WNBA to play exhibition game in Edmonton in May

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Last May, the Women’s National Basketball Association sold out Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena for its first game in Canada. Now the league is bringing another preseason game north of the border, this time out west.

The WNBA said Thursday that Rogers Place in Edmonton will play host to an exhibition game on May 5, between the Los Angeles Sparks and the Seattle Storm.

“After the success in Toronto last season, we want to bring the WNBA back to Canada,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said on a media call this week announcing the Edmonton game. “We know basketball is a passion in Canada. We know we have five-plus-million WNBA fans in Canada.”

News that the WNBA has been planning this second game in Canada lands on the heels of a separate report about the league that made waves earlier this week – that Toronto could be in play for a WNBA expansion franchise.

On Monday, CBC reported that Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment minority owner Larry Tanenbaum is trying to bring a WNBA team to Toronto, but independently of MLSE. The board of MLSE – the parent company of the city’s Leafs, Raptors, Argonauts and Toronto FC – decided a year ago not to chase a WNBA team.

Tanenbaum is reportedly rekindling that possibility by seeking the expansion franchise through his holding company, Kilmer Group.

The WNBA wants a 14th team, but Engelbert is keeping her expansion conversations with interested cities close to the vest. In October, the league awarded the Golden State Warriors a WNBA expansion team in the San Francisco Bay Area – which will begin play in 2025 as the league’s 13th team – for a reported US$50-million.

Engelbert faced questions about WNBA expansion during her media. She clarified that any further expansion team would begin play in 2026 or beyond. She said the 2025 season is off the table for a 14th team, and that a new franchise will need at least 18 months to prepare for launch.

“We continue to spend a lot of time and engage in very productive conversations with several interested ownership groups in a number of cities and markets,” Engelbert said.

While Kilmer Group would not confirm CBC’s report this week, it did announce Tuesday that long-time European soccer executive Ivan Gazidis has been hired to lead a new division, Kilmer Sports Venture. It said this new division will focus on investment opportunities in sports and entertainment.

The CBC story said Tanenbaum is looking at Coca-Cola Coliseum on Toronto’s Exhibition Place grounds as a potential venue, should he land the team. That arena holds just shy of 8,000 when configured for basketball and is currently home to the Toronto Marlies of the AHL.

Toronto’s preseason game between the Minnesota Lynx and Chicago Sky, in the Raptors home arena, packed in nearly 20,000 fans, many sporting the WNBA’s signature bright orange hoodie.

League merchandise – including shirts with the slogan “Women run the court” – sold out on that spring afternoon in Toronto. Fans held up signs trumpeting their support for a Canadian team, such as “Toronto wants the NBA” and “Future season ticket holder.”

“I get chills still thinking of that vibe last year,” said Engelbert, reminiscing about that Toronto game.

That Scotiabank Arena game inspired events across the city that weekend, themed around female sport. A who’s who of athletes, league builders, and business minds huddled to discuss the burgeoning women’s sports market in Canada. They gathered in suites at the game, and held basketball clinics, speaker events and postgame parties. Tickets sold out in a single day. The city seemed to nail what felt to fans like an audition for an expansion team.

Engelbert said the WNBA is looking for committed ownership while considering expansion candidates, plus a great player experience, arena and practice facility, and financial wherewithal.

“Valuations of our teams are going up, so obviously owners have to be in it for the long term,” Engelbert said. “We look at demographics, psychographics. … I’m looking at a lot of data about the market and kind of our typical WNBA fan, but how can we grow that fan base in other fan segments? Certainly, Toronto, did great on that last year.”

The exhibition game in Edmonton will feature league stars such as Jewell Loyd, Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins-Smith for Seattle; and Layshia Clarendon for LA alongside recently acquired Canadian Olympian Kia Nurse.

Edmonton’s Rogers Place is home to the NHL’s Oilers. It can hold about 19,500 for basketball.

Engelbert said Edmonton was chosen because of its reputation as a sports city, and more specifically its ties to basketball. It’s a training hub for the Canadian women’s national team and home to the historic women’s championship team, the Edmonton Grads. In 2022, the Raptors packed Rogers Place for a pre-season game against the Utah Jazz – part of the NBA Canada series that began in 2012 and in which the Raptors have played games across Canada.

Tickets for Edmonton’s WNBA preseason game go on general sale March 20.