The popularity of the WNBA is growing every day, and so is the WNBA itself. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced Thursday morning that Toronto, Canada is home to the newest team to join the WNBA. They are the league’s first international franchise and will begin play in 2026.
It’s official, Toronto it is #Next one 🇨🇦 Tip in 2026.
Listen to Commissioner Engelbert’s remarks live now on the WNBA App, X, YouTube or NBA TV. pic.twitter.com/5iC6B1VcX5
— WNBA_Toronto (@WNBA_Toronto) May 23, 2024
The team will be owned by Kilmer Sports Ventures, a company led by Larry Tanenbaum and created specifically to manage the team. It reportedly cost $50 million for Kilmer Sports Ventures to purchase the Toronto team. Tanenbaum is intimately familiar with Toronto sports franchises as chairman and minority owner of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors.
“Our sports franchises in Toronto are thriving, but we have been missing one critical component: women’s professional sports,” Tanenbaum told the AP. “The world is finally taking notice of something that has always been there: the enormous talent, passion and competition in women’s sports. So I saw another opportunity and knew we were in the right place at the right time to bring Canada’s first WNBA team to Toronto. And now we have written sports history.”
There is no team name or logo yet. Following the Golden State Valkyries timeline, that will likely come later this year. San Francisco was announced as an expansion team in October 2023, and they announced their team name and logo in mid-May 2024.
The WNBA is currently experiencing tremendous growth, with a huge wave of fans becoming interested in the W after the 2023-2024 NCAA season. Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso and others were major college stars who made their mark in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, and their arrival in the pros has already taken over professional sports.
But as the WNBA grows in popularity, one of the hard truths fans are learning is that the W doesn’t have enough room for all the talent that currently exists in women’s basketball. So the competition is expanding as quickly as possible. The Valkyries are the W’s 13th-ranked team and Toronto is the 14th. Engelbert has said she wants the league to grow to 16 teams by 2028, so two more teams will be added in the coming years.
