Toronto awarded WNBA's 1st franchise outside U.S.
Toronto has been awarded the WNBA’s first franchise outdoors the United States, with the growth staff set to start play in 2026.
The staff can be owned by Larry Tanenbaum-led Kilmer Sports Ventures. Tanenbaum is also the chairman and a minority proprietor of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns a number of Toronto sports activities franchises, together with the NBA’s Raptors and NHL’s Maple Leafs.
“Growing internationally, I’ve been trying to think through the next steps on a global platform,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert instructed The Associated Press.
“It helps us reach new audiences and bring in new partners. The thing I love about going to another country is that the young girls and boys get to see professional basketball for women is important, too.”
Toronto would be the WNBA’s 14th franchise, with the growth Golden State Valkyries set to begin play subsequent yr.
“Our Toronto sports franchises are thriving, but we have been missing one critical piece — women’s professional sports,” Tanenbaum mentioned. “The world is finally taking notice of something that’s been there all along — the immense talent, passion and competition in women’s sports. So, once again, I saw an opportunity and knew we were in the right place at the right time to bring Canada’s first WNBA team to Toronto. And now we have, making sports history.”
Toronto will play on the 8,700-seat Coca-Cola Coliseum at Exhibition Place and can often be capable of transfer as much as the Scotiabank Arena. Opened in 1921, the Coca-Cola Coliseum can also be dwelling to the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies.
“Women’s sports is good businesses,” Tanenbaum mentioned. “Just look around — it’s not a moment, but a movement, and it’s just the beginning. The investment that we’ll put into the franchise will also be no different than the other franchises.”
Former Raptors govt to be staff president: report
Tanenbaum mentioned the staff may also play some video games in Vancouver and Montreal. As far because the title of the staff, he mentioned they’d take their time and “solicit public input.”
Kilmer Sports Ventures has dedicated to constructing the staff a apply facility, however till that’s prepared, the staff will prepare on the University of Toronto’s Goldring Centre for High-Performance Sport.
Engelbert mentioned the league’s exhibition video games in Canada the final two seasons confirmed the eagerness of the followers within the nation for ladies’s basketball.
“When I was up for the preseason game, Kia (Nurse) and I did a youth clinic. The reaction from young girls to Kia and what she stands for is that they so admire her,” Engelbert mentioned.
Ahead of the league’s official announcement on Thursday morning, Rachel Brady of the Globe and Mail reported that former Toronto Raptors vice-president Teresa Resch can be launched because the president of the growth staff.
Resch had labored because the Raptors’ VP of basketball operations and participant improvement since 2013 and was a part of the staff’s entrance workplace throughout their championship run in 2019.
She left the job in March of 2024, and Sportsnet’s Michael Grange reported that Resch was anticipated to remain in Toronto following her departure.
Nurse, in the meantime, is one among a handful of Canadian gamers within the WNBA, and extra are on the way in which.
“No doubt it’s helpful to have household names,” Engelbert mentioned.
The commissioner expects the league to get to 16 groups by 2028.
“We’ve already had a lot of interest and it got more tangible and serious from a fair amount of cities after the draft,” Engelbert mentioned. “We are in a good position to get to 16 by certainly’ 27-28.”
