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06/30/25 11:20:00
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06/30 11:18 CDT WNBA expanding to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia over next
five years
WNBA expanding to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia over next five years
By DOUG FEINBERG
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --- The WNBA is expanding to 18 teams over the next five years,
with Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia all set to join the league by 2030.
Cleveland will begin play in 2028, Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia the season
after, assuming they get approval from the NBA and WNBA Board of Governors.
Toronto and Portland will enter the league next year.
"The demand for women's basketball has never been higher, and we are thrilled
to welcome Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia to the WNBA family," WNBA
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. "This historic expansion is a powerful
reflection of our league's extraordinary momentum, the depth of talent across
the game, and the surging demand for investment in women's professional
basketball."
All three new teams announced Monday have NBA ownership groups. Each paid a
$250 million expansion fee, which is about five times as much as Golden State
dished out for a team a few years ago. All three teams will also be investing
more money through building practice facilities and other such amenities.
"It's such a natural fit that when you already have this basketball-related
infrastructure, these strategies, cultures that you find to be successful,
combinations of personnel that you find to be successful," said Nic Barlage,
CEO of Rock Entertainment Group and the Cavaliers. "Extending that into the
WNBA, is just a natural next progression, especially if you have a desire to
grow like we do."
Both Cleveland and Detroit had WNBA teams in the past and Philadelphia was the
home for an ABL team.
"This is a huge win for Detroit and the WNBA," Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores
said. "Today marks the long-hoped-for return of the WNBA to a city with deep
basketball roots and a championship tradition. Detroit played a key role in the
league's early growth, and we're proud to reignite that legacy as the WNBA
ascends to new heights. Our plans will bring new energy, investment and
infrastructure to our city and the WNBA, and additional resources to our
community."
Detroit sports stars Grant Hill, Chris Webber and Jared Goff will have minority
ownership stakes in the team.
The Cleveland and Detroit ownership groups said the Rockers and Shock --- the
names of the previous teams --- would be considered but they'd do their due
diligence before deciding on what the franchises will be called.
"Rockers will be a part of the mix for sure, but we are at this point, we're
not going to commit to a brand identity because we want to really get into it
with our fans, do some research, be very thorough and thoughtful in that
process," Barlage said.
The Detroit and Cleveland teams will play at the NBA arenas that currently
exist, while Philadelphia is planning on a new building that will be completed
hopefully by 2030.
"We tell the city it's going to open in 2031. We're hoping for 2030," said
Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment Managing Partner and co-founder Josh
Harris, who owns the 76ers. "So we're trying to underpromise and overdeliver.
But, right now it's 2031, so that we have a year gap, you know. We've got the
Xfinity center, the Wells Fargo, they'll play there."
Adding these three teams will give the league more natural rivalries with
another team on the East Coast and Detroit and Cleveland near each other.
"I think there's some great historical rivalries in the NBA among these cities
and, I think that will carry over to the WNBA," Detroit Pistons vice president
Arn Tellem said. "I would love nothing more to have a rivalry like we do in the
NBA with Cleveland and Indiana, Philadelphia and New York and all these great
cities and, and I think we will."
Engelbert said she was impressed with the number of cities that bid for
expansion teams, a list that included St. Louis; Kansas City, Mo.; Austin,
Texas; Nashville, Tenn.; Miami; Denver; Charlotte, N.C.; and Houston.
"There are a variety of cities that obviously bid, and one of those I wanted to
shout out --- because they have such a strong history in this league and their
great ownership group --- is Houston," Engelbert said. "The Houston Comets were
just an amazing one, the first four inaugural championships in the WNBA. So I
would say that's the one, obviously, we have our eye on. (Owner) Tilman
(Feritta) has been a great supporter of the WNBA, and we'll stay tuned on that."
Engelbert went on to say that she wanted to spread out the expansion over a few
years to not dilute the talent pool.
"We didn't know the demand would be where the demand ended up when we ran the
process last fall into the winter," Engelbert said. "Given the very high demand
and supply, we wanted to evaluate, too, because we're very careful about, you
know, making sure we're balancing the number of roster spots, the number of
teams.
"But one thing I'm very struck by as we get into a new media deal, as the media
market evolves, you know, being in these three big basketball cities is going
to help from a media perspective, a corporate partners perspective."
All the metrics, such as attendance, television ratings and sponsorships, have
been on the rise the last few seasons.
"You're seeing the key performance indicators around the business, but then
also just the communal impact of having a women's professional sports team,"
Barlage said. "The largest growing segment of our Cavs youth academy, which
serves 60,000 kids across the state of Ohio and upstate New York, the fastest
growing segment is girls. You know, it's growing at a 30% clip year over year
in participation rates. And so for us to be able to create role models, to be
able to create symbols of progress, to create having ambassadors within the
community representing all of these things."
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
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