The WNBA is on the rise, with the league set to embark on significant expansion over the next few years. On Monday, commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced the next three cities to land franchises: Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia.
Cleveland will join the league in 2028, followed by Detroit in '29 and Philadelphia in '30. The three franchises will grow the league to 18 teams, with six new franchises joining between 2025 and '30. The Golden State Valkyries are currently playing their inaugural season, while the Toronto Tempo and Portland's currently unnamed WNBA franchise will begin play next summer.
“The demand for women’s basketball has never been higher, and we are thrilled to welcome Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia to the WNBA family,” Engelbert said, per the Associated Press. “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.”
🚨HISTORIC MOMENT ALERT🚨
— WNBA (@WNBA) June 30, 2025
The W is leveling UP — three new teams, three new cities, one unstoppable future. ⭐
Say hello to our newest expansion teams:
🟣 @clevelandwnba - coming 2028
🔵 @DetroitWNBA - coming 2029
🔴 @philawnba - coming 2030
New energy. New legacies. New era.… pic.twitter.com/6ZXaHPxkEw
The price of a WNBA franchise has surged as the league continues to grow in both popularity and scope, with the three new ownership groups paying $250 million to launch the teams, around five times as much as the Valkyries paid to begin play this season, per the AP.
Two of the new cities have WNBA history, with the Cleveland Rockers playing from 1997 to '03 and winning an Eastern Conference title in '98. The Detroit Shock were one of the WNBA's best franchises during their initial run, winning three championships (2003, '06, '08) during their run in the Motor City from 1998 to '09. They relocated to Tulsa in 2010, and later moved to Dallas and became the Wings in '16. The new franchises say they will consider bringing back the Rockers and Shock names, but have not committed to them.
Philadelphia has never been home to a WNBA franchise, though an early rival women's league—the ABL—featured a franchise called the Philadelphia Rage.
Cleveland and Detroit are set to play their home games at Rocket Arena and Little Caesars Arena, homes of the Cavaliers and Pistons, respectively, while Philadelphia hopes to have a new arena built by 2030 or '31. All three franchises share ownership with the cities' NBA teams.
Numerous other cities bid for WNBA franchises, including Austin, Charlotte, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Mo., Miami, Nashville and St. Louis.
More WNBA on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as WNBA Reveals Its Timeline, Locations for Three Expansion Teams.
