After years of conversations, the WNBA is coming to the Bay Area. The WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, officially announced an expansion franchise in San Francisco will begin to play in 2025. 

The team will be owned by the Warriors Executive Chairman and CEO Joe Lacob and Co-Executive Chairman Peter Guber. They will practice in the Warriors’ former practice facility and front office in Oakland, but will play games at Chase Center in San Francisco. 

According to Lacob, the new WNBA franchise will most likely be known as “Golden State” like the Warriors, to represent the entire Bay Area. The team name or mascot has yet to be announced. 

Lacob also intends the new Bay Area team to be as successful as the Warriors, who won four NBA championships in the past 10 seasons, becoming one of the biggest franchises in the world. 

“It’ll open women’s basketball and will put basketball out there in the Bay Area,” said Tallyah Nasol ’27. “This is definitely a great decision to come here.”

The Warriors become the sixth NBA team to have a WNBA team, which include the Washington Wizards, Brooklyn Nets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Indiana Pacers, and Phoenix Suns. 

“I think it’s going to be awesome,” said Campus Safety Team member Scott Chiesa. “It’s a perfect city to have a WNBA Team.”

The WNBA continues to grow as the 2023 regular season delivered a record of viewership, attendance, and digital engagement as it’s turning to a business. The 2023 WNBA Draft was the most viewed since the 2004 draft. The attendance has risen by 16 percent. 

“We’re coming in here, number one, to win,” Lacob told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. “Number two, we want to see this league and women’s basketball grow, and we hope to be a big part of it.”