Bay Area basketball could get a huge boost in the near future.
On Tuesday night, Marcus Thompson of The Athletic reported that the Warriors ownership group is close to a deal to bring a WNBA franchise to The Bay, with the team to practice in Oakland and play their games in Chase Center.
Earlier this year, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the Bay Area made sense as an expansion market, as the team aims to add two new teams by 2025. According to Thompson, “The deal is not completed, sources stressed, as several details still need to be worked out.”
It’s worth noting that the Warriors’ bid may have been picked over a concurrent bid from the African-American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG), which currently owns 50 percent of the Oakland Coliseum site and was trying to lure a WNBA franchise to play at the Oakland Arena, which housed the Warriors for 47 seasons from 1971-2019.
If Joe Lacob and his ownership group can get the deal done, you can imagine that the WNBA franchise would be immensely popular due to its affiliation with the Warriors and ability to play at Chase Center. Lacob and Co. have turned the Warriors into an absolute juggernaut since buying the team for $450 million in 2010, as Golden State was valued at $7 billion by Forbes last year.
The Warriors would also be wise to have Steph Curry be an ambassador (or part owner?) of the WNBA franchise, as he has been a champion of women’s sports throughout the years and could lend his celebrity to raise the profile of the organization. Considering that BayFC of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) is in the process of launching a new franchise – with the investment of people like Andre Iguodala – the profile of Bay Area women’s sports is on the rise in the coming years.
