When Portland was announced some time ago as the home city for the WNBA’s 15th franchise, there was immediately plenty of chatter about where the W’s 16th team would be placed given it was a goal of commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s.
There was a report hinting that Cleveland would be the home for that 16th franchise – then further speculation hinting that the reason the Cleveland announcement was delayed was because Engelbert wanted to go further than 16.
In an announcement that came virtually out of nowhere, the WNBA announced its intent to expand to three cities – Cleveland in 2028, Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia in 2030.
With an expansion announcement this sweeping – and this sudden, there is plenty to digest with this.
NBA Ownership
Even as exciting as expansion is for the league as a whole, one unintended consequence could be how the WNBA is becoming more and more dominated by NBA ownership groups.
The ownership groups for Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia all have NBA ties. Dan Gilbert is heading the Cleveland effort. Tom Gores is spearheading the bid for Detroit and the Philadelphia effort is being spearheaded by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment. That is the entity that owns the Philadelphia 76ers as well as the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and NFL’s Washington Commanders.
On one hand, this appears to be making it more difficult for ownership groups independent of NBA teams to run WNBA franchises – especially considering the $250 million expansion fee.
But we have seen examples of independent ownership groups that have not spent to the extent as their brethren that also have NBA teams in their portfolio – and today’s WNBA is very facilities-centered.
It’s Comcastic
This particularly applies to the Philadelphia group because one had to believe the moment Josh Harris brought in Comcast as a minority stakeholder in the Philly team that the it was a matter of when – not if – the City of Brotherly Love would land a franchise.
The reason for this is because of the WNBA’s upcoming broadcast partnership with NBC – which is under the Comcast umbrella. NBC wanted to make sure it would receive a maximum return on investment for its upcoming pact with the W.
Placing a team in Comcast’s ancestral backyard of Philadelphia is as good a return on investment as one could get.
Snubbing the South?
When an announcement was made last year regarding an effort to bring the WNBA to Tennessee, a large contingency of fans were enamored with the idea – especially considering the nod it made to the legacy of the late, great Pat Summitt.
The harsh reality of expansion is it is more business than anything else. But one cannot escape the fact that since the Golden State announcement, the west, Midwest, northeast and even Canada has received the WNBA’s expansion blessing.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Dream remains – for now – the lone franchise in the southeast. It is not lost on many a women’s basketball fan how much history has been made for the sport simply from the south alone – which is why so many of them are clamoring for greater representation in that part of the country.
Houston?
And this is why the clamoring for cities such as Houston may only increase among many a WNBA aficionado.
Engelbert did leave the door open for Clutch City during her introductory presser announcing the new expansion cities mentioning that the WNBA has its “eye” on Houston.
Returning the WNBA to a city such as Houston which – in many ways – laid the groundwork for where the W is today would be a watershed moment with many a fan.
On the other hand, does the WNBA really want to do business with someone who is as radioactive politically as Fertitta? And with the W’s current trend of granting franchises to NBA owners, Fertitta may be the only who can get it done for Houston.
Roster Expansion
Roster expansion became a hot topic prior to the season given the wave of questionable cuts we saw from rosters of many WNBA teams. In fact, we at Beyond The W even mentioned that at the start of training camps there were enough players on rosters for six additional teams.
As much as we get excited for league expansion, the WNBPA ought to make roster expansion a feature of a new collective bargaining agreement. Satou Sabally mentioned roster expansion in recent comments she made at a Mercury practice during media availability.
League expansion benefits owners because of expansion fees. Roster expansion benefits players because of presumably three more roster spots and more players getting paid. With all of this new money coming into the W, owners certainly have more than enough to afford to pay three more salaries per team.
