The WNBA is bringing a 14th franchise to the league, and it’s (formally) occurring in Toronto, Canada.
Since March, there have been numerous rumblings a couple of WNBA franchise in Canada, which intensified after CBC Sports activities’ Shireen Ahmed reported Larry Tanenbaum, minority proprietor and chairman of Maple Leafs Sports activities & Leisure (MLSE), was pushing for a brand new crew in Toronto together with his holding firm, Kilmer Group.
The chatter bought audibly louder on the 2024 WNBA Draft when commissioner Cathy Engelbert Engelbert confirmed in April that the WNBA was engaged in conversations with Toronto. On Thursday, Engelbert introduced the Toronto growth at a press convention.
Right here’s the whole lot you want to know in regards to the WNBA’s new Toronto growth crew:
Per the league’s web site, Toronto was chosen due to its dedication to sports activities, range and supporting girls. Right here’s what the WNBA needed to say in regards to the metropolis:
“Bringing a WNBA crew to Toronto represents an vital milestone for our league as we proceed to develop each domestically and out of doors the US,” stated WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
“With Larry Tanenbaum’s distinguished file of main profitable sports activities franchises and Toronto’s enchantment as a dynamic, various metropolis that cares deeply in regards to the sport of basketball, we’re assured that this new crew will thrive as a first-class WNBA group and grow to be a fantastic supply of inspiration and help for the Toronto-area neighborhood and throughout Canada.”
As For The Win’s Mitchel Northam wrote earlier in Could, the WNBA confirmed Thursday that the Toronto growth crew will play its dwelling video games at Coca-Cola Coliseum at Exhibition Place. The crew will start common season play in 2026.
Toronto crew president Teresa Resch says the crew is at present and not using a identify. As issues progress, crew management will think about a number of elements for names, together with having Canada on the forefront, representing girls nicely and being inclusive.
In the course of the 2023 WNBA free company interval, many massive stars, like Seattle’s Nneka Ogwumike and Phoenix’s Kahleah Copper, opted to affix groups that closely invested of their gamers. One issue that always got here up as a part of their resolution was becoming a member of a crew that had a WNBA-only apply facility.
The Toronto growth crew seems to concentrate on how helpful this is to gamers and will probably be constructing a facility to help the franchise.
On Thursday, Tanenbaum and Resch made it clear that the Toronto WNBA growth crew is “Canada’s crew.” Tanenbaum confirmed that video games will probably be performed in Toronto, and the crew may also journey to Vancouver and Montreal to assist unite the nation behind the franchise.
