Bay FC set to play first women’s pro sports event at Wrigley Field since 1943

Kayla Sharples is a Chicago kid, through and through. She went to Naperville North High School, then attended Northwestern University. She was drafted by the Chicago Red Stars. On Saturday, Sharples and Bay FC will play in the Windy City’s most renowned venue — and make history in the process.

Bay FC will face off against the Chicago Red Stars at Wrigley Field at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, the first professional women’s sporting event held at the ballpark since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League hosted the stadium’s first night game in 1943.

“Wrigley Field is an iconic and historic stadium,” Sharples said. “There’s so much history that’s (been here), and along with that, there’s been so much excitement, so much interest and engagement through audiences. I’m hoping that with this game being played here, we’ll just continue to see women’s sports grow, the interest and love in the game of soccer grow, and the city of Chicago be in support of women’s soccer moving forward.”

There is a realistic chance that Saturday’s match at Wrigley Field, which has a capacity of 41,649, breaks the National Women’s Soccer League attendance record. The current attendance record is 34,130, set in October 2023 at Seattle’s Lumen Field for Megan Rapinoe’s final match. The Red Stars expect the biggest crowd in their club’s history.

“It’s almost a fun competition of teams trying to set the attendance records,” said Red Stars goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher. “You’re always trying to do that. It’s great. I think it pushes each team to continue to invest and continue to make opportunities for moments like this. It’s just great to see the growth of women’s sports in general and specifically women’s soccer.”

The match comes at a time when interest in women’s sports across the country is at an all-time high. That includes right here in the Bay Area.

Bay FC is in the midst of its first season in the NWSL. In 2025, the Golden State Valkyries will join the WNBA — and the excitement is already palpable. That same year, the Oakland Soul will go from the USL W League, a fourth-division, pre-professional women’s league, to the USL Super League, a new Division I league. On Thursday, Kelsie Whitmore of the Oakland Ballers became the first woman to start in a Pioneer League game.

Wrigley Field will, of course, play different from a typical pitch. The dimensions of the playing surface have not been released, but a 2012 friendly match played there reportedly featured a pitch width of 62 yards, 12 yards slimmer than FIFA’s recommended size.

Naher, the U.S. 2019 World Cup-winning keeper, said the Red Stars talked with the stadium’s grounds crew about prior experiences of playing on baseball fields, noting what does and doesn’t work.

“You have to stay with the same principles,” said Chicago head coach Lorne Donaldson. “It’s a smaller field, but you make some adjustments. We know it’s not one team that’s playing on it; it’s both teams. There has to be a little bit of an adjustment, but it’s still football.”

Added Bay FC head coach Albertin Montoya: “We’re going to try to play our way, but you have to make adjustments to the field. We’ve worked a little bit on that this week at practice with some adjustments. It’s going to be a tight field, but we’ll make it a lot of fun.”