The WNBA’s newest team, the Cleveland Sirens, unveiled its name and logo on Tuesday, Aug. 4. The franchise will begin play in 2028.
Owner Rock Entertainment Group revealed the franchise’s identity during a press event. The team slogan “hear the call” and the logo appeared on the team’s website a few minutes before the big reveal. It seems that Cleveland has landed on a name that is both classic and culturally relevant.
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The mythical creatures are having a moment thanks to “The Odyssey,” and they’re part of a league experiencing rising popularity and attention. Now they just have to wait two years to start playing basketball. The team will be put together ahead of the 2028 season, starting with an expansion draft.
Sirens in pop culture
One of the breakout memes of the summer features Matt Damon screaming. That image comes from Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.” In the scene where Damon is screaming, Odysseus is tied to the mast of his ship, hearing the siren song.
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Considering the source material for that movie is over 2,000 years old, sirens aren’t exactly new. There are siren references in the Harry Potter series. Some of the outcasts in Netflix’s “Wednesday” are sirens. There are even sirens in “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.”
Cleveland Rockers
It was a long road back to the WNBA for Cleveland, despite the fact the city was home to one of the eight teams in the league’s inaugural season. The Cleveland Rockers existed from 1997 to 2003. The Utah Starzz were the first team to move and became the San Antonio Silver Stars after the 2002 season. The Rockers folded a year later. Three of the other original eight followed suit by 2010.
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Cleveland made the playoffs in four of its seven seasons and finished with an overall record of 108-112.
This year the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo joined the WNBA as expansion teams. More change is coming to the league in 2027 when the Connecticut Sun move to Houston and revive the Comets name.
After the Sirens join the league in 2028, Detroit will join the WNBA in 2029, followed by Philadelphia in 2030. That will bring the league total to 18 teams.
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