The #24 Nefesa Kolier of Minnesota Links scored a game-winning basket during a game-winning basket during the game against New York Liberty in game 1 of 2024 WNBA finals at the Barchellies Center in Brooklyn, New York on October 10, 2024.
Nathanial S Butler | National Basketball Association | Getty images
The WNBA announced on Monday that it honored Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia to three new expansion teams, extending the league to 18 teams in the next five years.
WNBA Commissioner Kathy Engelbert called it a “really monumental day” for the league.
“These emotional fan are a powerful city filled with places,” he said. “This is a bold step because we increase our footprint.”
The league currently has 13 teams, with franchisees in Toronto and Portland set to join 2026.
The Cleveland team will start playing in 2028, followed by Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia in 2030. Engelbert refused to comment on franchise fees, each team would have to pay to join the league, but said the fees have reached a historic level.
Nick Barles, CEO of Rock Entertainment Group, said, “Today is a transformational day in the sports history of Cleveland, which is the owner of NBA’s Cleveland Kaveliers and other professional sports teams in the city, which said Nick Barrage.
This will not be the first place of Cleveland in the basketball of professional women. The city hosted Cleveland Rockers from 1997 to 2003, one of the original franchises of the WNBA. After seven sessions as the owner of the team, Gordon Gund, that team cited a low attendance and said that he could not find a way. Make the team profitable,
“This is a big win for our city,” said Arn Telm, vice president of the Detroit Piston Basketball Franchise. “It is much larger than basketball.”
The Detroit team will return women’s basketball to the city after a gap of almost two decades. Detroit shock played from 1998 to 2009, winning three championships and setting records for appearance before going to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Representing Josh Harris, co-founder and managing partner of Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, said that bringing WNBA into the city “was” not just a good-one-one, it was an obligation. “
