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The WNBA announced Monday it is expanding to 18 teams by the end of 2030, with franchises headed to Philadelphia, Detroit and Cincinnati.
It is continued growth for the league, which has the Golden State Valkyries, its 13th team, playing in its inaugural season. Toronto and Portland are due to get teams next season.
Despite more opportunities, one WNBA star isn’t exactly thrilled with the move.
Sophie Cunningham, a teammate of Caitlin Clark’s on the Indiana Fever, praised the league for its efforts, saying, “You want to listen to your players, too,” while doubting players will be excited to be in the Midwest.
“Like, where do they want to play? Where are they going to get excited to play and draw fans? I think Miami would have been a great one. Everyone loves Florida. Nashville is an amazing city. Kansas City — amazing opportunity. There’s a huge arena downtown that no one’s using,” Cunningham added Tuesday afternoon. “I’m not so sure what the thought process is there.
“At the end of the day, you don’t want to expand our league too fast. We don’t want teams to totally dominate and some that aren’t. It’s a hard situation, but, man, I don’t know how excited people are to be going to Detroit or [Cleveland].”
Each city Cunningham mentioned submitted a bid for expansion.
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This will mark the second time the WNBA will be in Detroit. The Shock won three WNBA titles before relocating to Tulsa in 2010. They then moved to Dallas to become the Wings.
Cleveland will begin play in 2028, Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia the season after, assuming they get approval from the NBA and WNBA Board of Governors.
“The demand for women’s basketball has never been higher, and we are thrilled to welcome Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia to the WNBA family,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. “This historic expansion is a powerful reflection of our league’s extraordinary momentum, the depth of talent across the game and the surging demand for investment in women’s professional basketball.”
Other cities to submit expansion bids were St. Louis, Austin, Denver, Charlotte and Houston, the latter of which had the Comets, which won the first four WNBA championships.
“There are a variety of cities that obviously bid, and one of those I wanted to shout out — because they have such a strong history in this league and their great ownership group — is Houston,” Engelbert said. “The Houston Comets were just an amazing one, the first four inaugural championships in the WNBA. So, I would say that’s the one, obviously, we have our eye on. (Owner) Tilman (Fertitta) has been a great supporter of the WNBA, and we’ll stay tuned on that.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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