The WNBA is increasing to 18 groups over the following 5 years, with Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia all set to hitch the league by 2030.
Cleveland will start play in 2028, Detroit in 2029, and Philadelphia the season after, assuming they get approval from the NBA and WNBA Board of Governors. Toronto and Portland will enter the league subsequent 12 months.
“The demand for ladies’s basketball has by no means been larger, and we’re thrilled to welcome Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia to the WNBA household,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert mentioned.
“This historic growth is a robust reflection of our league’s extraordinary momentum, the depth of expertise throughout the sport, and the surging demand for funding in ladies’s skilled basketball,” she added.
All three new groups introduced Monday have NBA possession teams. Every paid a $250 million growth payment, which is about 5 occasions as a lot as Golden State dished out for a staff a number of years in the past. All three groups can even be investing extra money in constructing observe services and different such facilities.
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“It’s such a pure match that when you have already got this basketball-related infrastructure, these methods, cultures that you just discover to achieve success, mixtures of personnel that you just discover to achieve success,” mentioned Nic Barlage, CEO of Rock Leisure Group and the Cavaliers.
Each Cleveland and Detroit had WNBA groups prior to now and Philadelphia was the house for an ABL staff.
“This can be a enormous win for Detroit and the WNBA,” Detroit Pistons proprietor Tom Gores mentioned. “Immediately marks the long-hoped-for return of the WNBA to a metropolis with deep basketball roots and a championship custom. Detroit performed a key function within the league’s early progress, and we’re proud to reignite that legacy because the WNBA ascends to new heights. Our plans will deliver new power, funding and infrastructure to our metropolis and the WNBA, and extra sources to our neighborhood.”
Detroit sports activities stars Grant Hill, Chris Webber and Jared Goff could have minority possession stakes within the staff.
The Cleveland and Detroit possession teams mentioned the Rockers and Shock — the names of the earlier groups — can be thought of, however they’d do their due diligence earlier than deciding on what the franchises shall be known as.
The Detroit and Cleveland groups will play on the NBA arenas that at the moment exist, whereas Philadelphia is planning on a brand new constructing that shall be accomplished, hopefully by 2030.
Different cities that bid on groups that didn’t get them embrace St. Louis; Kansas Metropolis, Mo.; Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tenn.; Houston; Miami; Denver; and Charlotte, N.C.