The seven-time NBA Champion Golden State Warriors have been awarded a WNBA expansion team, it was announced Thursday by WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. The team will begin play in the 2025 season, making it the first new franchise to join the league since 2008.
The new team will be owned and operated by Warriors Co-Executive Chairman and CEO Joe Lacob and Co-Executive Chairman Peter Guber, and will play home games at Chase Center in San Francisco. Additionally, Golden State’s Oakland Facility, which served as the Warriors’ practice facility and front office from 1997-2019, will be the WNBA team’s headquarters, housing a world-class practice facility and the team’s front office staff.
“We are thrilled about expanding to the Bay Area and bringing the WNBA to a region with passionate basketball fans and a strong history of supporting women’s basketball,” said Engelbert. “Joe Lacob, Peter Guber and their leadership team know how to build and operate a world-class organization, as witnessed by the immense success the Warriors’ franchise has enjoyed from both a business and basketball perspective over the last decade. Their interest in joining the WNBA family is yet another sign of the league’s growth potential.”
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The Warriors become the sixth NBA franchise to have a WNBA team, joining the Indiana Pacers (Indiana Fever), Minnesota Timberwolves (Minnesota Lynx), Brooklyn Nets (New York Liberty,) Phoenix Suns (Phoenix Mercury), and Washington Wizards (Washington Mystics).
“The Bay Area is the perfect market for a WNBA team, and we are thrilled this opportunity has finally come to fruition,” said Warriors Co-Executive Chairman & CEO Joe Lacob. “We have been interested in a WNBA franchise for several years, due in part to the rich history of women’s basketball in the Bay Area, and believe now is the ideal time to execute that vision and build upon the legacy. The WNBA continues to solidify itself as the preeminent women’s professional basketball league, and we look forward to supporting the best women’s basketball players in the world and our team starting in 2025.”
The 2023 WNBA regular season delivered record-breaking viewership, attendance and digital engagement as the league continues its business transformation. The offseason featured the most-viewed WNBA Draft since 2004, followed by a sold-out preseason game in Toronto, the most-watched regular season in 21 years and a digital transformation centered on the WNBA App and WNBA.com. Other highlights this year included the addition of CarMax as a WNBA Changemaker and ION as a broadcast partner.
For more information regarding Golden State’s WNBA franchise, please visit https://www.wnba.com/golden-state.
