the texture is intended to
represent kind of the topography of the Bay Area and
the different you know, the Bay Area is so amazing.
You have everything from you know, the incredible beauty of
the Wine Country. You've got the Redwoods, You've got the
(12:32):
South Bay. You know, the Bay Area is just so
naturally diverse in its topography. So the lines represent the
diversity of the topography and frankly the diversity of the
Bay which is pretty amazing. And then there's specifically nine
lines to represent the nine counties.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
I told you it was thoughtfall.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
It looks amazing, but there's a lot of thought put
into it, and I'm glad that you mentioned the diversity
of the Bay Area. There has been a lot of
talk about diversity and equity and inclusion in the news lately,
and BFC is clearly committed to all of these things.
And you can tell just even by looking at the
upcoming twenty twenty five twenty twenty sixth schedule that you
(13:09):
guys are committed to the diversity and the different people
who make up this place we call home in the
Bay absolutely.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
I mean, that's one of the most distinctive things about
the Bay Area is how diverse we are, and we
believe that we are stronger all together. And one of
the ways that we celebrated is we have specific entitlement
nights at our game at our home games at PayPal Park.
So we have a Women's Empowerment Night coming up in April,
We've got the Asian American and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Night.
(13:39):
We're going to have Pride Night. Of course, we're going
to celebrate Juneteenth. We've got our Latino Heritage Night that's
going to be sponsored by Visa, and we'll end with
our fan Appreciation Night. And I should say that our
home opener on March twenty second at seven pm at
PayPal Park is going to be sponsored by Sutter and
we're going to have.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
A great night that night. That is awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
And how have the Bay Area companies come to support BAFC.
I mean this is just the second season, but you
guys have had such success and you mentioned Sutter, so.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, look, the Bay Area is one
of the most powerful centers of business in the world,
and that's another thing that makes us special, you know,
business and innovation. I would say that's kind of what
we're known for in the world. And we have been
so proud and grateful for how the business community has
shown up for us. We have Sutter Health as our
(14:32):
kit sponsor. We have Visa as a sponsor, Trader Joe's,
PNC Bank, Ross Bank of America. Right, we have got
these incredible companies who believed in us. Frankly, you know,
before we'd ever taken the field. In some cases they said, hey,
we understand the dream, we know that this can be
a global sports franchise, and we want to get in early.
(14:54):
So we're really grateful to our early partners, and we're
out talking to more partners now. We want to ask
we want to add to the portfolio.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Well, as that portfolio grows, hopefully the support for women's
sports and women's soccer as a whole will grow as well.
What do you hope to see in the next five years?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
My goal is that it is a must watch event.
I was reflecting on this a lot yesterday with the
Super Bowl, right, I mean, I was shopping in stores
a few hours before, picking up some stuff we were
having people over, and the people in the stores were like,
what time does the game start? Because everyone's going to
be gone, like it's game day. And I thought, like,
they're not even saying it's Super Bowl Sunday. They're like,
(15:35):
it's game day. And I was thinking like, we need
women's soccer to be that, and it's going to take
years to do that, Like the Super Bowl is a
very distinctly American tradition, but I think just given the
fan momentum we have for women's soccer and the fact
we have a new meteorite steal in the league where
we have a lot more games out there and a
(15:56):
lot more platforms. So if you want to watch streaming,
you want to watch laws, you want to watch local
However you want to watch, you can, which is the
most important thing in getting viewers. You know, we need
it to be must watch. The other thing that I
would really like to see in five years is that
the athletes are really celebrated, right, Like when you come
to a BAFC game, you know the backstory on all
(16:17):
of the starting eleven and a bunch of our subs,
and you're just excited to say, like, oh my gosh,
look at the you know, there's Rachel on the pitch.
She just scored a brace in her last game, and
like we want to see if she can do it again, right,
And so I want everyone to really understand the athletes
and be really excited to engage with them.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
So for people who don't know there were two previous
women's professional soccer leagues and they didn't make it. And
so what would you say or some of the barriers
or challenges in making your dream come true of it
of the BFC and the National Women's Soccer League being
a must watch event.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
You know, I think that it's one of the reasons
I think a lot of us who work at BFC
and work in the league, we don't always sleep well
at night. I would say because we feel this responsibility
to build this. I think we need to have incredible
fan experiences in our stadiums. We need to sell out
the stadiums. By the way, I think at BFC we're
(17:14):
doing a great job of this. So if you haven't
caught one of our matches, came down to PayPal park
and watch. But you need to have an incredibly compelling
fan experience. You need to have great merch right, a
great brand that people are proud to be a part of.
You need to tell player stories. So if you follow
us at we are BFC on our social media, we
(17:35):
spend a lot of time telling the story of our
players so that everyone can get to know them and
all the teams need to do that, and then you
need great broadcasts on great networks, and so I think
you kind of got to have the whole infrastructure going.
And then the corollary to that for those of us
on the business side is we need to build big, robust,
(17:56):
successful businesses so that we can pay the athletes more
so that then they're profiles are raised. Right, it's a
virtuous cycle of you get the fans, you get the sponsors,
you support the players, and it just magnifies on itself.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Well, the league has attendance numbers that are literally rivaling
NBA and NHL games.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
MLS games one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
What do you think is fueling this shift towards women's
sports as a whole.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Number one, I think people are coming to NWOSL games
because they're an amazing sporting experience. And I think from
a women's soccer perspective, we're very lucky in this country
because in a lot of ways, soccer is women's first,
just based on the success of the US women's national team.
So I think we have a great on field product
that people are very open to, and then teams are
(18:44):
very focused on creating a great in stadium experience. But
I also think there's a generational attitudinal shift, right, Like,
you know, I've got two young kids. I've got a
ten year old son and a well she's fourteen today,
a fourteen year old daughter. And what I notice with
their peers and their friends is they don't differentiate men's
(19:06):
and women's sports. They just want to see a great
sporting experience, right. The girls in my daughter school are
the boys in my daughter school. I'll come to cheer
for the girls, and vice versa. My son has Idols
and his teammates of Idols who are women's players. So
I think there is like a lot of hang ups
maybe for you know, previous generations who think sports is
(19:27):
a men's activity. But I don't really think the future
is that and I don't think that young people feel
that way, and I know, coming to our games, our
fans don't feel that way.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
I love that you mentioned that you are a soccer mom.
It's kind of crazy.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
You're like, Okay, I'm the CEO of this big, you know,
women's major league team and also cooking dinner and being
a soccer mom.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
How do you balance that?
Speaker 3 (19:53):
You know, I think it's like any working parent, imperfectly.
You know, some days you get your balance right, some
days your major out of whack. On either side, I'm lucky.
I have an incredibly supportive husband who is carrying the
weight with me. I think everyone needs a supportive partner.
It's imperfect, it's a journey, and I try to give
(20:13):
myself grace and do the best I can. Right, I'm
pretty ruthless in my priorities, So it's like, you know,
my husband and my kids first, my job second. I
try to work out sometimes and then other than that,
that's pretty much what I've got going on.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
What do you do for fun to just relax?
Speaker 3 (20:33):
I love to go for a run. The berry is
so beautiful and so much natural beauty. I love to
cook dinner for my family, and I do love to
read trashy novels.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Okay, what's a good one?
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Oh my goodness, it's whatever I can pick up at
the airport and read on a plane.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Any goals for the second season of BAYFC.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
We've got a big one and we're stating it and
you'll hear it from anyone associated with BFC. We want
to host a home game playoff match this season. We
want to give that to our fans. It's a goal
for the whole football operations side, the whole business side.
We are gearing up. You have to be in the
top four in the league to host a home playoff match,
(21:17):
and that's that's our target.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Well, if your first season is any indication of what's
to come, I have no doubt that you will reach
your goal. And if you're interested in purchasing tickets and
being a part of this movement in the Bay Area
that is BAFC single game tickets are on sale now
for the twenty twenty five twenty twenty sixth season at
BAFC dot com forward slash Tickets or you can just
(21:41):
click the ticket link on the homepage and there's tons
of options and price points, which makes it really accessible.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
We want everyone to be able to go to our games.
It's it's really important to us and different than some
of the other you know, sports in the Bay Area.
You should be able to come to our game with
your family and have it not break the But yeah,
we've got little mini plans. So say you want to
come on only on Saturday nights, or you want to
come to the big SoCal rivalry matches only, don't worry.
(22:09):
We got you taken care of the other thing. If
you want to go with a group, we can put
together some really incredible group experiences for people, and our
group tickets are on sale now, so you can buy
group tickets from us. And then our single game tickets
are on sale now, so if you just want to
go to one, which is fine, they're all wonderful games.
(22:31):
Single game tickets are on sale now at BFC dot com.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
All right, well, thank you so much, Brady Stewart, Chief
executive Officer of BFC. We're looking forward to seeing a
home playoff game played at PayPal Park in San Jose
this upcoming season and more good things to come from BFC.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
This is only the second of hopefully one hundred and more.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
There you go. I like that.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Thank you again to Brady Stewart, and thank you so
much for taking the time to check out another episode
of CEOs. You should know the podcast that focuses on
the innovative and forward thinking leaders of companies that matter
to you. And if you're interested in checking out more episodes,
you can find us on our free iHeartRadio app or
wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Christy James and I'll
(23:15):
talk to you next time,
Hi, I'm Christy James, and welcome to another episode of
CEOs You Should Know, a podcast that focuses on the
innovative and forward thinking leaders of companies that matter to
you and in the San Francisco Bay Area, sports matter
and one of the newest teams in the Bay is
headed up by our special guest today, Brady Stewart, the
chief executive officer of BAYFC.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Thank you so much for having me. It is awesome
to be here today.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Brady is leading the fourteenth expansion team of the National
Women's Soccer League, the winningest expansion team.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Might I have history of the league?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
And I could rattle off that you graduated from Princeton
in NBA, from Harvard, you were the chief commercial officer
at former brand. She spent fourteen years at Levi Strauss.
But really, how did you get here? How does one
become the CEO of a National Women's Soccer League team?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
You know, it's so interesting. I would first say that
this job is an absolute dream job for me. The
minute I heard that we were going to have an
expansion team here, I was struck with I've got to
be a part of that I think the vision and
the dream of what we're trying to build, we really
do have a chance to change the world with what
(01:18):
we're doing. And I'm not even saying that lightly or
in any way making it more than it is. We
truly have that chance because we can change the way
that women's sports are perceived, the way female athletes are perceived,
you know, understanding the business community of the business model
of women's sports. So we have all these opportunities and
(01:40):
I knew that and I wanted to be a part
of it. You know, I've I've lived in the Bay
Area now since two thousand and seven. I was here
before business school from ninety nine to two, and this
is my home, right this is where my kids were born,
and this is where I'm building my family. And just
the opportunity to leave a mark on the Bay Area,
the place that I call home, is so oh exciting.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well, you're definitely off to a great start.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
As I mentioned before, BFC is the winningest expansion team
in the National Women's Soccer League history.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
And only the second ever to make the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I remember hearing about that win against Houston. It was
a big deal for not only Bay Area sports fans,
but for women's soccer fans too. I mean, that's a
total Cinderella story. Your first season you make the playoffs.
Who doesn't love that? And the more and more you
hear about BAFC, the FC stands for football Club in
case you're wondering, I found that out. You hear about
(02:34):
the culture that you've created, and that is a culture
that is player centric and community focused. You see player
interviews and coach interviews, and that is a reoccurring theme
with this organization, player centric and community focused. And with
that in mind, you know, there's been a growing emphasis
on player well being, pay equity, yeah, working conditions, especially
(02:57):
in women's sports. How are you, as the leader of
BFC and this team prioritizing these issues?
Speaker 3 (03:04):
You know, I would say for me personally and frankly
for everyone at AFC, this is one of the things
that is most important to us and that we're most
proud about. Right. I mean, if you think about soccer
or football, most popular sport in the world, and we
know that American women are the dominant players in the sport,
so you could say these are the best athletes in
(03:25):
the world at the most popular sport in the world.
And it's crazy to me, but these athletes haven't been
treated the way they deserve over time, right, you know,
I think in an earlier version of the league, a
lot of the players were like having to live with
families because they couldn't afford their own apartments. And so,
you know, our vision is that we celebrate these athletes
and we elevate them and we kind of make them
(03:48):
be known and compensated as the superstars as they are.
And so the way that philosophy takes over everything we
do with our players. We make sure that they have
fantastic housing, We have the best in class facilities that
we've built for them, and we're going to build you know,
kind of groundbreaking facility and our training facility and Treasure
Island that's opening in twenty twenty seven. Our staff is
(04:11):
world class. We think about their nutrition, their health, their
mental health, their well being, their you know kind of
ability to continue to grow outside of the sport. That's
those things permeate what we do every day.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
And the training facility, I'm glad you mentioned that because
that is a big deal. People don't really understand. There
aren't a lot of dedicated women's training facilities in women's sports.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
It's crazy there haven't been. Now I think you're seeing
a huge ground swell of more and more organizations recognizing
that it's required. That WNBA is certainly leading the way
in that, but even last week up in Portland, there
was announcement that the Bethal family, who owns both a
WNBA team and the NWSL team there, they're building a
(04:59):
joint train facility for both teams. So you're seeing more
activity just recognizing that women need those facilities, and you
know we're at the leading edge of that here in
San Francisco.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Well, thank you because there is a need for it,
and I appreciate it as a as a sports fan
and as a woman that you are focusing on these
things that do actually matter. And aside from being player centric,
BFC is also creating a culture that's community focused. And
can you talk about some of the ways that the
club is connecting to members of the San Francisco Bay
(05:32):
Area community.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
So the way we think about community is we want
to positively impact all nine counties of the Bay Area.
Right this is our home. These are our fans. We
want to give back to them, and we're really focused
on two things. Number one is access to the sport
and number two is leadership. And so for access to
the sport, we have done things like we've put on
(05:53):
clinics where our players go and work with a group
of girls not only on soccer skills, but we've also,
in partnership with our kid sponsors, set our Health, we
have done some real digging on what are the things
that have young girls drop out of sports? Right well,
what causes them to drop out, and that's things like
mental health, body awareness, support from their families, and so
(06:18):
we have designed in these clinics, Hey, here are some
barrier busters that keep young women in sports. Because we
know not every girl is going to be a professional player. However,
we also know that eighty percent of Fortune five hundred
executives who are women played sports, and so keeping girls
in sports is about creating the next generation of leaders.
So we got access to the sport and leadership. And
(06:41):
for leadership, we have done a ton in the community
around education and developing the next generation of leaders. Bringing
female coaches into the sport is really important. We want
young players to have role models in the sport. And
so you know we're really really in year one. Well
now we're in year two. But it's a huge focus
of everything we do well.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
The Bay Area is the perfect place right now, especially
to foster a culture of women's sports and the love
for it. Just the past few years alone has been
I want to say groundbreaking, but that even that feels
like an understatement.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
I think if you looked at sports markets, it's unprecedented
what's happened in the Bay Area over the last three years.
So twenty twenty five of the Valkyries, twenty twenty four, BAFC,
twenty twenty three, the Oakland sul like three professional women's teams, Bam,
bam bam.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Is so true. And this is just the beginning.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
So it's really exciting to see everything from the start
and be a part of it as a fan. And
if I could switch gears for a moment. You mentioned
the kit. I just found out that kits are a
named for Jersey. So if you're like, okay, what is
a kit? Am I picking something up in a box?
What's going on?
Speaker 3 (07:50):
You got to sew it yourself? Exactly, No, you don't.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
So if you're not familiar, a soccer jersey basically from
head to toe, So the jersey, the shore where it's
the socks, everything, that's the kit.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yes, we'll throw an English accent on it, the kit kit.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
It's true. And you know, actually I found this out
before I started in this job because I have two
young youth soccer players in my home and they are
obsessed with their kits and making sure they have. In fact,
I'll give you make it more British the proper kits.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Okay, Well, there's definitely a shift towards more like creative
and bold kit designs in women's soccer and just women's
sports merchandise as a whole. I mean, other National Women's
Soccer League teams have shown that the merchandise can be
more than just team gear or a revenue stream. It
(08:39):
really speaks to the culture and really takes fandom to
another level. So how does BFC approach branding and the
kit designed?
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Because you guys just dropped your new kit. We did,
and I love it.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
I'm obsessed with it. So I think, even taking a
step back, I think you're totally right that merchandise is
about telling the brand story. And it's a little bit actually.
So I don't come from the sports industry, but I
come from the apparel and beauty industries, and so much
of what we do in those industries is about telling
brand stories and about connecting with our consumers. So at BFC,
(09:17):
when we look at our merchandise, you know, taking those
threads from other industries, we say, how can we use
this to connect with our fans, educate on who BAFC is,
and make people feel really proud to be part of
our fandom. I will say I think it's working so far.
We actually, in our first year we were the number
one merchandise selling team in the league, so pretty phenomenal.
(09:39):
We're going to try to top ourselves this year and
keep it going. But I think if you look at
even from the very beginning, the BAFC brand, our brand
iconography is I think really phenomenal, and it's all about
both looking timeless but also looking really edgy at the
same time. So I like to think that when you
see people wearing bayfs gear, which you do more and
(10:01):
more across the Bay Area, that you think, oh, I
should know what that is. That's a that's a team
I should know about. Why don't know know about it?
What can I learn about it? And that's you know,
by the way, for all of our fans out there,
thank you for repping for us. Keep doing it. It's
amazing seeing you out on, you know, on the Bay
Area streets and cheering for us. Keep doing it, keep
(10:21):
telling our story. But we do have new kits, so
we should talk about that because they're so cool.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Yes, and when you see that BAFC logo, it may
look like a big bee from Afar, but there was
so much thought put into it. Can you kind of
break down the thought process and the intention behind not
only just the BAFC logo, but the new kits as well.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Oh yeah, every everything in our you know, brand iconography
is very deliberate and it's kind of a love letter
to the Bay Area. It is a love letter to
our fans, and it speaks to our pride in getting
to play for the bay So the first is, if
you look at our team colors, we've got the blue
obviously the blue of the Bay, and then we have
the poppy, which is the same color as the Golden
(11:05):
Gate Bridge, so that's the Golden Gate Bridge. And then
the other thing is we have a gray which is
the fog. So just the colors represent the Bay Area.
And then if you look on our bee number one,
it's the poppy color usually, so that's the Golden gay Bridge.
And then you can actually see in it on the
side of the bee there's two little lines and that
is intended to look like the Golden gay Bridge as well.
(11:27):
And so that's just the kind of core branding that
you'll see. And actually sometimes we have a whole collection
called the Poppy Collection, which we really love, and that's
where we're actually playing with the California poppy all over
the merchandise. It's a really fun, kind of playful touch
in the merchandise. But we have our new kit coming
out for our second year and those are very very
(11:48):
deliberately designed to look like the Bay So the color
it's called obsidian, but it's really just a very dark
navy it's obsidian. And then we've got poppy stripes running
through it, which are probably accents running through it, which
is really beautiful visually. But what we also have ish
there are kind of nine lines running through the kits
(12:11):
and stripes, and the lines you see, they have a
little bit of texture, and the texture is intended to
represent kind of the topography of the Bay Area and
the different you know, the Bay Area is so amazing.
You have everything from you know, the incredible beauty of
the Wine Country. You've got the Redwoods, You've got the
(12:32):
South Bay. You know, the Bay Area is just so
naturally diverse in its topography. So the lines represent the
diversity of the topography and frankly the diversity of the
Bay which is pretty amazing. And then there's specifically nine
lines to represent the nine counties.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
I told you it was thoughtfall.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
It looks amazing, but there's a lot of thought put
into it, and I'm glad that you mentioned the diversity
of the Bay Area. There has been a lot of
talk about diversity and equity and inclusion in the news lately,
and BFC is clearly committed to all of these things.
And you can tell just even by looking at the
upcoming twenty twenty five twenty twenty sixth schedule that you
(13:09):
guys are committed to the diversity and the different people
who make up this place we call home in the
Bay absolutely.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
I mean, that's one of the most distinctive things about
the Bay Area is how diverse we are, and we
believe that we are stronger all together. And one of
the ways that we celebrated is we have specific entitlement
nights at our game at our home games at PayPal Park.
So we have a Women's Empowerment Night coming up in April,
We've got the Asian American and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Night.
(13:39):
We're going to have Pride Night. Of course, we're going
to celebrate Juneteenth. We've got our Latino Heritage Night that's
going to be sponsored by Visa, and we'll end with
our fan Appreciation Night. And I should say that our
home opener on March twenty second at seven pm at
PayPal Park is going to be sponsored by Sutter and
we're going to have.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
A great night that night. That is awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
And how have the Bay Area companies come to support BAFC.
I mean this is just the second season, but you
guys have had such success and you mentioned Sutter, so.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, look, the Bay Area is one
of the most powerful centers of business in the world,
and that's another thing that makes us special, you know,
business and innovation. I would say that's kind of what
we're known for in the world. And we have been
so proud and grateful for how the business community has
shown up for us. We have Sutter Health as our
(14:32):
kit sponsor. We have Visa as a sponsor, Trader Joe's,
PNC Bank, Ross Bank of America. Right, we have got
these incredible companies who believed in us. Frankly, you know,
before we'd ever taken the field. In some cases they said, hey,
we understand the dream, we know that this can be
a global sports franchise, and we want to get in early.
(14:54):
So we're really grateful to our early partners, and we're
out talking to more partners now. We want to ask
we want to add to the portfolio.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Well, as that portfolio grows, hopefully the support for women's
sports and women's soccer as a whole will grow as well.
What do you hope to see in the next five years?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
My goal is that it is a must watch event.
I was reflecting on this a lot yesterday with the
Super Bowl, right, I mean, I was shopping in stores
a few hours before, picking up some stuff we were
having people over, and the people in the stores were like,
what time does the game start? Because everyone's going to
be gone, like it's game day. And I thought, like,
they're not even saying it's Super Bowl Sunday. They're like,
(15:35):
it's game day. And I was thinking like, we need
women's soccer to be that, and it's going to take
years to do that, Like the Super Bowl is a
very distinctly American tradition, but I think just given the
fan momentum we have for women's soccer and the fact
we have a new meteorite steal in the league where
we have a lot more games out there and a
(15:56):
lot more platforms. So if you want to watch streaming,
you want to watch laws, you want to watch local
However you want to watch, you can, which is the
most important thing in getting viewers. You know, we need
it to be must watch. The other thing that I
would really like to see in five years is that
the athletes are really celebrated, right, Like when you come
to a BAFC game, you know the backstory on all
(16:17):
of the starting eleven and a bunch of our subs,
and you're just excited to say, like, oh my gosh,
look at the you know, there's Rachel on the pitch.
She just scored a brace in her last game, and
like we want to see if she can do it again, right,
And so I want everyone to really understand the athletes
and be really excited to engage with them.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
So for people who don't know there were two previous
women's professional soccer leagues and they didn't make it. And
so what would you say or some of the barriers
or challenges in making your dream come true of it
of the BFC and the National Women's Soccer League being
a must watch event.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
You know, I think that it's one of the reasons
I think a lot of us who work at BFC
and work in the league, we don't always sleep well
at night. I would say because we feel this responsibility
to build this. I think we need to have incredible
fan experiences in our stadiums. We need to sell out
the stadiums. By the way, I think at BFC we're
(17:14):
doing a great job of this. So if you haven't
caught one of our matches, came down to PayPal park
and watch. But you need to have an incredibly compelling
fan experience. You need to have great merch right, a
great brand that people are proud to be a part of.
You need to tell player stories. So if you follow
us at we are BFC on our social media, we
(17:35):
spend a lot of time telling the story of our
players so that everyone can get to know them and
all the teams need to do that, and then you
need great broadcasts on great networks, and so I think
you kind of got to have the whole infrastructure going.
And then the corollary to that for those of us
on the business side is we need to build big, robust,
(17:56):
successful businesses so that we can pay the athletes more
so that then they're profiles are raised. Right, it's a
virtuous cycle of you get the fans, you get the sponsors,
you support the players, and it just magnifies on itself.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Well, the league has attendance numbers that are literally rivaling
NBA and NHL games.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
MLS games one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
What do you think is fueling this shift towards women's
sports as a whole.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Number one, I think people are coming to NWOSL games
because they're an amazing sporting experience. And I think from
a women's soccer perspective, we're very lucky in this country
because in a lot of ways, soccer is women's first,
just based on the success of the US women's national team.
So I think we have a great on field product
that people are very open to, and then teams are
(18:44):
very focused on creating a great in stadium experience. But
I also think there's a generational attitudinal shift, right, Like,
you know, I've got two young kids. I've got a
ten year old son and a well she's fourteen today,
a fourteen year old daughter. And what I notice with
their peers and their friends is they don't differentiate men's
(19:06):
and women's sports. They just want to see a great
sporting experience, right. The girls in my daughter school are
the boys in my daughter school. I'll come to cheer
for the girls, and vice versa. My son has Idols
and his teammates of Idols who are women's players. So
I think there is like a lot of hang ups
maybe for you know, previous generations who think sports is
(19:27):
a men's activity. But I don't really think the future
is that and I don't think that young people feel
that way, and I know, coming to our games, our
fans don't feel that way.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
I love that you mentioned that you are a soccer mom.
It's kind of crazy.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
You're like, Okay, I'm the CEO of this big, you know,
women's major league team and also cooking dinner and being
a soccer mom.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
How do you balance that?
Speaker 3 (19:53):
You know, I think it's like any working parent, imperfectly.
You know, some days you get your balance right, some
days your major out of whack. On either side, I'm lucky.
I have an incredibly supportive husband who is carrying the
weight with me. I think everyone needs a supportive partner.
It's imperfect, it's a journey, and I try to give
(20:13):
myself grace and do the best I can. Right, I'm
pretty ruthless in my priorities, So it's like, you know,
my husband and my kids first, my job second. I
try to work out sometimes and then other than that,
that's pretty much what I've got going on.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
What do you do for fun to just relax?
Speaker 3 (20:33):
I love to go for a run. The berry is
so beautiful and so much natural beauty. I love to
cook dinner for my family, and I do love to
read trashy novels.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Okay, what's a good one?
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Oh my goodness, it's whatever I can pick up at
the airport and read on a plane.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Any goals for the second season of BAYFC.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
We've got a big one and we're stating it and
you'll hear it from anyone associated with BFC. We want
to host a home game playoff match this season. We
want to give that to our fans. It's a goal
for the whole football operations side, the whole business side.
We are gearing up. You have to be in the
top four in the league to host a home playoff match,
(21:17):
and that's that's our target.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Well, if your first season is any indication of what's
to come, I have no doubt that you will reach
your goal. And if you're interested in purchasing tickets and
being a part of this movement in the Bay Area
that is BAFC single game tickets are on sale now
for the twenty twenty five twenty twenty sixth season at
BAFC dot com forward slash Tickets or you can just
(21:41):
click the ticket link on the homepage and there's tons
of options and price points, which makes it really accessible.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
We want everyone to be able to go to our games.
It's it's really important to us and different than some
of the other you know, sports in the Bay Area.
You should be able to come to our game with
your family and have it not break the But yeah,
we've got little mini plans. So say you want to
come on only on Saturday nights, or you want to
come to the big SoCal rivalry matches only, don't worry.
(22:09):
We got you taken care of the other thing. If
you want to go with a group, we can put
together some really incredible group experiences for people, and our
group tickets are on sale now, so you can buy
group tickets from us. And then our single game tickets
are on sale now, so if you just want to
go to one, which is fine, they're all wonderful games.
(22:31):
Single game tickets are on sale now at BFC dot com.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
All right, well, thank you so much, Brady Stewart, Chief
executive Officer of BFC. We're looking forward to seeing a
home playoff game played at PayPal Park in San Jose
this upcoming season and more good things to come from BFC.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
This is only the second of hopefully one hundred and more.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
There you go. I like that.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Thank you again to Brady Stewart, and thank you so
much for taking the time to check out another episode
of CEOs. You should know the podcast that focuses on
the innovative and forward thinking leaders of companies that matter
to you. And if you're interested in checking out more episodes,
you can find us on our free iHeartRadio app or
wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Christy James and I'll
(23:15):
talk to you next time,
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