Napheesa Collier, #24 of the Minnesota Lynx, scores the game-winning basket during the game against the New York Liberty in Game 1 of the 2024 WNBA Finals at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on Oct. 10, 2024.
Nathaniel S. Butler | National Basketball Association | Getty Images
The WNBA announced on Monday it has awarded three new expansion teams to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia, growing the league to 18 teams over the next five years.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert called it a “truly monumental day” for the league.
“These are proud cities with powerful sports legacies, each one rich in basketball tradition,” she said. “This is a bold step forward as we grow our footprint.”
The league currently has 13 teams, with franchises in Toronto and Portland set to join in 2026.
The Cleveland team will begin play in 2028, followed by Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia in 2030. Each team will pay $250 million in franchise fees to join the league, according to a person familiar with the terms who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic details. Those fees would represent a historic high for the WNBA.
The league has been looking at the expansion process for more than two years. More than a dozen cities submitted bids, including Kansas City, St. Louis, Austin, Houston, Miami, Denver and Charlotte, North Carolina.
The league said Monday each location was selected after analyzing market viability, infrastructure and local support. Engelbert said Houston, specifically, is one the league will continue to have its eye on for future expansions.
“Today marks a transformative day in Cleveland’s sports history,” said Nic Barlage, CEO of the Rock Entertainment Group, which owns the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers and other professional sports teams in the city.
This would not be Cleveland’s first foray into professional women’s basketball. The city hosted one of the WNBA’S original franchises, the Cleveland Rockers from 1997 to 2003. That team folded after seven seasons as the team’s owner, Gordon Gund, cited low attendance and said he could not find a way to make the team profitable.
The Detroit WNBA ownership group is led by Tom and Holly Gores, owners of the Detroit Pistons.
“This is a huge win for our city,” said Arn Tellem, the vice chairman of the Detroit Pistons basketball franchise. “It’s much bigger than basketball.”
The Detroit team will return women’s basketball to the city after a roughly two-decade hiatus. The Detroit Shock played from 1998 to 2009, winning three championships and setting records for attendance before moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The Philadelphia team will be owned by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, which includes Josh Harris, David Blitzer and David Adelman. Comcast holds a minority stake in the team.
Harris, co-founder and managing partner of HBSE, said bringing the WNBA to the city “wasn’t just a nice-to-have, it was an obligation.”
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, parent company of CNBC.
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