SAN FRANCISCO — USA TODAY has learned from a source with direct knowledge of the situation that the WNBA plans to announce a new expansion team in the San Francisco Bay Area, with the new team beginning play in the 2025 season.
The announcement is planned a few days before an extremely exciting and highly-anticipated WNBA Finals matchup between the Las Vegas Aces and the New York Liberty, which gets underway on Sunday.
The ownership group of the NBA's Golden State Warriors has been pushing for a WNBA team for years, and recent reporting indicates this new franchise will be headquartered in Oakland - at Golden State's practice facility - and will play their home games at the Chase Center, the home arena of the Warriors.
Locked on Women's Basketball host Jackie Powell spoke with Alex Simon of SF Gate to break down this reported expansion, and where they will play, on a recent episode of the show.
"Chase Center is without question the premier basketball facility in the Bay Area," Simon said. "The idea that a Warriors owned team that built this Chase Center wouldn't be playing games there just didn't seem right to anybody."
The WNBA is reportedly talking to other ownership groups about expansion in other cities as they look to capitalize on what has been a rapid growth in interest for women's sports.
The NWSL, a professional women's soccer league, is planning to expand to 16 teams by 2026 - doubling in size since the 2012 season.
TV viewership for the women's NCAA Tournament and WNBA has exploded in recent years, and in 2022 WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced a capital raise of $75 million, which was the highest ever in women's sports at the time.
This expansion will be the league's first since 2008 when they added Atlanta, but at this growth rate it is a near certainty it won't be 15 years before they expand again.