Downtown SF Is Getting a New Pro Women’s Sports Team in 2027
San Francisco is getting a new professional sports team, and it’s taking over a venue that has already seen its share of big games. The San Francisco Signal, a new women’s professional volleyball team, will make Bill Graham Civic Auditorium its home starting in January 2027. The team will play its League One Volleyball (LOVB) home matches in the downtown Civic Center venue, with seating for about 4,000 fans around a court set up on the auditorium floor.
The Civic Auditorium might be better known these days for concerts and conferences, but it has a long sports résumé. The building opened in 1915 and was an early San Francisco home for the Golden State Warriors after the team moved from Philadelphia. It also hosted the first edition of a Bay Area women’s tennis tournament in 1971, when Billie Jean King won both the singles and doubles titles, along with the San Francisco Pioneers women’s basketball team from 1979 to 1981.
The Signal is part of a new wave of professional women’s sports in the Bay Area, joining the Golden State Valkyries and Bay FC. San Francisco is one of four expansion teams joining LOVB for the 2027 season, bringing the league to 10 teams. The season runs from January through April, giving San Francisco a new pro sports option right in the middle of winter.
Conveniently, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium is a short walk from Civic Center BART. Season tickets have not officially gone on sale yet, but the team is already collecting deposits for its inaugural season.
hat tip: SF Gate
