San Jose is hosting the NWSL championship game for the first time Saturday — and if you ask Commissioner Jessica Berman, there may be no better stage for the league’s biggest night.

“When we went through the expansion process back in 2022–23, it was so clear that it was actually a travesty that professional women’s soccer wasn’t here in the Bay Area,” Berman said Thursday. “The history of the sport in this area, both from college as well as the icons of the Women’s National Team that grew up playing here. It was so clear that a team would be successful here.”

Despite the presence of two East Coast teams, the Washington Spirit and Gotham FC, Berman said she expected a sellout on Saturday at PayPal Park, the home of Bay FC.

Co-founded by Santa Clara University alumni Aly Wagner, Brandi Ch

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