Oakland not out of the running for WNBA expansion after Warriors land franchise

The Bay Area recently celebrated the addition of its first WNBA team earlier this month, and now it appears that a second team might be on the horizon.

This week, the African American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG) met with WNBA officials and received confirmation that Oakland remains eligible for expansion when the league opens up a new round in 2026.

Previously, AASEG had been preparing to submit a bid for an expansion team, but the league ultimately chose the Golden State Warriors and San Francisco as the recipient of the expansion team. The team, which will be owned and operated by Warriors co-owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, will play at the Chase Center in downtown San Francisco and utilize the Warriors’ Oakland facility as its headquarters. Instead of being solely San Francisco’s team, it will be marketed as the Bay Area’s team.

The WNBA plans to add a 14th team by 2025, indicating a potential new round of expansion in 2026. Several cities currently housing NBA teams, such as Sacramento, Portland, Denver, Toronto, and Philadelphia, are being considered for the next team. The addition of the Warriors’ expansion franchise marks the first expansion since 2008 when the Atlanta Dream joined the league.

AAESG, led by president Ray Bobbitt, has made efforts to bring a WNBA team to Oakland, with 14-year WNBA veteran Alana Beard joining the group. The group even secured the Oakland Arena, formerly known as the Oracle Arena, where the Warriors played before relocating to San Francisco, as the venue for the expansion team before their bid fell through.

Currently, no city has multiple WNBA teams, and it remains unlikely that the Bay Area would receive a second team before other cities and regions that have yet to be awarded a franchise. However, with the history of having two teams in the NFL and MLB, it is not entirely out of the question.

Considering the WNBA’s growth in size and popularity in recent years, a second franchise in Oakland could prove to be successful for the league.