Sports odds and ends
Will it result in more ownership diversity?
After several years of resisting any expansion talk, the WNBA is now expanding.
Portland is the third expansion franchise awarded by the WNBA following the Golden State Valkyries, which begin play in 2025, and a Toronto franchise to come on board the following season.
This is the second W franchise to be based in Portland—the Portland Fire existed for two seasons (2000-02) but never made the playoffs. The latest team will start play in 2026.
The league soon will go from 12 to 15 teams.
Before the September 16 Portland announcement, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert during a visit in Minneapolis told reporters, including the MSR, “We have a lot of demand and low supply. We want to be very thoughtful when we bring in these later two teams.”
Atlanta (2007) and Chicago (2006) are the two newest franchises that joined the WNBA, which started with eight clubs, then grew to 16 before four franchises disbanded as their then-NBA owners dropped them like bad pennies. The Orlando team was sold and moved to Connecticut.
Where will the 16th team be located?
“We don’t have a team in the middle of the country,” said Engelbert to a reporter’s question about Kansas City, a long speculated location for a new WNBA team. “We are always talking to different ownership groups,” she added.
But it should be also noted that the majority Black WNBA teams have no majority Black owners.
An Oakland, California Black-led group tried to get a team but was pushed aside for the richer Golden State Warriors ownership. The African American Sports & Entertainment Group (AASEG) reportedly met with league officials after the Golden State franchise was awarded and was told Oakland was eligible when the league opens a new round of expansion in 2026.
However, a recent “Sports Business Journal” article did not list Oakland on its potential expansion list: Nashville, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Austin, TX, Houston, Charlotte, Denver, Cleveland, and multiple sites in Florida along with Kansas City were mentioned.
“We need the right ownership group, long-term commitment, great arena, practice facility… We want these teams to be successful so that players want to play there,” surmised the W commissioner. “There are probably 10 cities on the list right now.”
Hopefully the next franchise owner will be non-White.
Weatherspoon fired
Now the majority-Black WNBA has only two Black head coaches after last week’s firing of Teresa Weatherspoon by Chicago after only one season. Her dismissal caught many by surprise, including her players.
“I’m heartbroken,” tweeted Sky rookie Angel Reese, who finished second in league rookie-of-the-year balloting. “She was the only person that believed in me. Many don’t even know what it’s like to be a Black woman in sports when nobody believes in you. I came to Chicago because of YOU. You didn’t deserve this but I can’t thank you enough. I love you Tspoon.”
“Don’t know the details of TSpoon’s firing. But we know from our research that Black women are most likely to be fired and least likely to be rehired in The W,” tweeted Dr. Nefertiti A. Walker, who co-authored a published study in the “International Journal of Sport Management” on the hiring and firing of WNBA Black coaches.