New York – The WNBA covers 18 teams in the next five years, with Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia which should join the League by 2030.
Cleveland will begin to play in 2028, in Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia the season after, assuming that it obtains the approval of the Council of Governors of the NBA and the WNBA. Toronto and Portland will enter the League next year.
“The demand for women’s basketball has never been higher, and we are delighted to welcome Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia to the WNBA family,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. “This historical expansion is a powerful reflection of the extraordinary momentum of our league, the depth of talents through the game and the growing demand for investment in female professional basketball.”
The three new teams announced on Monday that the NBA ownership groups. Everyone paid extension costs of $ 250 million, about five times more than the Golden State Warriors were for the Valkyries a few years ago. The three teams will also invest more money through construction practice facilities and other amenities.
“It is such a natural adjustment that when you already have this basketball-related infrastructure, these strategies, the cultures that you find successful, the staff combinations you find to succeed,” said Nic Barge, CEO of Rock Entertainment Group and Cleveland Cavaliers. “Extension of this in the WNBA is just a next natural progression, especially if you have the desire to grow like us.”
Cleveland and Detroit had WNBA teams in the past, and Philadelphia was the house of an ABL team.
“This is a huge victory for Detroit and the WNBA,” said Pistons owner Tom Gores. “Today marks the long-term return of the WNBA to a city with deep basketball roots and a championship tradition. Detroit has played a key role in the early growth of the league, and we are proud to rekindle this inheritance while the WNBA rises to new peaks. Our plans will bring energy, investment and infrastructure to our city and WNBA, and to our additional plans.”
Detroit Sports Stars Grant Hill, Chris Webber and Jared Goff will have minority property issues in the team.
Cleveland and Detroit’s ownership groups said that the Rockers and the Shock – the names of the previous teams – would be taken into account, but they would make their diligence reasonable before deciding how the franchises will be called.
“The Rockers will be part of the mixture for sure, but we are at this stage, we are not going to engage in a brand identity because we really want to enter it with our fans, do research, be very meticulous and thoughtful in this process,” said Barring.
The Detroit and Cleveland teams will play in the NBA arenas which currently exist, while Philadelphia plans a new building which will be completed by 2030.
“We tell the city that it will open its doors in 2031. We hope 2030,” said Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, partner and co-founder Josh Harris, owner of the 76ers. “So we are trying to sub-proposer and overdiminate. But right now, it’s 2031, so that we have a one-year gap, you know? We have the Xfinity Center, the Wells Fargo, they will play there.”
The addition of these three teams will give the League more natural rivalries with another team on the East Coast and Detroit and Cleveland from each other.
“I think there are great historical rivalries in the NBA among these cities, and I think that will continue at the WNBA,” said the vice-president of the Pistons de Detroit, Arn Telm. “I would like nothing more to have a rivalry as we do in the NBA with Cleveland and Indiana, Philadelphia and New York and all these big cities … and I think we will do it.”
Other cities that bid in teams that have not obtained them include St. Louis; Kansas City, Missouri; Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; Houston; Miami; Denver and Charlotte, North Carolina.
“We did not know that the request would be where the request ended when we directed the process last fall in winter,” said Engelbert. “Given the very high demand and offer, we also wanted to assess, because we are very cautious, you know, ensuring that we are balanced the number of list points, the number of teams.
“But one thing that strikes me very well as we conclude in a new media affair, because the media market is evolving, you know, being in these three major basketball cities will help from the point of view of the media, a prospect of corporate partners.”
All measures, such as attendance, television ratings and sponsorships, have been increasing in recent seasons.
“You see the main performance indicators around the company, but also just the community impact of having a professional women’s sports team,” said Barring. “The largest growing segment of our Cavs Youth Academy, which serves 60,000 children through the Ohio state and the northern New York, the fastest growth segment is girls. You know, this increases to 30% clips from year to year in participation rates. And therefore for us to be able to create models, to be able to create symbols of progress, to create ambassadors within The community representing all these things. “
