Canadian WNBA fans remain cautiously optimistic as the league continues to test out support north of the border.
The WNBA hosts the second game in Canada in two seasons as the Seattle Storm and LA Sparks prepare to play in Edmonton, Alberta.
Hopes of WNBA expansion were at an all-time high last fall, coming off a historic season for the league and the ever-growing excitement around women’s basketball. It was not surprising when the league announced the first expansion team – Golden State – and fans waited in anticipation for another location to be announced. When news broke of Toronto-based Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) pulling out of interest for a WNBA team bid, fans north of the border were crushed.
All signs were (and still are) pointing to Toronto being an ideal location for a WNBA expansion team. Sure, there are barriers to bringing in the league’s first international team – flights being one of the most debated – but there was hope, and maybe some delusion, that Toronto would be getting a team sooner rather than later.
MLSE is a corporation that owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC, and the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts. They own Scotiabank Arena, where the Raptors and Leafs play, as well as many of the city’s other sports venues. MLSE itself is owned by Rogers and Bell – the two biggest telecommunications businesses in the country, and Kilmer Sports group, owned by Larry Tanenbaum.
Tanenbaum wants to bring the WNBA to Canada, but when he brought the idea of putting in a bid to the other members of MLSE’s executive board, they weren’t interested. Yet, they also weren’t opposed to Tanenbaum trying to make a WNBA bid happen on his own through Kilmer Sports Group.
As the hope fizzled out for Canadian hoops fans when reports were released that MLSE WNBA, Tanenbaum was starting to build a bid of his own.
There’s already a lot of proof that Canada – Toronto in particular – would be a great home to a WNBA franchise. The league’s first attempt at hosting a game in Canada resulted in over 19,000 fans showing up at Scotiabank Arena to watch the Minnesota Lynx and Chicago Sky play an exhibition game in May of 2023. The tickets sold out in less than a day, the merchandise sold out before half time, and Toronto got to prove itself as a sports megacity.
“We realized last year that a lot of business indicators were really pointing towards the WNBA growing in popularity, and we were following everything from social media engagements, to viewership of games that were on television, to purchases of WNBA merchandise that was shipping to Canada. So really the game last year was sort of a test. How do we work in big venues to create these experiences where female athletes are celebrated, and fans get to see the WNBA live and in person probably for the first time ever.” Leah McNab, Senior Vice President, NBA Canada.
Now, for the second year in a row, the WNBA is coming to Canada as the league and NBA Canada team up again to bring a game to Edmonton, Alberta. The LA Sparks and Seattle Storm will be facing off on Saturday May 4th in one of Canada’s most historic basketball cities.
Edmonton is not only the current home of the FIBA world no. 5 Canadian National women’s program, but was the home of the Edmonton Grads – Canada’s first professional women’s basketball team. For a deep dive on that history, check out Winsidr’s look into the history of women’s hoops in Canada.
The news of that game came right after the news of a revitalized bid to bring a WNBA team to Toronto was released – with Tanenbaum’s Kilmer Sports Group leading the charge. Rumored to be in charge of that potential bid is former Toronto Raptors Vice President of Basketball Operations, Teresa Resch. Resch was famously known as a right-hand woman to Masai Ujiri, the Raptors President and a powerful figure in international basketball. Fueling this is the fact that Resch left her job with the Raptors (on excellent terms with the organization) the Friday before the news of Tanenbaum’s bid was released to the public.
For right now, all attention is on the upcoming Edmonton game, as well as the current Canadian stars making a splash in the WNBA.
Kia Nurse will be featured in the Edmonton game on the LA Sparks, after being traded to the team in the offseason. Bridget Carleton was the big name in last year’s Toronto game, and just re-signed with the Minnesota Lynx in the offseason. Natalie Achonwa, captain of the Canadian National Team, is currently a free agent in the league. In 2023, Laeticia Amihere was drafted eighth overall in the WNBA draft to the Atlanta Dream, where she will play her second season this summer. The newest member of Canada’s WNBA crew was just drafted sixth overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft to the Washington Mystics – Aaliyah Edwards. She will move onto the pros now after a successful college career at UConn.
“We’re so lucky in Canada to have so many amazing grassroots girls and women’s programs, and more are getting created every day. We hope that [the Canada Games]are an opportunity for girls to see a potential future for themselves, whether that be playing on the court or at the sideline coaching having a job like mine, that’s something that we’re looking to grow here in this market.” – Leah McNab, Senior Vice President NBA Canada.
As Canadians start to spread wide throughout the WNBA, more promising players are coming up in the NCAA and high school. Syla Swords, who made her debut with the senior Canadian National Team through Olympic qualifier tournaments while still in high school, was named a McDonald’s All-American this year and will head to Michigan in the fall. Toby Fournier, the dunking phenom from Toronto, joins Kara Lawson at Duke next season.
“Coming from Canada, I wasn’t given as many opportunities as my fellow draftees, but I made the best out of it and I earned everything that I was given. So stay humble, but let them know.” – Aaliyah Edwards.
While these stars go international to make their basketball dreams a reality, the support only grows at home. Canada’s viewership numbers for the 2023 WNBA season were 32% higher than the 2022 season, while the Finals viewership increased 123% from the previous year. That number is only going to grow this season, as the WNBA expects unprecedented viewership on the heels of the explosion of women’s basketball across the media. While the NCAA championship drew over 18 million viewers, the WNBA draft broke its own record with 2.45 viewers. That number will only grow as we get into the season, and Canada is proving to be a home to tons of excited (and hungry) WNBA fans.
The WNBA also continues to partner with Canada Basketball and Canadian entrepreneurs on exciting projects. The WNBA and Canada Basketball recently released a toque (beanie) to celebrate the collaboration between the two organizations. The WNBA is also continuing the WNBA Goods initiative from last year’s Canada game – an initiative in which local Canadian businesses make limited edition merchandise to celebrate the upcoming game in Canada.
While all the signs are pointing towards Canada being top of mind for a WNBA franchise in the next handful of years, there are still a number of barriers to overcome. Players fly on commercial airlines through the WNBA season, and crossing an international border would cause a lot of headaches. There’s also the issue of where the potential Toronto team would play, since a point of contention when the first bid fizzled out was the reluctance from MLSE to give up Scotiabank Arena to a team. The WNBA has also been strict with potential expansion groups regarding things like practice facilities for teams, as current WNBA teams have built long overdue state of the art facilities for teams. Potential groups hoping to secure a WNBA bid are rumored to have to prove they either already have, or will very soon build practice facilities to accommodate new teams in the league.
A big factor in the quest to bring the WNBA to Canada permanently will ultimately come as the next Collective Bargaining Agreement is negotiated – which could be as early as next offseason. Flights, facilities, and expansion are all going to be hot topics as the players arrive at the negotiating table, and these factors will either help or hinder expansion into Canada.
While hope has been reignited through this new bid, the WNBA isn’t going to rush into expansion. Until expansion goes international, Canadian fans will continue to celebrate their current WNBA stars, as well as show up for events and games the league holds north of the U.S. border. Luckily, there is enough excitement to go around heading into this next Canada game and the historic WNBA season to follow.
