WNBA expansion comes to Detroit, Cleveland and Philly on a 'monumental' day showcasing the league's rapid growth

Yahoo

30-06-2025

NEW YORK — Deanna Nolan packed in a rush, opting by chance for the smaller suitcase she hadn't used in 15 years on this one-day trip from Detroit. Digging around in it on Monday morning in her New York hotel room, she stumbled upon what some might claim as a blast from the past, a piece of memorabilia to add to her collection as a three-time WNBA champion.
But on this trip, it served as a sign. Even fate. All morning, she carried around the 2000s era Detroit Shock luggage tag in her pocket, embracing the history while broadcasting the future in a WNBA X Detroit T-shirt.
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'Everything is a full circle moment,' Nolan said.
The WNBA announced Detroit, Cleveland and Philadelphia as expansion teams on Monday, further fueling a period of rapid growth in the league's trajectory. The development is monumental, moving the league's footprint from 12 teams one year ago to 18 by 2030.
As recently as the 2024 WNBA Finals, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert targeted 16 teams by 2028 — a number they'll reach when the Cleveland franchise begins that year. Detroit will begin play in 2029 and Philadelphia in 2030.
'We wanted to make sure everybody knew the path, the strategy on a long-term basis through the end of the decade,' Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said.
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Amid a new surge, the WNBA is moving fast to capitalize. The list of potential bids grew longer in the years since Engelbert, who took over in 2019 as the league's first commissioner, first mentioned the word expansion. The onus is now on ownership groups to deliver on the long-held insistence that this is not a mere moment, it's a movement as the WNBA hits its third decade.
The spike in the franchise fee alone points toward the rapid ascension in value. The three expansion teams each reportedly paid $250 million, about five times the reported price of the Golden State Valkyries when their bid hit the airwaves in October 2023.
Engelbert said they don't disclose financial terms, 'but I'll say these are historic franchise fees.' The ownership groups, headlined by the respective owners of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons and Philadelphia 76ers, are committed to practice facilities specific to their WNBA teams and have large NBA arenas to hold games.
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To announce the news of three all at once is a boulder dropped in the lake as the league speeds along its path of monumental growth. Games are reaching millions of viewers. Merchandise is en vogue. The league's relevance took a sharp turn from punchline to must-see. The time to jump on board is now, and it appears NBA ownership groups have taken note, eager to reap the rewards.
'We'll look back on this day 5, 6, 7 [or] 10 years from now and I don't know if you'll ever see this growth in one given time period in the WNBA,' Nic Barlage, CEO of Rock Entertainment Group and the Cavaliers, said. 'To announce three teams and to close us out through the end of the decade, it's monumental. And it's something that we should be very proud of and something we're embracing and we're looking forward to getting to work.'
As with previous expansion selections, the three hit all of Engelbert's data notes. There is established women's sports success, obvious market value and marketing opportunities. Philadelphia, she said, will serve as a missing corridor link for localized rivalries in New York and Washington.
Cleveland hosted the 2024 Final Four, a marker Barlage said served as a 'final catalyst to kind of go all in and go all in the way we did.' The 'city was on fire' supporting those athletes, peaking with a national championship game between Philadelphia native Dawn Staley's South Carolina Gamecocks and the Caitlin Clark-led Iowa Hawkeyes.
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In growing its future, the league hasn't forgotten the peaks of its past. Half of the six expansion teams announced since October 2023 are in markets that previously hosted the WNBA. Another could be coming in the next wave. Engelbert said 'there might be opportunities' in Houston, the former home of the four-time champion Comets, and singled them out for their bid.
The Portland Fire had the shortest runway, folding after three seasons when Blazers owner Paul Allen sold the team back in 2002. The league announced a Portland expansion franchise in September 2024, and it's set to begin play next year.
The Cleveland Rockers were an inaugural squad running from 1997 to 2003 with four playoff appearances. Their final games played out against the 2003 Shock, who would go on to win the title, and in front of an 18-year-old LeBron James. The Rockers became collateral damage and folded when team owner Gordon Gund opted to sell the Cavs.
The Shock launched in 1998 and became one of the marquee franchises with championships in 2003, 2006 and 2008. Nolan started nearly every game in her nine-year Detroit career, winning Finals MVP in 2006 and earning annual MVP ballot nods. She's still recognized around the city by a broad spectrum of fans, from those who attended games to those who made their own discoveries long after the fact.
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'It's so cool. So, so cool,' Nolan said. 'Especially this day and age of women's basketball and how it's on the rise. It's growing and everybody just wants to be some part of it.'
The league peaked at 16 teams from 2000-02, building off the early excitement of the WNBA's launch under NBA leadership in 1997. An average of 10,000 fans attended games throughout the league in 1998 and 1999, according to Across the Timeline. It peaked at a total of 2.3 million attendees in 2002.
Attendance averages dropped to around 6,000 per game league-wide in the late 2010s after franchises folded and others moved.
For a list of reasons that could rival the scroll of bidders ready to buy into the W, interest in women's sports took off in recent years, and the league's average attendance is up to 10,849 through 108 games this year. That's slightly off the 1998 record.
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Golden State, the first expansion team since Atlanta in 2008, leads the league with 10 sellouts of 18,064 in as many games. Indiana and New York are also averaging more than 16,000 in NBA arenas. Las Vegas, maxed out around 12,000 per game at Michelob Ultra Arena, is at 11,354.
Barlage kept his eye on Golden State as the Cleveland ownership group grew closer to its accepted bid. The Valkyries announced a full brand identity early, selling merchandise long before tip-off in a blueprint for the other expansion teams to follow. Toronto announced its Tempo identity, but the Portland franchise set to launch in less than a year has deviated with no announced brand and a jostle at the top of its front office.
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Engelbert said announcing the three expansion teams this early is partly for the runway, and partly the double-duty of also owning NBA teams. They'll have more time to launch a brand, hire front office personnel and work with Nike on gear, the longest timeline of the bunch.
'We don't dictate when they get that done by, but at least we feel good now that they'll have enough time,' Engelbert said.
Cleveland launched merchandise and a season ticket deposit portal after the announcement. Barlage said they have a road map leading up to April 2028. Detroit has 'similar plans,' Pistons vice president Arn Tellem said, and will reach out to its communities soon.
Tellem took the podium equipped with one of the WNBA x Detroit T-shirts, asking Engelbert to hold it with him as if he were a player on draft night. His first remarks to the full room exclaimed, 'The W is back in Detroit.'
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The return validates the 'incredible transformation that's still ongoing in Detroit,' he said. As with Cleveland, the ownership group will build on its rich basketball history while not relying solely upon it. They'll share the moment with Shock legends like Nolan, and celebrate what they've meant while building forward into a new era.
'What will be different [than the Shock's exit] is the league is at another level as far as interest and coverage. I know one thing now that I was saying is that going from our business community to our vivid and philanthropic community, everyone wanted this. And our fans, it's been the talk of Detroit. So I know now this is going to be a huge success.'