The WNBA had a major announcement on Friday with the news that the city of Toronto had been awarded an expansion team. The team is set to begin play for the 2026 season. This is the second expansion team that the WNBA has announced in the past year alongside the Bay Area team which is set to make its debut for the 2025 season. Following the announcement, former WNBA player and current ESPN analyst Chiney Ogwumike gave her thoughts on the new team.
“I know we say, ‘We the North,' should we say, ‘She the North?” Chiney Ogwumike said. “This is huge because charters, expansion were always the plans but now we are where the money resides. And this has been building, the investment the revenue has be doubling.
“It's been there and I think you have to hat-tip Cathy Engelbert for understanding the urgency. There's so many stars in women's basketball. They need destinations, they need more roster spots. This is another step in the right direction for the women's basketball business. So I'm just really happy to see we have another team not only in The Bay, but also the Queens of the North are also showing up.”
The announcement of a new expansion team comes on the heels of another major WNBA announcement this week that teams will have the use of charter flights during this season.
WNBA expansion is in the works
One of the major criticisms of the WNBA in recent seasons was the lack of available roster spots. With only 12 teams and each team permitted to carry up to 12 players on their regular season roster, the WNBA has become incredibly difficult for young players to break into.
Due to salary cap restraints, many teams end up carrying less than 12 players and so the 144 is actually a little bit less than that. Unlike the NBA, top women's college basketball players are not guaranteed a roster spot. Fans and media alike have been calling for team expansion to help alleviate some of the roster issues.
The WNBA is set to add 24 new roster spots across the next two seasons with teams in the Bay Area and Toronto. The league will have to hold expansion drafts for each new team with current WNBA teams allowed to protect a certain number of players on their roster while the rest are eligible to selected by the expansion teams.
The WNBA has been making inroads into Canada in recent seasons with preseason games. This year the Seattle Storm and Los Angeles Sparks held a preseason game in Edmonton. Last season the Minnesota Lynx and Chicago Sky played in a sold out preseason game in Toronto.
The announcement also comes on the heels of unprecedented support and interest in women's basketball across the country. There are a lot of eyes and attention on a pair of incoming WNBA rookies in the Indiana Fever's Caitlin Clark and the Chicago Sky's Angel Reese.
Other cities that have been floated around as possible expansion cities are Nashville, Portland, Philadelphia and Denver.
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