Bay Area WPS Team Next Week To Announce GM, Team Name, Stadium

The new Bay Area Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) team next Wednesday will announce that former WUSA San Jose CyberRays Dir of Operations Ilisa Kessler has been named the team's new GM, according to Elliott Almond of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. Kessler teaches at the Univ. of San Francisco's Sport Management Graduate program and has been "working with the team since October." The team Wednesday also will unveil its name and that it will play its home games at Santa Clara Univ.'s (SCU) Buck Shaw Stadium. The club will join the MLS Earthquakes in using the stadium, making SCU the "epicenter of Bay Area soccer." Sources indicated that the Earthquakes "will have priority in scheduling." The Earthquakes "paid for upgrades to Buck Shaw, including a new scoreboard and lighting and expanded capacity" to 10,500 seats (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 11/14).