WNBA Expansion - 16 teams by 2028?

[cdubbz]

There was an article that quoted WNBA commissioner stating it's her goal to get to 16 teams by 2028.

Then there was an a a Portland journalist who tweeted out that Portland, OR was closing in on a WNBA expansion team.

San Francisco & Toronto launching teams in 2025 & 2026. I like the goal of 16 teams in the league, but is Is a 3rd expansion team in the same amount of time or even 2027 too fast or just right?

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[hermes]

is there a concern about expanding too much too quickly? i know there is a lot of talent coming through college right now but is it enough for four new teams in four years?

i suppose there are a lot of cut draft picks the last few years who could have new life with more teams

[Ghetto Gospel]

is there a concern about expanding too much too quickly? i know there is a lot of talent coming through college right now but is it enough for four new teams in four years?

i suppose there are a lot of cut draft picks the last few years who could have new life with more teams

i think right now there probably isn't enough talent to support to expansion but creating more job opportunities in women's basketball should lead to more talent coming down the pipeline in the future as it appears to be a more viable career path. it would just take a little bit of time for it to fully actualize but probably a good thing decades from now

[cdubbz]

is there a concern about expanding too much too quickly? i know there is a lot of talent coming through college right now but is it enough for four new teams in four years?

i suppose there are a lot of cut draft picks the last few years who could have new life with more teams

I would be concerned with expanding too quickly just because I wouldn't want to see too many teams watered down with talent due to expansion drafts and lack of incoming talent. I think San Francisco/Toronto in '25 & '26 is perfect, but wait a few years before adding 2 more teams in '28 '29 or '30 & '31. On the other hand -- adding more roster spots sooner than later could make current college players to want to make a pro career and train harder etc etc.

[zimpy27]

They should look at more games too.

[tmorgan]

With 16 teams, 2 conferences and an imbalanced schedule, expanding the schedule should happen if attendance/eyes on broadcasts continues to grow.

4x7 in conference, 2x8 cross-conference is 44. Or you could go to 52 with rotating home/away extra games cross-conference.

[RSCD3_]

is there a concern about expanding too much too quickly? i know there is a lot of talent coming through college right now but is it enough for four new teams in four years?

i suppose there are a lot of cut draft picks the last few years who could have new life with more teams

I think the college to the W success rate will improve a lot which is helpful because a lot of young stars from college drop out of the league in 2 years or have to wait 4-5 to get serious playing time. With players like Nika muhl, who a lot of people started associating with if she joined a team that was a bottom feeder and got more play time, you've got people who follow her from the NCAA to the W so following the whole "im a player fan" trend from the NBA fandom, you'll get a lot more eyes if the success rate is greater

[MrDollarBills]

is there a concern about expanding too much too quickly? i know there is a lot of talent coming through college right now but is it enough for four new teams in four years?

i suppose there are a lot of cut draft picks the last few years who could have new life with more teams

Between college and pros currently shut out of the league due to the lack of roster spots, absolutely.

[MrDollarBills]

is there a concern about expanding too much too quickly? i know there is a lot of talent coming through college right now but is it enough for four new teams in four years?

i suppose there are a lot of cut draft picks the last few years who could have new life with more teams

I think the college to the W success rate will improve a lot which is helpful because a lot of young stars from college drop out of the league in 2 years or have to wait 4-5 to get serious playing time. With players like Nika muhl, who a lot of people started associating with if she joined a team that was a bottom feeder and got more play time, you've got people who follow her from the NCAA to the W so following the whole "im a player fan" trend from the NBA fandom, you'll get a lot more eyes if the success rate is greater

Right. Muhl is actually a good player with upside but she's on a team with literal hall of fame talent. She and other young players need actual room to develop and this is why adding more teams is critical.

[MrDollarBills]

is there a concern about expanding too much too quickly? i know there is a lot of talent coming through college right now but is it enough for four new teams in four years?

i suppose there are a lot of cut draft picks the last few years who could have new life with more teams

i think right now there probably isn't enough talent to support to expansion but creating more job opportunities in women's basketball should lead to more talent coming down the pipeline in the future as it appears to be a more viable career path. it would just take a little bit of time for it to fully actualize but probably a good thing decades from now

There is plenty of talent when you also include women who are playing international ball because the league only has so many roster spots. Look at Gabbie Williams and Marine Johannes. Absolute beast ballers, Williams literally just was able to get onto a roster.

[Ghetto Gospel]

is there a concern about expanding too much too quickly? i know there is a lot of talent coming through college right now but is it enough for four new teams in four years?

i suppose there are a lot of cut draft picks the last few years who could have new life with more teams

i think right now there probably isn't enough talent to support to expansion but creating more job opportunities in women's basketball should lead to more talent coming down the pipeline in the future as it appears to be a more viable career path. it would just take a little bit of time for it to fully actualize but probably a good thing decades from now

There is plenty of talent when you also include women who are playing international ball because the league only has so many roster spots. Look at Gabbie Williams and Marine Johannes. Absolute beast ballers, Williams literally just was able to get onto a roster.

i thought those 2 weren't in the WNBA because france basketball organization wanted a real national team training camp where they would train and play together in preparation for the olympics. the training camp together did wonders for them for sure

of course, there are other factors as well like the wnba prioritization rules in combination with overseas money. i imagine american money will catch up though shortly with the new cba to come

[Ghetto Gospel]

They should look at more games too.

i think they should be careful with adding too many games. more games means more money but a diluted product where the players clearly don't care about the regular season and load manage due to the volume of games like the nba would be extremely damaging

[MrDollarBills]

i think right now there probably isn't enough talent to support to expansion but creating more job opportunities in women's basketball should lead to more talent coming down the pipeline in the future as it appears to be a more viable career path. it would just take a little bit of time for it to fully actualize but probably a good thing decades from now

There is plenty of talent when you also include women who are playing international ball because the league only has so many roster spots. Look at Gabbie Williams and Marine Johannes. Absolute beast ballers, Williams literally just was able to get onto a roster.

i thought those 2 weren't in the WNBA because france basketball organization wanted a real national team training camp where they would train and play together in preparation for the olympics. the training camp together did wonders for them for sure

of course, there are other factors as well like the wnba prioritization rules in combination with overseas money. i imagine american money will catch up though shortly with the new cba to come

I think it was also because of the rule in play. I kept reading that Johanness couldn't come back to NY because of it, but don't quote me on that

[MrDollarBills]

They should look at more games too.

i think they should be careful with adding too many games. more games means more money but a diluted product where the players clearly don't care about the regular season and load manage due to the volume of games like the nba would be extremely damaging

I think eventually we will increase to 48 games. I think that's a good number and that means more games each week on TV, which is what I want.

Hell, the NBA needs to go away from 82 games imo.

[Ghetto Gospel]

There is plenty of talent when you also include women who are playing international ball because the league only has so many roster spots. Look at Gabbie Williams and Marine Johannes. Absolute beast ballers, Williams literally just was able to get onto a roster.

i thought those 2 weren't in the WNBA because france basketball organization wanted a real national team training camp where they would train and play together in preparation for the olympics. the training camp together did wonders for them for sure

of course, there are other factors as well like the wnba prioritization rules in combination with overseas money. i imagine american money will catch up though shortly with the new cba to come

I think it was also because of the rule in play. I kept reading that Johanness couldn't come back to NY because of it, but don't quote me on that

yeah that WNBA prioritization rule is kind of weird. hopefully with the new CBA, players won't need to go overseas for income and it won't be as big of a problem

[cdubbz]

After thinking about this for a few days I think 16 teams by 2028 or even 2029/2030 is the way to go. It just might get messy if they don't structure the new expansion drafts properly with 4 new teams coming in year after year.

My reasoning is simply that the league needs to 'strike whilst the iron is hot'. Caitlin Clark effect is real and the league needs to take advantage of her popularity as well as who is coming the next few seasons to add to the popularity. The new gen of high school and college kids are going to regular household names and faces due to NILs.

[MrDollarBills]

After thinking about this for a few days I think 16 teams by 2028 or even 2029/2030 is the way to go. It just might get messy if they don't structure the new expansion drafts properly with 4 new teams coming in year after year.

My reasoning is simply that the league needs to 'strike whilst the iron is hot'. Caitlin Clark effect is real and the league needs to take advantage of her popularity as well as who is coming the next few seasons to add to the popularity. The new gen of high school and college kids are going to regular household names and faces due to NILs.

Paige, JuJu, Milaysia and a slew of others are coming. This is generational change that is happening.

We need 16 teams by 2028. Be smart about it, make sure the infrastructure is there to support the clubs. But get it done.

We need to have all of the top talent in the world in one place.

[cdubbz]

After thinking about this for a few days I think 16 teams by 2028 or even 2029/2030 is the way to go. It just might get messy if they don't structure the new expansion drafts properly with 4 new teams coming in year after year.

My reasoning is simply that the league needs to 'strike whilst the iron is hot'. Caitlin Clark effect is real and the league needs to take advantage of her popularity as well as who is coming the next few seasons to add to the popularity. The new gen of high school and college kids are going to regular household names and faces due to NILs.

Paige, JuJu, Milaysia and a slew of others are coming. This is generational change that is happening.

We need 16 teams by 2028. Be smart about it, make sure the infrastructure is there to support the clubs. But get it done.

We need to have all of the top talent in the world in one place.

Yup. And as a new fan i'm pretty invested in the league and sport. I've never watched this much WNBA before or cared this much before and i'm sure there are hundreds of thousands of people who feel the same.

We'll see Clark, Angel, & Paige's influence on the younger generation sooner than later. High school girls are now seeing how popular the sport is and how big the money can be -- they see Paige & Azzi Fudd all over social media doing photo shoots, going to sporting events and being superstars before they're pro. It's a good time to get into basketball at a young girl and take it serious.

[cdubbz]

I've read articles that supposedly today the WNBA was going to announce Portland expansion? Wonder if true.

[Parliament10]

4 Teams in 4 years is cutting it close.
However, the NBA has gone through numerous Expansions itself, over the years. And overall, still going strong.