'It's Time': Bay Area Sports Fans Buzzing Over Possibility of Warriors Adding WNBA Team

The recent rumors that have Bay Area sports fans buzzing may indeed be true.

The Golden State Warriors are one step closer to bringing a new WNBA team to the Bay Area, a Warriors spokesperson confirmed this week.

“This is long overdue, and I’m super excited that the Warriors understand the importance of the WNBA and its value. I think the Bay Area will support a WNBA team in an amazing way,” Cal women’s basketball head coach Charmin Smith told KQED. “Our staff has been texting about it, I know our players are going to be thrilled about it as well.”

Many details have yet to be released, but if a deal is reached, the professional women’s basketball team would likely play its games at the Chase Center in San Francisco — where the Warriors play — but would hold practices and conduct business at the Warriors practice facility in downtown Oakland.

“We have had productive conversations with the WNBA and look forward to the possibility of being a part of the league’s expansion plans,” Raymond Ridder, a Warriors spokesperson, said in an email. “However, it would be premature to assume any potential agreement has been finalized.”

An official announcement could come as early as October, the Athletic reports.

“I’m super excited that we’re going to have an opportunity to expand the WNBA,” said Molly Goodenbour, head coach for women’s basketball at the University of San Francisco. “The fan base is here in the Bay Area and I think it would be really well supported.”

Government officials are sharing the enthusiasm.

“The possibility of a new WNBA franchise coming to the Bay Area is an incredibly exciting possibility, and we are hopeful it becomes reality,” said San Francisco Mayor London Breed in a statement from her office. “San Francisco is lucky to have amazing sports teams that are central to who we are as a city and that support our economy and communities, and we would love to see that grow.”

Oakland Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan has been pushing for a WNBA team to come to Oakland. In September 2022, Kaplan introduced a resolution urging the league to make Oakland the home for its newest team.

Kaplan could not be reached in time for publication on the latest update about the new WNBA team.

“This is a great opportunity to be part of the Oakland team. The town is missing its sports,” said Cal Coach Smith, referring to how the Raiders left Oakland in 2019 and how the A’s have expressed intentions to leave as well. “This does fill a huge void and give people on this side of the Bay something to be proud of again.”

When asked about how the team would likely play its games in San Francisco, the coach added: “It would be great to be able to hop on BART and have it be a one-stop thing like we were used to when the Warriors and A’s were both in Oakland,” Smith said. “But the most important thing is to have this WNBA team here, and not have to fly to see the Sparks or the Aces.”

If the deal comes to fruition, the WNBA team would join a growing group of new women’s teams in the Bay Area. That includes the recently announced professional soccer team, Bay FC, slated to begin playing in 2024, and the Oakland Soul, a second-tier soccer team that launched earlier this year.

“Our fans would be thrilled to have players that they watched in college come back and play, or even play for the Bay Area team,” said Tara VanDerveer, head women’s basketball coach at Stanford. “It’s so exciting, and I’m very hopeful that this will actually come to fruition.”

The Bay Area basketball team would become the 13th franchise in the WNBA, a league founded in 1997 that hasn’t introduced a new team since bringing on the Atlanta Dream in 2008. The Bay Area has never had a professional women’s basketball team, and Sacramento’s WNBA team, the Monarchs, folded in 2009.

“I’m excited for more opportunities for women,” USF Coach Goodenbour said. “It’s time and there’s an audience there.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated  that “several sources” confirmed the potential WNBA deal. Rather, it was a single source: Raymond Ridder, a Warriors spokesperson.

KQED reporter Tara Siler contributed to this story.