WNBA officially expanding to Toronto, first franchise to exist outside U.S.

TORONTO, CANADA - MAY 13: An overall view of the arena before the WNBA game between the Chicago Sky and the Minnesota Lynx on May 13, 2023 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2023 NBAE (Photo by Jordan Jones/NBAE via Getty Images)
By Lukas Weese and Eric Koreen
May 23, 2024

The WNBA is officially expanding outside the United States.

Toronto, the most populous city in Canada, will be home to the league’s 14th franchise, the WNBA announced Thursday at a news conference. The franchise will begin play in 2026. It’s a historic moment for the country as women’s sports soar in popularity, and a milestone for the WNBA, which is also expanding to the Bay Area next season.

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Led by Toronto billionaire Larry Tanenbaum’s Kilmer Sports Venture, the unnamed franchise will use the 8,000-seat Coca-Cola Coliseum as its home arena. Tanenbaum said the team will also play games in Vancouver and Montreal. The franchise is committed to building a practice facility, he told the Associated Press, but will train at the University of Toronto’s Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport until it is ready.

“Many say women’s sports is having a moment,” Tanenbaum said. “I disagree. Women’s sports has arrived.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, Toronto Raptors President Masai Ujiri, Raptors forward Scottie Barnes and Philadelphia 76ers guard Kyle Lowry — a longtime Raptor — were among those in attendance for the announcement.

“We’re all taking another step forward toward equality in sport, and I for one could not be more excited,” Trudeau said.

Teresa Resch, a former Raptors executive and the executive vice president for Kilmer Sports Venture, will serve as team president. She said the team does not have a name or colors yet, but would source ideas from the Canadian public.

In April, The Athletic first reported the WNBA intended to expand to 16 teams, noting that Toronto was among the front-runners. WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the league first studied Toronto and was trying to plan an exhibition game in the city before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The league played its first preseason game in Toronto in May 2023. Engelbert called it a “seminal moment” for Toronto in its feasibility to receive a WNBA expansion team. Over a year later, the city has a franchise.

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Engelbert said before last year’s Canada game — a sellout for a tilt between the Chicago Sky and Minnesota Lynx — that Toronto “scored very high on the list” when evaluating the data analysis on whether the city was fit for a franchise. On Thursday, she recalled fans thanking her for bringing the exhibition game to the city.

“That’s when I knew this was the right place to bring an expansion team,” she said.

The expansion into the Canadian market also comes amid a period of significant growth in the WNBA’s audience in the country. The league said the average viewership of the 2023 WNBA season in Canada increased by 32 percent year over year. Per The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch, the 2024 WNBA Draft drew 140,000 viewers on Canadian television (TSN), a 723.5 percent increase compared to the 2023 edition (17,000 viewers). With the WNBA implementing a full-charter flight program this season, it paves the way for making travel to Toronto easier when the team enters the league in 2026.

The WNBA team will add to the list of Toronto’s professional women’s sports franchises. It is home to a professional women’s hockey team (PWHL Toronto) and is scheduled to have a Division I pro soccer franchise in 2025 in a new Canadian league, Project 8.

“These young women never saw someone like themselves on the biggest stage playing the game they love. … Today, we’re changing that in Toronto and Canada,” Tanenbaum said.

Toronto has been home to the NBA’s Raptors since 1995, the league’s lone team in Canada.

The WNBA still intends to expand to 16 teams by 2026, Engelbert said Thursday. Philadelphia, Portland, Ore., Denver, Nashville, Tenn., South Florida and Charlotte, N.C., among the potential options.

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(Photo: Jordan Jones / NBAE via Getty Images)

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