Sports
Sources: Toronto on track for WNBA expansion – ESPN
Chiney Ogwumike and Andraya Carter discuss the WNBA growing in the past few seasons, leading to an expansion franchise in Toronto. (2:11)
The WNBA is in the final stages of negotiations to add a Toronto franchise that will start play in 2026, sources confirmed to ESPN, as the league hopes to add two franchises that season.
An official announcement for the Toronto team is expected May 23, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which first reported on the expansion franchise.
League sources told ESPN that no official vote on a Toronto expansion franchise has been held.
“We continue to engage in productive conversations with interested ownership groups in a number of markets and the granting of any expansion teams requires a vote of the WNBA and NBA Board of Governors,” a WNBA spokesperson said in a statement.
Along with Toronto, sources confirmed that groups are in talks to revive a bid for a new team in Portland, as first reported by The Oregonian. The additions would bring the WNBA to 15 teams. An expansion franchise in Golden State is set to join the league in 2025.
The Toronto team, which would be the first WNBA team outside the United States, will be owned by Kilmer Sports Inc., headed by Toronto billionaire Larry Tanenbaum. Tanenbaum is a minority owner and chairman of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Maple Leafs and Raptors, among other teams.
A spokesperson for Kilmer Sports also said there was “no update at this time.”
League commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in April that Toronto and Portland were among the cities being considered for expansion and that the goal was to reach 16 teams by 2028. Other cities mentioned by Engelbert for possible expansion were Philadelphia, Denver and Nashville as well as the South Florida region.
The Toronto team will reportedly play at the 8,000-seat Coca-Cola Coliseum, which hosts the AHL’s Marlies and PWHL’s Toronto franchise.
Canada has proven ready to welcome women’s pro basketball. A preseason game between the Chicago Sky and Minnesota Lynx last year at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena featured a sold-out crowd of 19,800. Last week, a capacity crowd of 16,655 packed Edmonton’s Rogers Place for a preseason game between the Los Angeles Sparks and Seattle Storm.
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Reuters contributed to this report.
