Golden State’s WNBA team doesn’t have a name, or any players. But it already has a fanbase, based on its early season ticket sales.
Within the first five hours of opening season ticket sales Thursday, the expansion team received 2,000 deposits, the Warriors told ESPN. The WNBA had announced its expansion to the San Francisco Bay Area just hours earlier.
The demand for tickets shows resounding interest in the new team. And the Warriors are committed to doing whatever it takes to help the team succeed.
The Warriors ownership group committed to a record $50 million expansion fee to secure the WNBA franchise, with that number to be paid over 10 years, Sportico reported.
That is in line with to the recent NWSL expansion fees of $53 million. But it also indicates the changing value of WNBA teams; back in 2021, Mark Davis bought the Las Vegas Aces at a price of a little more than $2 million.
And Joe Lacob, majority owner and chairman of the Warriors, is committed to seeing the WNBA’s Golden State team to the top of the league – both financially and on the court.
“We will win a WNBA championship in the first five years of this franchise,” he promised Thursday, noting that the Warriors are planning to bring “all of our resources” to the team.
“We can put this machine to work and we’re going to do that,” Lacob told ESPN. “I believe we’ll have the No. 1 revenue of any WNBA team. And I think we can do very, very well as a business because we know how to do this. We have all the facilities, and we can bring sponsor dollars to the team and ultimately to the league that will help the league in a big way.”