Napheesa Collier, #24 of the Minnesota Lynx, scores the game-winning basket throughout the recreation towards the New York Liberty in Recreation 1 of the 2024 WNBA Finals at Barclays Middle in Brooklyn, New York, on Oct. 10, 2024.
Nathaniel S. Butler | Nationwide Basketball Affiliation | Getty Photos
The WNBA introduced on Monday it has awarded three new enlargement groups to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia, rising the league to 18 groups over the subsequent 5 years.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert known as it a “actually monumental day” for the league.
“These are highly effective cities full of passionate fan bases,” she stated. “This can be a daring step ahead as we develop our footprint.”
The league presently has 13 groups, with franchises in Toronto and Portland set to join in 2026.
The Cleveland group will start play in 2028, adopted by Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia in 2030. Engelbert declined to touch upon the franchise charges every group should pay to hitch the league however stated the charges have reached historic ranges.
“Right this moment marks a transformative day in Cleveland’s sports activities historical past,” stated Nic Barlage, CEO of the Rock Leisure Group, which owns the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers and different skilled sports activities groups within the metropolis.
This is able to not be Cleveland’s first foray into skilled girls’s basketball. Town hosted one of many WNBA’S authentic franchises, the Cleveland Rockers from 1997 to 2003. That group folded after seven seasons because the group’s proprietor, Gordon Gund, cited low attendance and stated he couldn’t discover a method to make the team profitable.
“This can be a enormous win for our metropolis,” stated Arn Tellem, the vice chairman of the Detroit Pistons basketball franchise. “It is a lot larger than basketball.”
The Detroit group will return girls’s basketball to the town after a roughly two-decade hiatus. The Detroit Shock performed from 1998 to 2009, profitable three championships and setting information for attendance earlier than shifting to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Representing Philly, Josh Harris, co-founder and managing companion of Harris Blitzer Sports activities & Leisure, stated bringing the WNBA to the town “wasn’t only a nice-to-have, it was an obligation.”