Good news for WNBA fans, as the franchise is now set to add three new cities to the league.
Starting in 2028, Cleveland will be the first city added to the league. The next year, in 2029, Detroit will follow suit. Finally, in 2030, Philadelphia will round out the expansion of the league.
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The news follows the 2026 expansions of Portland and Toronto Tempo, with the Golden State Valkyries having debuted in 2025.
As for Detroit and Cleveland, this revives a yet-to-be-named teams for each of them, with Cleveland reviving the Rockers that started in 1997 and Detroit reviving the legacy the Shock founded in 1998.
“This is a huge win for Detroit and the WNBA,” Gores, who will be the controlling owner of the new franchise, said in a statement to the Detroit Free Press. “Today marks the long-hoped-for return of the WNBA to a city with deep basketball roots and a championship tradition."
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“The demand for women’s basketball has never been higher, and we are thrilled to welcome Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia to the WNBA family,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told AP News. “This historic expansion is a powerful reflection of our league’s extraordinary momentum, the depth of talent across the game, and the surging demand for investment in women’s professional basketball.”
The investors for each group paid a $250 million expansion fee, and each of the teams are expected to invest more money in practice facilities and similar amenities.
The Detroit and Cleveland teams are expected to play in the NBA arenas that currently exist, while Philadelphia is hopeful their new planned building will be done by 2030.
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In a comment to AP News, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment Managing Partner and co-founder, Josh Harris, said, "We tell tell the city it's going to open in 2031. We're hoping for 2030. So we're trying to underpromise and overdeliver."
Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia also outbid cities like St. Louis, Denver, and Nashville for spots in the league.
“We didn’t know the demand would be where the demand ended up when we ran the process last fall into the winter,” Engelbert said. “Given the very high demand and supply, we wanted to evaluate, too, because we’re very careful about, you know, making sure we’re balancing the number of roster spots, the number of teams. But one thing I’m very struck by as we get into a new media deal, as the media market evolves, you know, being in these three big basketball cities is going to help from a media perspective, a corporate partners perspective.”
With the proximity of the cities to each other, they're also expected to create a natural rivalry that will hopefully help keep fans on the edges of their seats.