The odd thing about the WNBA & the Bay Area is that you’d think there would already be a team with the region’s success in supporting the sport, sizable fanbase, etc. Joe Lacob even was the final owner of the San Jose Lasers before it and the ABL folded. 1/x
With Lacob there should’ve been a team by now, right? Well, I suspect this is where the long-running lease dispute between Dubs ownership and the Oakland Coliseum JPA comes in. With that being litigated for years, any promise of a WNBA team must been taken off the table. 2/x
AASEG is promoting the promise of a WNBA team in Oakland, with an excellent arena already there. Which is great, but they’re not in the club like Lacob and Peter Guber to not only capitalize the team, but also to operate it as WNBA teams are mostly not moneymakers. 3/x
I’ve always thought that bringing in a WNBA team would’ve been part of a great way to settle the Dubs-Oakland lawsuit. Oakland gets a pro sports team/fanbase. Lacob/Guber make the lease problem go away in exchange for operating the team, leaving open dates at Chase Center. 4/x
Alas, cooler heads did not prevail. At some point in the future I expect Lacob/Guber to field a WNBA expansion franchise. Maybe they play at Chase or Oakland, maybe both. That takes away a pillar of AASEG’s platform, not that I think Lacob/Guber care one way or the other. 5/F
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