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.”

Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob is bringing a WNBA expansion team to the Bay Area, and he is aiming high.

“We will win a WNBA championship in the first five years of this franchise,” he promised Thursday.

The new franchise is set to begin play in 2025, the WNBA announced Thursday. The team likely will share the “Golden State” moniker with its NBA peers, to reflect the fanbase of the entire Bay Area — and, if all goes well, to find similar success.

“We’re coming in here, number one, to win,” Lacob told ESPN. “Number two, we want to see this league and women’s basketball grow, and we hope to be a big part of it.”

The Warriors are planning to bring “all of our resources” to the WNBA team, he said, adding: “We can put this machine to work and we’re going to do that.”

For Lacob, the ownership of a WNBA team is a “full-circle” moment, as he began his journey as a sports owner with the women’s American Basketball League in 1996. He also was a minority owner in the league, which folded in 1996.

“The only reason it took all these years (to get a WNBA team), 25 years or so, is that when I bought the Warriors [in 2010], we had to turn around the team,” he said. “That was a few years. Then we had a seven-year process to build the arena, which was a massive investment of time and money. And then finally when I was ready to go, the pandemic hit. So years go by, and here we are now.”

According to Forbes’ most recent NBA valuations, the Warriors are the top-ranked NBA team, sitting at a cool $7 billion. And now that $7 billion is going to be a driving force behind the newest WNBA franchise, with Lacob saying that they’re committed to putting the Warriors’ business structure fully behind the team.

“I believe we’ll have the No. 1 revenue of any WNBA team,” he said. “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.”

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and star player Steph Curry also expressed their excitement over the WNBA team in videos posted to social media Thursday.

The WNBA announced an expansion team in the San Francisco Bay Area on Thursday.

The new team will begin play in the 2025 season, bringing the league to 13 teams overall. The WNBA has not expanded since adding the Atlanta Dream in 2008.

The WNBA had been teasing an impending announcement on its social media accounts since Tuesday amid reports of a deal with the NBA’s Golden State Warriors to bring a franchise to the Bay Area. The team will play its games at Chase Center in San Francisco and will be headquartered in Oakland.

“We’re coming in here, number one, to win,” Warriors chairman Joe Lacob told ESPN. “Number two, we want to see this league and women’s basketball grow, and we hope to be a big part of it.”

The WNBA is still in conversations over a second expansion team, “likely” in Portland, Oregon, according to multiple reports. In May, the league had narrowed its list of potential cities to 20, commissioner Cathy Engelbert said.

Engelbert long had touted the Bay Area as a “top candidate” for expansion. And while the area is new to the WNBA, it has hosted professional women’s basketball in the past: The San Jose Lasers played from 1996 to 1998 as part of the defunct American Basketball League.

Additionally, the Bay Area is welcoming another women’s professional sports team. Back in April, the NWSL announced its own expansion team, Bay FC, which will begin play in 2024.

The WNBA is “likely” to add an expansion team in Portland, Oregon, in addition to one in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to multiple reports.

While the league is still in conversations over a second expansion team, Portland is the “likely” landing spot, ESPN reported. Discussions involving a Portland team have reached the league’s Board of Governors, as first reported by The Next.

The WNBA announced the Bay Area expansion team Thursday. The team is set to begin play in 2025, bringing the league to 13 teams overall.

“Our goal is to have a 14th team by 2025,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said Thursday.

The WNBA had been teasing an impending expansion announcement on its social media accounts since Tuesday amid reports of a deal with the NBA’s Golden State Warriors to bring a franchise to the Bay Area. Before this, the WNBA had not expanded since adding the Atlanta Dream in 2008.

While WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert previously had said the league aimed to announce locations for up to two expansion teams by the end of 2022, she walked back that timeline last December. In May, she revealed that the league had narrowed its list of potential cities to 20.

In February, Engelbert attended an an event held at Portland women’s sports bar The Sports Bra to show community support for the addition of a WNBA team in the city.