WNBA expansion team 'a major milestone': Toronto fans, players
CBC
Toronto basketball fans and players say news of a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in the city is not only exciting but long overdue.
CBC Sports reported early Friday that Kilmer Sports Inc., headed by Toronto billionaire Larry Tanenbaum, has been granted an expansion franchise with the WNBA, the league's 14th team.
Keesa Koomalsingh, the founder of Toronto first paid women's basketball league, called the news "a major milestone for past hoopers, for current hoopers, for future hoopers."
"This is for the people who have been putting in the work and who have been supporting women's basketball for years," she told CBC Toronto.
Sports fans said that they're excited for the new team and that it's a testament to the city's passion for basketball.
"It's a perfect place to grow basketball," Jacob Veenstra said. "One hundred per cent I would go. I'd be really excited to see that."
A formal announcement is expected May 23 in Toronto, according to four people with knowledge of the deal but who are not authorized to speak about it.
The team is expected to begin playing in May 2026, but WNBA did not confirm.
Raptors sideline reporter Savanna Hamilton says many fans believed Canada would get a team of its own after the WNBA played a sold out game at Scotiabank Arena last year, and then again in Edmonton on Saturday.
"It felt like it was a matter of when, and it was almost like a carrot dangling in front of basketball fans' faces," the former varsity basketball athlete told CBC News Network.
The growth of women's sports in the city was already well underway with the Professional Women's Hockey League Toronto team playing its inaugural season. The team finished the regular season first in the standings, with playoffs currently underway.
"We've seen the PWHL really thrive here in the past couple of months," Raptors HQ editor-in-chief Chelsea Leite said.
Leite says one reason why Toronto was able to finally get its own team is that new TV deals have allowed more people to watch games in Canada, the U.S. and beyond.
"The excitement was always there. It was just the accessibility that needed to progress in order to allow people to interact with the game on a level that would grow it to where it is today."
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