WNBA expansion bid coming to new city [EXCLUSIVE]

Fran Harris knows the city of Austin quite well. It’s where she’s spent most of her adult life, and where she won an NCAA championship as a basketball star at the University of Texas.

Now, the decorated athlete and entrepreneur hopes that the up-and-coming Texan city will serve as the home of the next WNBA expansion franchise.

“Austin has a noted and long appreciation for women in sports,” Hall told SB Nation in an exclusive interview. “We’ve always been thought leaders when it comes to just supporting women’s sports.”

So, Harris has spent the last several years rallying the community, and preparing for a WNBA expansion bid in Austin. That bid is underway, and in turn, Austin has emerged as one of more than a dozen cities in contention for WNBA expansion.

“When I decided to pursue expansion, the first thing I thought was, ‘I got to get my city ready,’ Harris said. “I didn’t think, ‘Hey, let me call Cathy [Engelbert]’… I actually was like, I gotta get Austin ready. I have to see if Austin is as excited about this as I am.”

Once she got into the community, she liked what she learned. There was energy, and there was enthusiasm. Austin only has one professional sports team — Austin FC, professional men’s soccer club — so a WNBA team wouldn’t have to compete with many other pro sports teams. Austin also boasts several prospective venues for new arenas.

And, she identified the same energy in the city that she remembered from her playing days, when 8,000 to 10,000 fans inundated the stands throughout the 1980s to watch University of Texas women’s basketball games.

So, she opted to proceed with the bid, confident that Austin will prioritize the franchise, something that hasn’t always been the case in the WNBA.

“I think we’re seeing in some of the cities now — I don’t want to call any names, but most people know some cities are getting displaced, WNBA teams are getting displaced or having to play somewhere else, and and that’s something that the league wants to avoid,” said Harris.

What makes Fran Harris a unique fit for WNBA ownership

Fran Harris has an unusual resume, and plenty of first-hand experience with the WNBA. She’s enjoyed a decorated career as both a basketball player and a successful entrepreneur, a combination that could put her in exclusive company for franchise ownership.

Harris famously led the University of Texas at Austin to an NCAA championship in 1986. That season — the first undefeated season in women’s NCAA basketball history — she averaged 13.8 points per game.

She briefly headed overseas at the conclusion of her collegiate career, playing in Italy and Switzerland. Then, she returned to basketball for the launch of the WNBA, serving as one of the the inaugural members of the 1997 Houston Comets that won the league’s first-ever championship.

Harris believes her experience as a former player puts her in a unique position to be an effective owner.

“I’ve lived this,” she said.

Since retiring from the WNBA, Harris has served as a TV broadcaster, hosted a TV show that redesigns the interior of people’s homes, produced a fitness show, and founded a women-focused electrolye drink, among various other pursuits across sports and entertainment. She’s called Dallas Wings games for years — including this past WNBA season.

“This season was magical for many reasons,” said Harris. “I feel blessed to be here, to bear witness, and to fully celebrate the growth of our game. It’s a super special time in our sport’s evolution.”

Harris is often reminded of how unique her first-hand experience with women’s basketball and the WNBA is when talking to investors. There’s dozens of high-profile individuals in the mix for WNBA ownership, but few have the direct knowledge and first-hand experiences Harris has.

“When I’m in conversation about why Austin, and why me leading these efforts, it does come up,” she said. “Because I do think there’s something to be said for people who own sports teams, who have a lot of money, but may not have a lot of domain knowledge about what the players are going through, what they want, what the players expect, what fans want, what fans love — all of those things.”

And, in addition to her tenure as a basketball player, Harris is confident that her experience in marketing will help ensure that a WNBA team in Austin succeeds beyond the initial excitement and buzz around it.

She attributes a dip in excitement surrounding the WNBA in the 2000s to a lack of marketing, pointing to the fact that in its early years, the league didn’t have a marketing department.

“In order to market your product, you have to know what your product is,” Harris said. “You have to know who your core audience is, and you have to talk to them. And that’s it. The league was not doing a very good job of marketing what it had.”

But, Harris has had an enormously successful career in marketing. She’s appeared on Shark Tank. She’s successfully pitched a myriad of television shows and products.

Now, she hopes to leverage that diverse background to ensure the success of a prospective WNBA franchise.

“I’m an entrepreneur — I started my first business when I was nine years old,” Harris said. “And again, I’m not shy about spreading the gospel of whatever I’m doing. That’s the way we’re going to approach it in Austin.”

Other potential cities for WNBA expansion

Harris is hopeful that Austin can separate itself from the pack.

But, she’s also aware that the 16th WNBA bid is set up to be incredibly competitive.

The WNBA was comprised 12 teams in the 2024 season, and is slated for three more to join over the next two seasons: the Golden State Valkyries in 2025 and teams in Toronto and Portland in 2026. The league is vying for a 16th team to even things out by 2027, and there are reportedly already more than a dozen interested suitors, including in Miami, Milwaukee, Denver, St. Louis, Charlotte, and Philadelphia, among others.

Hornets player Grant Williams has discussed wanting to bring a team to Charlotte, Celtics star Jayson Tatum has been linked to a potential team in St. Louis, and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is hoping to bring a team to Kansas City. Those are just a few high-profile athletes linked to prospective WNBA expansion cities.

And, while it’s certainly possible that the league will expand beyond 16 teams in the future — for now, it appears that things will cap off at 16 teams.

Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has stated on numerous occasions that the goal would be to add a 16th team by 2026 or 2027, though nothing is guaranteed at this point. There is currently no timeline for the final bid.

Fran Harris is hoping that the team will be in Austin. And, she’s confident that she will be able to help cultivate an unwavering fanbase in the city she’s long called home.

“My goal for the Austin franchise is to create devout fans… fans that feel like they are part of the fabric of what we’re building in this community, fans that feel like if I gotta go to church and there’s a game on Sunday, I don’t know if I’m going to church,” Harris said. “Those are the fans I want.”