raptors wnba team

[Chandan]

Fred van vleet is a perfectly fine role model for both boys and girls. Dude is 5"11 playing in a world of giant.

[vaaron]

the wnba is a money pit requiring deep pockets that they use for advertising. none of the cities really support their teams and if it wasn't for the nba it would fold within a year, and a viable product should be able to support itself. pretty hard to justifying ticket prices for a product comparable to hs boys ball. the reality is that physically the "a woman can do anything a man can do" is true except the level of execution is way different.

[KO7]

I used to completely ignore / even make fun of the WNBA, but have changed my tune in recent years. Really enjoyed the NCAA Women’s March Madness tournament, and will sometimes watch WNBA now when there’s no NBA games on. Kobe and Gigi would’ve grown the women’s game massively for sure .

I have a lot of respect for female hoopers; God knows I’ve been cooked by my fair share of them in pickup ball.

[T0R0NT0_RAPT0RS]

Read on Twitter

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Make it happen

[WaltFrazier]

Read on Twitter

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Make it happen

I should probably know who this girl is but I don't. A Canadian player?

[OakleyDokely]

Report: WNBA Has 'Given the Checkmark' to Toronto's Infrastructure for Expansion Team

Toronto already has the infrastructure and capital required for a WNBA expansion team in the city

AARON ROSE

There was a weird moment as Masai Ujiri ended his season-ending press conference last month.

He'd made a comment about wanting to expand the game of basketball around the world and brought up the WNBA as a potential growth avenue. It raised the question of Toronto as a potential expansion city for the league. Could it happen, someone asked Ujiri.

"Oh, I'm not going into that," the Toronto Raptors president and vice-chairman replied with a smile. "Our dreams, just like the Lakers."

Maybe Ujiri knows something. According to The Athletic, Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, the group that owns the Raptors, "has done its due diligence to bring an expansion franchise to Toronto." Furthermore, the WNBA has reportedly "given the checkmark" to Toronto as a city with viable infrastructure for an expansion team, per Chantel Jennings and Mike Vorkunov.

The WNBA is reportedly looking to expand from 12 to 13 or 14 in the next year, commissioner Cathy Engelbert told The Athletic. Toronto is one of a handful of cities that could be tabbed for an expansion team.

The group headline an effort to bring the WNBA to Toronto, New Media Sports & Entertainment, reportedly has the required capital needed to pay the expansion fee and maintain the team in the city.

“One thing the league did want was to make sure the Toronto team was more than majority Canadian owned, and we didn’t get some overseas money or anything weird like that,” New Media Sports & Entertainment chairman Max Abrahams told The Athletic. “We have all the money here in market in Toronto accessible.”

https://www.si.com/nba/raptors/news/toronto-raptors-wnba-expansion-franchise

[Courtside]

Check given to MLSE, yet its a bid by a different group - New Media Sports - that is trying to get the team. What a poorly written piece by Aaron Rose, that offers ZERO information on any kind of progress in this area.

[brownbobcat]

Check given to MLSE, yet its a bid by a different group - New Media Sports - that is trying to get the team. What a poorly written piece by Aaron Rose, that offers ZERO information on any kind of progress in this area.

I believe the "checkmark" is more about the suitability of the city itself. I'm not sure any group has put in an actual bid - whatever that means - for a WNBA team yet. The one piece of relevant news from the Athletic article does seem to be that the WNBA is actually looking to expand soon, whereas they weren't before.

[Johnny Bball]

Check given to MLSE, yet its a bid by a different group - New Media Sports - that is trying to get the team. What a poorly written piece by Aaron Rose, that offers ZERO information on any kind of progress in this area.

Joint venture maybe?

[MavCarter]

Check given to MLSE, yet its a bid by a different group - New Media Sports - that is trying to get the team. What a poorly written piece by Aaron Rose, that offers ZERO information on any kind of progress in this area.

The article says the checkmark has been given to the city not any ownership group. Almost 0 chance there will be just one ownership bid for a toronto team. I fully expect MLSE to win any potential bid in the end though

[nestea]

question is would they play at scotiabank arena?
or shuffled off to some other arena, coca cola collesim? Paramount centre
my bet is that its not Scotiabank.

I think it would be at S B.

[nestea]

I believe this will happen sooner than we think.

[kalel123]

Apparently, method of travel is something of an issue in WNBA. They are going to add to that with an expansion team in Canada?

Don't really want the team here if it cannot self-sustain.

[douggood]

Toronto
In 2019, New Media Sports & Entertainment got approached by a representative for the then-owners of a WNBA team about acquiring that team and relocating it to Toronto. The offer was enticing enough that chairman Max Abrahams and his team put in an offer to acquire that franchise for a price of $3.5 million. Abrahams declined to specify which franchise, but the Dream were the only franchise available to buy in that window. While the franchise ultimately ended up in other hands (and, according to Abrahams, went for a lower price in order for that franchise to stay in market), it got Toronto in the game early in terms of expansion talks with the league.

Shortly after losing out on that relocation bid, New Media Sports & Entertainment began putting together another bid – this time for an expansion team. Abrahams has been told that the rate will be somewhere between $15-20 million, and he says his team has that capital in hand as well as the capital required for annual operating costs.

“One thing the league did want was to make sure the Toronto team was more than majority Canadian owned, and we didn’t get some overseas money or anything weird like that,” Abrahams said. “We have all the money here in market in Toronto accessible.”

Abrahams said the WNBA has “given the checkmark” to all the infrastructure plans submitted by New Media Sports & Entertainment, including an arena (though, he wouldn’t say which Toronto arena).

A league source said Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), the group that owns the Raptors, has done its due diligence to bring an expansion franchise to Toronto. However, MLSE wouldn’t confirm directly whether it’s directly involved with the bid put forth by New Media Sports & Entertainment.

“We recognize how important sport is to girls and women in Toronto and across Canada, and are eager to support organizations and initiatives which have the possibility to transform lives,” MLSE said in a statement. “MLSE is developing a comprehensive business strategy to explore opportunities for involvement in all women’s professional sports, including basketball, and look forward to working with leagues and partners across the industry as part of that process.”

Could Scotiabank Arena be home to a future WNBA team? (Nathan Denette / The Canadian Press via Associated Press)
Abrahams said that New Media Sports & Entertainment actually needed to get clearance from MLSE in order to begin acquisition negotiations in 2019, which likely means the arena that has been approved by the WNBA is Scotiabank Arena, the Raptors’ arena which is owned and operated by MLSE.

Said Abrahams: “​They know we’ve done our financial model, they know who’s involved with our group. … It is just a timing process though. The league knows everything about what this is going to look like (regarding) Toronto.”

While the appeal to expand to Canada is obvious — the ability to join the NBA, MLB and NHL as international leagues as well as supporting the growth of women’s basketball in Canada — the travel involved would complicate an already-difficult issue the league faces domestically. Under the current CBA, teams can only fly commercially and players have increasingly voiced frustrations about delays and other travel issues. Adding international commercial travel to league scheduling would only exacerbate the problem. Said one league source: “Logistically Toronto would be difficult until the league moves to charter flights.” The earliest opportunity to amend the WNBA travel restrictions would be during the next CBA negotiations (which the league or WNBPA can opt out of in November 2024), and as of now, sources say, less than half of league owners have been vocal in their support of chartering flights.

[GQStylin]

Don't see the point in getting a WNBA team here when there's plenty of other sports for people here to follow and spend their money on. Seems like people just want it just to have it and then when it finally arrives they'll probably ignore it.

[DreamTeam09]

Don't see the point in getting a WNBA team here when there's plenty of other sports for people here to follow and spend their money on. Seems like people just want it just to have it and then when it finally arrives they'll probably ignore it.

lol lol Basketball is big in Canada / Ontario especially. Womans basketball too has been exploding over the last decade as well. It will be supported well.

We don't have a NFL team, no way you say that if we were getting one. The point to getting a WNBA team is because we don't have one.

[Basketball_Jones]

Sports is all about stars. I don’t know what it is, but WNBA hasn’t been able to develop a worldly superstar. Candace is the closest. Womens tennis is going through the same thing post Williams sisters era

[GQStylin]

lol lol Basketball is big in Canada / Ontario especially. Womans basketball too has been exploding over the last decade as well. It will be supported well.

We don't have a NFL team, no way you say that if we were getting one. The point to getting a WNBA team is because we don't have one.

The NBA is pretty popular in Canada and especially the Raps and many people also play basketball, but all that doesn't mean it will translate into these same people tuning into WNBA games. How many years have people said that women's hockey is growing and gaining popularity and yet its still the same as it is like 10-20 years ago. I doubt the WNBA will do any better here.

I'll be the first to admit I'm wrong if it does well, but I doubt it. Maybe if women and girls really take to a Toronto WNBA it might do OK, but considering most women don't follow sports and those that do usually follow men's sports, I'll be surprised if they don't take losses like the rest of the WNBA does.

[DreamTeam09]

lol lol Basketball is big in Canada / Ontario especially. Womans basketball too has been exploding over the last decade as well. It will be supported well.

We don't have a NFL team, no way you say that if we were getting one. The point to getting a WNBA team is because we don't have one.

The NBA is pretty popular in Canada and especially the Raps and many people also play basketball, but all that doesn't mean it will translate into these same people tuning into WNBA games. How many years have people said that women's hockey is growing and gaining popularity and yet its still the same as it is like 10-20 years ago. I doubt the WNBA will do any better here.

I'll be the first to admit I'm wrong if it does well, but I doubt it. Maybe if women and girls really take to a Toronto WNBA it might do OK, but considering most women don't follow sports and those that do usually follow men's sports, I'll be surprised if they don't take losses like the rest of the WNBA does.

Womans basketball is big in Ontario right now, basketball from elementary all the way up to the collegiate level, is big right now. Those parents along with their children are going to support it. Basketball fans are going to support it. Plus it's in the summertime, it's 100% going thrive here.

We have the CBL + CBEL here growing, the WNBA is going to thrive here with corp backing. It's another advertising stream for several companies.

[GQStylin]

Womans basketball is big in Ontario right now, basketball from elementary all the way up to the collegiate level, is big right now. Those parents along with their children are going to support it. Basketball fans are going to support it. Plus it's in the summertime, it's 100% going thrive here.

We have the CBL + CBEL here growing, the WNBA is going to thrive here with corp backing. It's another advertising stream for several companies.

I don't doubt that women's basketball is pretty popular in Ontario and maybe in Canada in general. I doubt how many of them will actually go out and buy tickets to a WNBA game and go consistently for a whole season like they would a Raptors or Leafs games. There's tons of females playing basketball in the US too aren't there? Probably millions and yet not even a fraction of them care to go to WNBA games there either or even tune in consistently to watch those games on TV. If they did in any significant numbers then the WNBA wouldn't be losing money since it came into existence and require never ending funding from the NBA.