Fran Harris does it all. NCAA champion? Check. WNBA champion? Check. Television host and successful business owner, including an appearance on ABC’s Shark Tank? Also, check. Now, she hopes to bring her expansive background and land a WNBA expansion franchise to Austin, Texas.
The WNBA has 15 franchises locked and loaded with three expansion teams added to the mix. The Golden State Valkyries are set to begin play next season, while the Toronto Tempo and the Portland franchise to be named later will hit the court in 2026.
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has said that the goal is to have 16 WNBA teams by 2028. Many cities hope to court the league and bring the WNBA to their town. Harris knows that Austin is a prime candidate that has everything the league is looking for. The stadium, the fanbase, an attractive free agent destination, rivalry potential.
A WNBA team in Austin brings another piece, too: an in-state rivalry with the Dallas Wings. Harris has worked as a broadcaster for the Wings, including during this past season. She knows a potential new rivalry in the W would be a hit.
“The I-35 rivalry is going to be lit,” Harris told Winsidr in an interview. “We got north Texas, I’m from Dallas and love what the Wings are doing up in the northern part of the state. But we got San Antonio we can pull from, we have Houston we can pull from. It’s just the perfect geography for a rivalry.
“I love that about Texas in general so that people can start claiming their team. That’’s something I really look forward to.”
A Dallas native, Harris attended the University of Texas at Austin where she led the Longhorns to their first and only NCAA title in 1986, which was the first perfect season in women’s NCAA history. After college she went on to play overseas and with USA basketball until the WNBA was founded.
Harris played for the legendary Houston Comets squad in the league’s inaugural season in 1997 as the Comets went on to become the first-ever WNBA champions. She then played with the Utah Starzz the following season before she retired and began her career in broadcasting and business.
Now, she has investors and their funding to help try to bring the WNBA to Austin. Their biggest issue isn’t the money, though, it’s the competition. Plenty of other cities hope to be named the league’s 16th franchise.
“If we were having this conversation just five years ago, we would probably talk about how difficult it is for people to buy-in to women’s basketball,” Harris said. “But that’s not the challenge now. The challenge is there’s so much money, so many people interested.”
As a former player and successful entrepreneur, Harris brings a unique, firsthand perspective to team ownership. She’s been there before and knows what’s needed to run a WNBA franchise the right way and become a place where players want to stay and free agents want to sign.
Austin has the fanbase, plus a state-of-the-art stadium in the Moody Center on UT’s campus which opened its doors in 2022. Practice facilities are a must in today’s WNBA, too. Harris and her team have already looked at sites for a practice facility in Austin which they plan to call the “championship performance complex” because they intend to win championships.
As the league continues its expansion process, Harris hopes Austin will hear their name called as the WNBA’s 16th franchise. If the league does head back further south in Texas, she knows she can bring the magic of the first Houston Comets’ team and her national champion Longhorns squad.
“As we look forward to 2027, which is hopefully the season that we would start playing,” Harris said as she looked ahead into what may be next. “Just the reality of being on the court in the first season of the WNBA to 29 years later is pretty amazing. We weren’t having players involved in team ownership not even 10 years ago, certainly not 15 or 20 years ago.
“So the full-circle moment of playing and then the potential to become an owner in the WNBA is a phenomenal feeling, to be honest.”
