Napheesa Collier, No. 24 of Minnesota Lynx, marks the winning basket of the match in the match against New York Liberty in match 1 of the WNBA 2024 final at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, October 10, 2024.
Nathaniel S. Butler | National Basketball Association | Getty images
The WNBA announced on Monday that it had awarded three new expansion teams to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia, passing the league to 18 teams in the next five years.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert called this a “really monumental day” for the League.
“These are proud cities with powerful sporting inheritances, each rich in basketball tradition,” she said. “It’s a daring step as we increase our imprint.”
The League currently has 13 teams, with franchises in Toronto and Portland which join 2026.
The Cleveland team will start the game in 2028, followed by Strait 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 that spoke subject to anonymity to discuss non -public details. These costs would represent a historic summit for WNBA.
The League has been examining the expansion process for over two years. More than a dozen cities have submitted offers, including Kansas City, St. Louis, Austin, Houston, Miami, Denver and Charlotte, North Caroline.
The League said on Monday that each location had been selected after analyzing the viability of the market, infrastructure and local support. Engelbert said Houston, in particular, is one that the league will continue to have an eye on future extensions.
“Today marks a transformative day in the history of Cleveland sport,” said Nic Barlage, CEO of Rock Entertainment Group, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers de la NBA and other professional sports teams of the city.
It would not be the first Cleveland foray into professional women’s basketball. The city welcomed one of the original WNBA franchises, the Cleveland rockers from 1997 to 2003. This team fell after seven seasons as the team owner, Gordon Gund, cited a low attendance and said that 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 Pistons Strait.
“This is a huge victory for our city,” said Arn Telm, vice-president of the Detroit Piston basketball franchise. “It’s much bigger than basketball.”
The Detroit team will make women’s basketball in the city after an interruption of about two decades. Detroit’s shock played from 1998 to 2009, winning three championships and establishing records for attendance before moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The Philadelphia team will belong to Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, who includes Josh Harris, David Blitzer and David Adelman. Comcast Has a minority participation in the team.
Harris, co-founder and managing partner of HBSE, said that the broadcast of WNBA in the city “was not only a good thing, it was an obligation”.
Disclosure: Comcast has nbcuniversal, parent company of CNBC.