On Thursday, BMO announced a huge investment into the soccer community in the Los Angeles area. They will be the new naming sponsor of BMO Stadium, the home of LAFC and Angel City FC, which had been known as the Banc of California Stadium since its opening in 2018.

While the announcement nationwide will likely be focused on MLS naming rights, BMO was committed to providing equitable investment in the premier L.A. club on the women’s side. As such, they have also joined Angel City as a new Founding Partner.

“BMO came to us,” Angel City president and co-owner Julie Uhrman tells Just Women’s Sports. “It was pretty incredible to receive their call because they talked about having a commitment to equity in sports. Here’s a real opportunity to have equity and support the local men’s and women’s team, and they’re doing just that.”

In preliminary sponsorship conversations, the sides quickly found that their values aligned, Uhrman says. BMO and ACFC will donate 10 percent of the sponsorship dollars back into the community through the Angel City Sponsorship Model. In this case, those funds will go to Girls Play Los Angeles, supporting over 400 high school-aged girls and non-binary youth across L.A. with no-cost access to soccer. They will also be launching a collaborative content series that highlights equity discussions in the community.

While Angel City has found early success with fan buy-in and a wealth of brand partnerships, they are still bound by the inherent difficulties of being an expansion team in one of the largest cities in the U.S.

“Any independent club has challenges, because when you don’t control your own destiny, you are by default at the mercy of those that do,” Uhrman says. “We have challenges when it comes time to scheduling or when it comes to branding the stadium. And we have challenges when we have partners that differ from the partners of the stadium owner.”

Angel City spent a significant amount of time and money making the ACFC experience feel unique to women’s soccer in 2022, and the response from the club’s fanbase has been equal in measure. As Uhrman says, “As we go into 2023, our investment [in game day] is actually going down because at the end of the day, it’s the community that makes it feel like an Angel City game.”

Outside of game day, Uhrman describes BMO’s founding partnership as more than a 12-day-a-year commitment as the team looks to expand its resources from its inaugural year. Facilities have been at the forefront of the NWSL conversation in recent months. A number of top free agents have specifically cited the Kansas City Current’s ownership of exclusive training facilities and an upcoming women’s soccer-specific stadium as a draw for talent.

ACFC × BMO • Committed to equity in sport and helping to grow the game in North America#WeAreAngelCity pic.twitter.com/vTMzyA2XQi

— Angel City FC (@weareangelcity) January 19, 2023

As a brand-new team in a tight real estate market like L.A., Angel City is constantly working toward progressing their facility standards. Uhrman acknowledges they aren’t yet where they would like to be.

“We’ve been really vocal with our Angel City players that we have high expectations, that we want to set the bar from a practice and training facility perspective,” she says, emphasizing that constant communication is important with projects that take time.

“We recognize this is a value to players when they choose a team to play for, so us not having [our own facilities] does set us back, but we hope they understand what we’re trying to achieve and that we’re working on it every single, day and in the meantime creating the best environment we can,” she says.

While Angel City are tenants at their current training facility, they have made sure the team has a dedicated field of its own. They have also made progress with resources like a weight room and staff meeting areas, Uhrman says.

The club is still working on securing a dedicated space for the future, which Uhrman says “is looking really good” and is a process they began as far back as 2020, though the learning curve of their inaugural year was a steep one.

“2022 was rocky,” Uhrman says. “But we believed we got better, and by the end of the season it was significantly better. And it I think also brought us closer with our players because they felt listened to and they felt heard and they saw the work that we were doing to get there.”

Ultimately, as NWSL clubs forge a new path in a complicated sports landscape, having the resources to independently pursue the best available path without being tied to the fortunes of an MLS side will be paramount. BMO’s commitment is a big step toward that end goal for Angel City.

“When you’re treated like a professional athlete, when you’re given the resources and tools of a professional athlete, when you’re not talking about equity between men and women because you actually are getting the best that’s available,” Uhrman says, “you see the results in the performance.”

Claire Watkins is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @ScoutRipley.

Cameron Brink already has her rookie of the year pick for the upcoming WNBA season, and it’s Indiana-bound star Caitlin Clark. 

In the latest edition of Kelley on the Street, host Kelley O'Hara caught up with Brink in New York hours before the Stanford phenom went No. 2 overall to the Los Angeles Sparks at the 2024 WNBA Draft. When O’Hara asked who would win the WNBA's rookie of the year, she answered without pause.

"Caitlin Clark," she said, while a fan commented that she thought Brink would take home the award. Brink later added that the extra foul granted to WNBA players will be "good for me."

"I hope it’s me," Charisma Osborne, who was later drafted by the Phoenix Mercury, said when asked her ROY prediction. "But, I don’t know — we’ll see."

Watch more of Kelley on the Street:

Maria Sanchez issued a statement on Thursday, confirming recent reports that she has requested a trade from the Houston Dash. 

In it, she revealed that the club has been aware of the request "since late March."

"This has all taken a toll and isn’t an easy thing to talk about, but I want to confirm that I’ve requested an immediate trade," she wrote. "My expectations and reasons have been clear. I trust that my current club’s management will honor my decision in a timely manner and proceed with accepting a trade."

"I’m eager to refocus and dive back into what I love most: playing football," she concluded.

Thank you, everyone, for the outpouring of kindness and support. pic.twitter.com/gcnN7dhCJU

— Maria Sanchez (@Maria17_7) April 19, 2024

Reports of Sanchez's trade request first surfaced on ESPN last week, and were later confirmed by multiple sources. 

In December of last year, Sanchez signed a three-year contract with the Dash valued at $1.5 million including bonuses and an option year. It was the largest contract in NWSL history at the time — a figure that would be eclipsed by multiple contracts in the following months. 

Sanchez spent the offseason as a restricted free agent, meaning that Houston could match any other team's offer to retain her rights. Should the Dash trade Sanchez, her current contract terms would remain intact, limiting potential buyers to teams able to afford to take on an inking of that size.

The Dash has yet to address the trade, instead reiterating to ESPN that Sanchez is "under contract, a choice she made in free agency at the end of 2023." 

Both the NWSL trade window and transfer window close tonight, April 19th, at 12 a.m. ET. The window will stay closed through the next 11 regular season games, reopening on August 1st, 2024.

The four-time league champion Seattle Storm unveiled their new practice facility on Thursday, with Storm co-owner Lisa Brummel dubbing Interbay's Seattle Storm Center for Basketball Performance the team’s "new home."

"It's just such a special space," Brummel told Fox 13 Seattle. "I think when the players get here, it's gonna be overwhelming."

The sprawling 50,000-square-foot, $64 million property is just the second designated practice facility to be designed and built expressly for a WNBA team, with the Storm further noting that 85% of all design and engineering team members involved in the project's construction were women and people of color. The finished product holds two professional indoor courts, two 3x3 outdoor courts, a state-of-the-art locker room, and players' lounge, plus designated areas for strength and conditioning, kitchen, dining, and nutrition, and recovery. 

"This facility reflects our commitment to providing our athletes an exceptional environment that supports their growth, health, and performance," said Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder in an official team release. "It’s built for women, by women, embodying our dedication to leading the way in professional women’s sports."

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For their part, the team can't wait to make the faciilty their own.

"It's amazing," Storm guard Jewell Loyd told Fox 13. "Not having to drive everywhere around, knowing you have access anytime of the day to get into the gym, to workout." 

Head coach Noelle Quinn said she predicts the team is "never going to leave this building."

"Which is a good thing for me," she continued. "You talk about having an edge in performance. We want our athletes to not only perform on the court, but get whatever they need."

All of the Storm's staff and operations will now live under one roof, and the team also has plans to launch a youth basketball program operating out of the building.

The Caitlin Clark effect is quickly making its mark on the big leagues, as WNBA host teams around the country rush to upgrade their Fever games to larger arenas in order to accommodate surging ticket sales.

With Clark mere weeks away from her Indiana Fever debut, both the Las Vegas Aces and Washington Mystics have officially relocated their scheduled home games with head coach Christie Sides' squad. On Thursday, the Mystics became the latest to adjust their plans, moving their June 7th matchup from Entertainment & Sports Arena in Southwest DC to the more centrally located — and much larger — Capital One Arena "due to unprecedented demand."

The Mystics home court's capacity taps out at 4,200, while Capital One Arena — home to the Wizards, Capitals, and Georgetown Hoya's Men's Basketball — can fit nearly five times that crowd at some 20,000 spectators.

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"The move to Capital One Arena will allow for additional fans in the stands as well as premium hospitality options, including Suites and the all-new all-inclusive courtside Hennessy Lofts," the team announced via Thursday's press release.

The Aces were one of the first teams to switch venues, aiming to take on the Indiana Fever in front of as many as 20,000 fans inside T-Mobile Arena on July 2nd. That’s a sizable a boost from their home venue, which holds just 12,000.

For those still planning to face the Fever in their home arenas, ticket prices have skyrocketed. Previously scheduled construction has already forced the LA Sparks to relocate their first five games — including their May 24th clash with the Fever — to Long Beach State's Walter Pyramid. The temporary venue is quite the downsize, holding just 4,000 in comparison to Crypto.com Arena's near-19,000. As of Friday, the get-in price for that game started around $400.

Despite fans launching a Change.org petition urging relocation, the Chicago Sky say they're unable to move their June 23rd Fever meeting from Wintrust Arena's 10,000-seat facility to the 23,500-seat United Center due to a concert. Tickets for that game start around $325 as of Friday.