Bay FC Brings Star Wars Themed Match to PayPal Park in April

From the Caltrain platform at 4th and King in SoMa, PayPal Park is a train ride south and a 20-minute walk east. Bay FC is betting that a $34 ticket bundled with a limited-edition Star Wars x Bay FC collectible soccer ball makes that commute feel like a bargain for San Francisco families planning a Friday night out.

The club announced its first-ever Star Wars Match on April 2, scheduled for Friday, April 17 at PayPal Park in San Jose, where Bay FC will host Ottawa Rapid FC of Canada's Northern Super League in an international friendly kicking off at 7 p.m. The special ticket bundle includes one match ticket and one co-branded Star Wars soccer ball, available while supplies last. Bay FC has not announced a specific unit count, and the ball will not be sold separately, making the bundle the only way to secure one.

At $34, the bundle costs roughly half what a comparable outing to a Giants or Warriors game with team merchandise typically runs. The in-stadium program will include a costume contest, Star Wars Trivia, and themed entertainment throughout the night.

Getting to PayPal Park without a car from San Francisco runs on two main routes. Caltrain departures from 4th and King reach the Santa Clara station, from which fans walk roughly 15 to 20 minutes east along Brokaw Avenue and right onto Coleman Avenue to the stadium entrance, with other fans making the route easy to navigate on match nights. BART riders can take the Orange or Green line to Berryessa/North San Jose and board Bay FC's complimentary shuttle, which runs before and after each match.

The Star Wars night arrives as Bay FC has spent months building an explicit pipeline into San Francisco neighborhoods. The club's Players of Tomorrow all-girls soccer league, developed in partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco, Street Soccer USA, and Visa, held its inaugural end-of-year tournament in December at Visa Street Soccer Park at the Crossing in downtown San Francisco, drawing more than 70 girls from Boys & Girls Clubs locations across the city. Bay FC midfielder Joelle Anderson appeared at the event. In March, the club announced that Players of Tomorrow participants were designing their own team kits through a program with Design FC; the finished uniforms are set to be unveiled later in 2026.

Bay FC is not the only Bay Area club leaning on the Star Wars license this spring. The San Jose Earthquakes will stage their own themed night at PayPal Park on May 16, offering a Grogu bobblehead bundle. That both clubs are using the same intellectual property at the same venue within a month of each other underscores how fully pop-culture activations have embedded themselves in Northern California sports. For Bay FC, which built its San Francisco presence through youth courts in underserved neighborhoods before it ever sold a Star Wars soccer ball, April 17 is a test of whether that groundwork translates to a full stadium on a Friday night.