WNBA approves expansion teams coming in Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The WNBA is continuing to get bigger. Over the last few years, there’s been a lot of discussion about potentially expanding to other cities in the United States. Today, the league has approved the addition of three new cities to the women’s league, per Colin Salao of Front Office Sports. These three teams will be based in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia.
Advertisement
The three new WNBA teams will not debut at the same time. Cleveland’s team will start playing in 2028, Detroit’s in 2029, and finally Philadelphia’s in 2030.
The news of the WNBA’s further expansion comes on the heels of the latest expansion draft that happened two days ago. Toronto and Portland were awarded their own teams. The Portland Fire had the first overall pick in the expansion draft, taking former Minnesota Lynx forward Bridget Carleton. The Toronto Tempo, on the other hand, took ex-Los Angeles Sparks guard Julie Allemand with their first pick.
With the addition of Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia, the WNBA will now have 18 teams by 2030. The addition of these three teams is just the latest development in the WNBA’s rapid growth. A total of six teams will have joined the league by the end of the decade, a 33% jump from the number in 2020. It’s a sign of the massive growth of the women’s game over the last few years. The Golden State Valkyries were the first expansion team this decade, joining the league in 2024.
With the influx of talent at the collegiate level, all three teams will have plenty of players to choose from when they enter the WNBA.
Related: Wings give up former 2nd-overall pick in trade with Sun
Related: Sheryl Swoopes couldn’t be more excited about 1996 Olympic team’s Hall of Fame induction
