Warriors owner Joe Lacob has helped bring the WNBA to the Bay Area, as the league announced Thursday that it has accepted the Warriors’ bid for an expansion team.
He would welcome more additions to his sports ownership portfolio, too.
If the Oakland A’s were to go up for sale, the Warriors’ owner says he would still be interested in buying the team to keep them in the Bay Area, though A’s owner John Fisher has been firm that he’s not selling in the face of fan discontent.
“You have to have someone who wants to sell something to be interested in buying it,” Lacob said Thursday at a news conference announcing the Golden State expansion franchise, “and John is very interested in being successful. He’s dogged about it, and he’s going to Vegas as far as I understand it, so I don’t want to comment on that because, as a person, I hope he’s successful. I don’t want to get in his way and say anything.”
Lacob has been careful to avoid stepping on Fisher’s toes in his messaging about his longtime interest in the A’s.
“We’ve over the years been obviously very interested,” Lacob said. “You all know that I’ve said it, and if for whatever reason (Fisher) decided it wasn’t going to work, sure, we might be interested. But I’m not throwing my hat in the ring, and I don’t want Major League Baseball to be mad at me, either. So I don’t want to get in their way.”
The A’s, who finished with MLB’s worst record this season, have a lease at the Coliseum through 2024 and intend to build a stadium in Las Vegas that would open in 2028. Their home in the interim is undetermined. MLB owners are likely to vote on the proposed relocation next month.
