Sports (Europe Brief Newspaper): The WNBA will expand to 18 teams by 2030, adding franchises in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia as part of its strategic five-year growth plan.
If approved by the NBA and WNBA Board of Governors, Cleveland will start in 2028, Detroit in 2029, and Philadelphia the following season. Next year, Portland and Toronto will join the league.
“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.”
NBA ownership groups own all three of the newly announced clubs on Monday. Each paid an expansion fee of $250 million, roughly five times what Golden State paid for a team just a few years prior. Additionally, all three teams will increase their financial investments by constructing practice facilities and other 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.”
In the past, Philadelphia was home to an ABL franchise, and Cleveland and Detroit also had WNBA teams.
“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.”
Sportsmen Grant Hill, Chris Webber, and Jared Goff from Detroit will own a minority share of the team.
The ownership groups from Detroit and Cleveland stated that while the Rockers and Shock, the names of the former clubs, would be taken into consideration, they would conduct research before choosing a name for the teams.
“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.
While Philadelphia is working on a new structure that should be finished by 2030, the Detroit and Cleveland teams will continue to play at the NBA venues that are currently in place.
With Detroit and Cleveland close to one another and another franchise on the East Coast, the league will have more natural rivalries with the addition of these three teams.
“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 we have a year gap, you know. We’ve got the Xfinity center, the Wells Fargo, they’ll play there.”
St. Louis, Kansas City, Missouri; Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; Houston; Miami; Denver; and Charlotte, North Carolina are among the other cities that placed bids for clubs but were not selected.
Over the past few seasons, every metric—including attendance, television ratings, and sponsorships—has increased.
“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.
He further said that 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 ambassadors within the community representing all of these things.
What impact will these expansions have on women’s basketball popularity?
Increasing attendance, viewership, and social media involvement will result from the WNBA’s expansion into towns with strong sports histories but no existing WNBA clubs.
New teams increase the league’s financial resources to invest in marketing, player development, and infrastructure, which raises the league’s prominence. They also bring new local sponsorships and collaborations.
More clubs translate into more roster spaces, which opens doors for up-and-coming players from international leagues and universities. This increases fan engagement by showcasing and retaining top players.
Star players like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese have propelled the WNBA to record-breaking attendance, TV ratings, and product sales in recent years. By taking advantage of this spike, expansion keeps the league’s viewership steady and increases it.
