The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) has taken a major step towards expanding into Canada by announcing plans to add a new franchise in Toronto for the 2025 season. This would mark the first time the premier professional women's basketball league in North America has had a team based outside the United States.
The news comes on the heels of the WNBA's recent television deal with nationally broadcasters in Canada, which has helped raise the profile and popularity of the league among Canadian sports fans. With strong media partners and rising interest, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert says the time is right to establish a team in one of North America's biggest basketball markets.
"Expanding into Toronto has been a priority for quite some time as we've seen a growing passion for the WNBA across Canada," Engelbert stated. "Having secured national TV exposure through our latest media rights deal, we're now ready to plant some permanent roots in Toronto. It's a world-class city with a rich basketball heritage that has produced numerous WNBA stars. We can't wait to begin building an invested fan base that extends our league's reach into Canada."
The proposed Toronto expansion would bring the WNBA to 14 teams, an increase from the current 12 that stretches across the United States from Connecticut to Las Vegas. League officials note that having a club in Canada would not only open up a brand new market, but it could potentially make it easier to attract top international talent from outside the U.S. as well.
Details of the ownership group spearheading the push for a WNBA team in Toronto have yet to be announced. However, Justin Trudeau, whose corporation owns the Toronto Raptors, is among a shortlist of entities being considered to potentially head up the expansion ownership team.
"Growing up as a huge basketball fan, I've dreamed of the day when Toronto had its own WNBA team," said Trudeau. "The impact this could have on youth in Canada, especially young women, to provide elite professional athletes they can admire and emulate would be incredible. I'll be working closely with the league in hopes of making this vision a reality."
In anticipation of launching in 2025, the WNBA plans to have the Toronto expansion franchise hold an expansion draft at the end of the 2024 season to help stock its inaugural roster. It's expected to follow an expansion draft format similar to when the Las Vegas Aces joined as an expansion team in 2018.
To make room for an additional team, the regular season schedule would likely increase from 36 games to 40 or 42 contests starting in 2025. As a new franchise, the Toronto club would take a bit of a competitive hit early on until it has time to build through WNBA drafts. However, it would be allowed to carry more players than existing teams during its first two seasons.
"We want to put the Toronto team in a position to be competitive fairly quickly," Engelbert explained. "Expansion teams face challenges in their first few years, but we'll work closely with the new ownership group to do everything we can to jumpstart them with quality talent and resources."
Plans also call for the construction of a new arena to serve as the home venue for the Toronto WNBA expansion franchise. While temporary arrangements could allow them to play their inaugural season in an existing facility,awarding the new team is contingent on an agreement for a standalone basketball arena to be built within the next two years.
"Having a world-class, state-of-the-art arena with amenities specifically designed for a WNBA fan experience is critical," Engelbert stated. "We've learned a lot about what works best from an in-venue perspective, and we want to implement those insights from day one with this new Toronto franchise."
The WNBA's push to expand into Toronto shouldn't come as a surprise. It aligns with the league's broader strategy, entitled "WNBA 2027," that lays out a variety of goals to celebrate the WNBA's 25th anniversary in four years. These objectives include significantly increasing audience, audience, impressions across broadcast, streaming and social media platforms, as well as diversifying ownership groups, expanding licensing opportunities, and adding additional franchises in major media markets.
Having successfully negotiated a new labor deal through 2027 and secured expanded television/media contracts, league executives feel now is an opportune time to act on bringing WNBA action to Toronto. Players have welcomed the potential of expanding into Canada.
"It's gonna be amazing having a team in Toronto," said Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury. "Knowing the passion Canadians have for basketball and how many tremendous players have come from there, bringing them permanently into the WNBA family is so huge for growing this game."
Fellow WNBA superstar A'ja Wilson added: "The talent pool in Canada is incredible, so I can't wait to see who we get coming into the league from Toronto. It's going to up the level of competition having a new influx of players capable of making an immediate impact."
While many logistical details still need to be finalized, the WNBA's commitment to placing an expansion franchise in Toronto is a game-changing move for the sport of professional women's basketball. As the league celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2027, awarding the first team outside the U.S. could help spark the next wave of WNBA growth and visibility across North America.
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