Current:Home > BackWNBA officially puts team in San Francisco Bay Area, expansion draft expected in late 2024-LoTradeCoin
WNBA officially puts team in San Francisco Bay Area, expansion draft expected in late 2024
View Date:2024-12-23 23:44:15
The Golden State Warriors have officially been awarded a WNBA franchise, the league announced Thursday, the first time since 2008 that the WNBA has expanded.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert opened Thursday’s press conference by saying that since she came into the league in 2019, she has been asked one question repeatedly: When is the WNBA going to expand?
“My answer was always, when the time is right,” she said. “Well, the right time, the right moment is today.”
She also mentioned that the Bay Area is where “some of the greatest moments of basketball have taken place,” a nod to the success of the Warriors and Stanford women's basketball.
2023 WNBA PLAYOFFS:Finals schedule, scores and award winners
Play for the new franchise – the name and mascot of which have not yet been decided – will begin in 2025. Engelbert has previously said that she wanted two expansions teams to join the league for play in 2025, which she reiterated Thursday. That means another expansion announcement should be coming soon. The Next reported Thursday that Portland, Oregon, is expected to be the other expansion city.
Engelbert said after the conclusion of the WNBA Finals, which tip off Sunday, the WNBA’s Board of Governors will figure out details for an expansion draft – likely to be held at the end of 2024.
“The depth and talent of this league and of the women’s college basketball has never been better,” Engelbert said.
The Bay Area team will be headquartered and practice in Oakland, at the Warriors’ practice facility, but play its games at the Chase Center in San Francisco. Ownership will be led by Warriors co-executive chairman and CEO Joe Lacob – who previously owned the San Jose Lasers of the ABL – and co-executive chairman Peter Guber.
“Th league is ready for this expansion,” Lacob said. “Women’s basketball is taking off. Women’s sports, in general, is taking off in a bigger way.”
Then he made a promise, one familiar to Warriors fans who remember his first press conference after buying Golden State in 2010: “We will win a WNBA championship in the first five years of this franchise,” Lacob said.
He made good on that pledge as it related to the Warriors.
The Warriors will become the sixth NBA franchise to have a WNBA team, joining the Brooklyn Nets (New York Liberty), Phoenix Suns (Phoenix Mercury), Minnesota Timberwolves (Minnesota Lynx), Washington Wizards (Washington Mystics) and Indiana Pacers (Indiana Fever).
The WNBA last expanded in 2008, when it added the Atlanta Dream.
veryGood! (795)
Related
- Kentucky governor says investigators will determine what caused deadly Louisville factory explosion
- When Natural Gas Prices Cool, Flares Burn in the Permian Basin
- Who is Francis Scott Key? What to know about the namesake of collapsed Baltimore bridge
- Maxwell announces concert tour with Jazmine Sullivan. Here's how to get tickets
- World leaders aim to shape Earth's future at COP29 climate change summit
- Who is Francis Scott Key? What to know about the namesake of collapsed Baltimore bridge
- High school teacher and students sue over Arkansas’ ban on critical race theory
- You Season 5: You'll Kill to See Penn Badgley's Return to New York in First Look Photo
- Kentucky gets early signature win at Champions Classic against Duke | Opinion
- When your boss gives you an unfair review, here's how to respond. Ask HR
Ranking
- NFL Week 10 winners, losers: Cowboys' season can no longer be saved
- Photography becomes new pastime for MLB legends Randy Johnson and Ken Griffey Jr.
- TEA Business College Patents
- The 10 Best Ballet Flats of 2024 That Are Chic, Comfy, and Will Never Go Out of Style
- Record-setting dry conditions threaten more US wildfires, drinking water supplies
- Last Call for the Amazon Big Spring Sale: Here Are the 41 Best Last-Minute Deals
- The government says to destroy these invasive, fuzzy mud-looking masses. Here's why.
- Husband of U.S. journalist detained in Russia: I'm not going to give up
Recommendation
-
Manhattan rooftop fire sends plumes of dark smoke into skyline
-
Deion Sanders issues warning about 2025 NFL draft: `It's gonna be an Eli'
-
Chick-fil-A will allow some antibiotics in its chicken, ditching its No Antibiotics Ever standard
-
Animal chaplains offer spiritual care for every species
-
Moana 2 Star Dwayne Johnson Shares the Empowering Message Film Sends to Young Girls
-
A year after deadly Nashville shooting, Christian school relies on faith -- and adopted dogs
-
Husband of U.S. journalist detained in Russia: I'm not going to give up
-
$1.1 billion Mega Millions drawing nears, followed by $865 million Powerball prize