There's a new way to signal you're a Very Important Bay Area Person, and it doesn't involve a Tesla or a vineyard in Napa. It's owning a piece of LOVB San Francisco, the women's professional volleyball franchise that has assembled an ownership group so stacked it reads like a who's-who of sports royalty and Silicon Valley networking events.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr is in. Soccer legend Abby Wambach is in. Olympic swimming icon Natalie Coughlin is in. In total, more than 50 owners have bought their way into the franchise. Fifty.

Let's be real about what's happening here: women's sports are having a genuine moment, and smart money is following the momentum. Viewership is up across the board — from the WNBA to women's college basketball to the NWSL — and investors are betting that the wave hasn't crested yet. That's capitalism doing what capitalism does best: identifying value before the broader market catches on.

But here's where our eyebrow goes up just slightly. Fifty-plus owners for a single franchise is... a lot of cooks in one kitchen. The celebrity ownership model can be a genuine catalyst for growth, or it can be an expensive vanity project where everyone gets a lanyard and nobody makes a hard decision. The difference usually comes down to whether there's a clear operational structure or just a group chat full of famous people.

The optimistic read? This is private capital — not taxpayer money — flowing into a growing sports market. Nobody's asking San Francisco for a stadium subsidy or a tax break. Investors are putting their own money on the line because they believe the product will generate returns. That's exactly how it should work.

If LOVB San Francisco can build a real fan base and a sustainable business model, this could be a blueprint for how professional sports expansion should happen: market-driven, privately funded, and free from the sweetheart government deals that have plagued men's pro sports for decades.

Fifty owners in, zero taxpayer dollars spent. We'll take it.