San Francisco has thrown its hat in the ring to host the National Basketball Association’s 74th All-Star Weekend in San Francisco at Chase Center in 2025, according to reports from league sources to other media outlets.
The San Francisco Business Times reported Wednesday that internal documents showed that meeting planners for Moscone Center had set aside a week around Valentine’s Day 2025 for a "confidential sporting event" from the NBA. The league hasn’t yet announced a date for its All Star Game for that year, but it traditionally happens in mid-February. Associated festivities could take place at the city's George R. Moscone Convention Center complex. A San Francisco Chronicle report relying on league sources says Los Angeles, Phoenix and Milwaukee are also in the running for the event.
In a statement Thursday morning, a spokesman for the Golden State Warriors said that "the NBA is aware of our interest in hosting this event at some point, however, at this time, no plans have been finalized.”
The statement called NBA All-Star Weekend "a highly-anticipated global event for our league, players, fans and partners" that "showcases the best of the NBA each season. We would certainly be interested in hosting the NBA All Star Game for the third time in the Bay Area, and would enjoy welcoming fans from all over the world to Chase Center.”
The 1967 All-Star Game took place at the Cow Palace in Daly City, where Warriors superstar Rick Barry won a Most Valuable Player award. The 2000 All-Star Game in Oakland saw the San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan and the Los Angeles Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal share MVP honors.
The 2025 event would represent a huge boost for San Francisco’s economy at a time when the city’s Downtown in particular has been battered by negative headlines in the wake of fleeing businesses and corporate vacancies.
This year's game and events happened in mid-February, with the Feb. 19 game at Salt Lake City's Vivint Smart Home Arena, home to the Utah Jazz franchise, after a weekend of events at the Salt Palace Convention Center and Huntsman Center at the University of Utah campus. Next year's game and events are scheduled for the Indiana Pacers' Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis over Feb. 16-18, 2024, after an original booking of Feb. 12-14, 2021, was delayed by the pandemic.
The Bay Area is no stranger to top-tier sporting events, with the Super Bowl due to return for a second time in 2026, following a successful Super Bowl 50 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara that brought an estimated $240 million in business, according to a third-party research-firm study in 2016, as well as the stadium's selection as one of sixteen North American venues to host FIFA World Cup tournament games.