Toronto will host a new WNBA franchise. The growing league will add its 14th club in 2026, it was announced on Monday, May 23. It was a glitzy press conference that even had Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, members of the Toronto Raptors, along with rapper and entertainer Drake.
Drake made an appearance at the announcement for Toronto’s WNBA expansion team. 🏀🇨🇦
PIC.TWITTER.COM/VBXMJZQC0V— XXL Magazine (@XXL) MAY 23, 2024
The new Toronto expansion franchise was set to enter its 2026 season in Ryerson’s Coca-Cola Coliseum, which has a seating capacity of 8,500. Those, however, are among the few details for the team. For fans itching to buy merchandise, they might have to wait a little bit longer; there’s no name or colors just yet for the Toronto WNBA expansion franchise.
A name for this new team is still to be decided, but what has been assured is that through this, the spirit of Canada is sure to be reflected in a way that instills pride and honour in the minds of fans from all over the country.
Drake‘s presence Wednesday wasn’t so much a celebrity endorsement as a manifestation of genuine excitement and anticipation for how the new team is going to fit into Toronto, and bring Canada back on to the international basketball stage, where it arguably belonged but has been absent for far too long.
But his appearance was a little marred: social media went into overdrive right afterwards, with some of it focusing on his recent feud with fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar. While this effort received mixed reactions, one cannot deny that the presence of Drake only served to add to the impact of this groundbreaking announcement.
“We’re going to be all ears to the fans,” said team president Teresa Resch, indicating the Toronto brain trust is going to let the public help shape who they become. “We want to keep Canada at the forefront, we want something that really represents Canada,” said Resch. “We also want to make sure that it represents women strongly and we want to make sure it’s like, really, really cool.”
Up until now, there have been 12 franchises that have taken part in the WNBA:
- Atlanta Dream
- Chicago Sky
- Connecticut Sun
- Dallas Wings
- Indiana Fever
- Las Vegas Aces
- Los Angeles Sparks
- New York Liberty
- The Minnesota Lynx
- The Phoenix Mercury
- The Seattle Storm
- Washington Mystics
Players now fighting for their careers in the WNBA, such as Canadian-born Kia Nurse, A’ja Wilson, Diana Taurasi, Breanna Stewart, and so many more, were at that moment being lauded as the examples to a new generation of players destined for the Toronto team. These honest feel-good stories truly inspired and gave hope to young aspiring athletes.
