Golden State Warriors president Brandon Schneider, left, owner Joe Lacob, second from left, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, center, owner Peter Gruber, and Mayor London Breed, right, at Chase Center on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023, in San Francisco, Calif. The Women’s National Basketball Association announced the Golden State Warriors have been awarded an expansion franchise for the 2025 season. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO — Shortly after the Warriors were awarded a WNBA franchise, Joe Lacob couldn’t help but reference the same promise he made to Warriors fans when he bought the NBA franchise in 2010.
“I am telling you right now, we will win a WNBA championship in the first five years of this franchise,” Lacob said Thursday.
Patience is not a word often used in describing Lacob. That’s clear with his bold goal of turning a team building a roster from scratch into a title-winning team in five years. But when it comes to his pursuit of bringing a WNBA team to the Bay Area, that’s exactly what he demonstrated, former Warriors president Rick Welts said.
The Warriors on two occasions tried to bring a team to Northern California — in 2013 when the Los Angeles Sparks’ future was uncertain and in 2017 when the San Antonio Stars, now the Las Vegas Aces, were up for sale.
The timing wasn’t right in either instance, Lacob concluded. But now, with the pandemic in the rearview mirror, Chase Center up and running for three years and the WNBA’s valuation soaring, Lacob’s long-held dream of getting a women’s professional basketball team back in the Bay Area is finally coming true.
The WNBA announced Thursday that the Warriors would be part of its first league expansion since 2008.
The team, which has yet to be named, will tip off its inaugural season in 2025, playing at Chase Center while practicing and being stationed at the Warriors’ Oakland facility.
“If you know anything about me, I have things on my list, this is one of them,” Lacob said. “I’ve wanted to do this and it hurt me not to be able to do this for our fans and the fans of women’s basketball in the Bay Area… This is simply the best market in the United States, this is it. Everyone knows this.”
Many among the Warriors were thrilled that a team was finally coming to the Bay.
“This is such a basketball hotbed already and a place that really is going to embrace women’s basketball,” Steve Kerr said. “I’m so happy that it’s actually happening and I’m excited to see where it goes from here.”
“There’s no better time for growing women’s basketball and sports in general and invest in the game,” Stephen Curry said.
Klay Thompson grew up watching the Portland Fire before moving to Southern California, where he watched the Sparks, led by Lisa Leslie, win two titles.
“Hopefully, now in my adulthood, I can see some WNBA championships brought to the Bay,” Thompson said. “This is a special day.”
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the Warriors paid a “record-breaking expansion fee” but declined to share specifics. Sportico reported Lacob’s group will pay $50 million, just $3 million shy of what Bay FC paid out earlier this year to bring an NWSL team to the area next summer.
Lacob is the type of owner the WNBA needs to buy in. His fierce commitment to winning and proven track record of providing resources to help strengthen an organization should help the WNBA continue its ascension.
“We are not dummies, we know what we’re doing. We know why this is a great time,” Lacob said. “We know why this is a great sport to be involved in, and we intend to make great winning teams here. But we also intend to build a great business.”
“We’re doing it all first-class and first-rate, and we already have the facilities, we have this,” Lacob added, gesturing at Chase Center. “Don’t have to invest in the facilities… Now we can invest in the team and the building revenues and getting the right people on staff and making this a great business, a great organization.”
Lacob delivered on his first promise when the Warriors won their first of four titles in 2015. Can he do it again?
While the answer to that question is unclear now, Welts is certain Lacob and Warriors co-owner Peter Guber will invest and put the WNBA franchise in the best position to succeed.
They care most about winning and they care very much about how they go about doing that,” said Welts, who is on the board for Bay FC. “I think that’s the kind of motivated ownership that leads to sustained success for professional sports franchises and the Warriors are a perfect example of that. And I’d expect nothing less from the WNBA team.”
Originally published at Madeline Kenney