Bid launched to bring WNBA team to Toronto

While basketball fever remains at an all-time high in Canada, a group says it has launched a bid to bring a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team to Toronto.

Daniel Escott, one of the co-founders of the bid, told CBC News his group plans to submit the paperwork for an expansion team before the end of the summer, with hopes for a launch in the spring of 2020.

"This is an opportunity to give women and girls in Canada a role model that they can actually engage with," Escott said. "It's an opportunity to inspire a new generation of athletes with people that look like them."

This is by no means a done deal, as the WNBA says it currently has no plans to expand, and is in the middle of negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement.

But it's also a banner year for the sport in Canada. The Toronto Raptors made history when the team beat the Golden State Warriors in six games to capture the Larry O'Brien Trophy on June 13.

That's a far cry from the Raptors' early days in the mid-90s, Escott said.

"We were told at the time that Toronto isn't a basketball city, and that's why we wouldn't get a team," he said. "In 2019, I think that's changed. We imported two trophies the MVP and the final trophies.

"Since then, the Toronto sporting community has developed and matured in an incredible way."

'We can develop a great following'

The timing does seem right, with the WNBA experiencing growth in attendance, social media views and merchandise spending, according to a 2017 news release from the association.

The league is also expanding its TV coverage in Canada this season, with 53 live games to be broadcast nationally on Sportsnet, TSN, and NBA TV Canada.

WNBA officials have spoken about expansion in the past, but chief operating officer Christy Hedgpeth did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the bid.

She told CBC news last month that the league has no plans to expand "at this time."

"We are focused on the overall health and competitiveness of our existing 12 franchises," she said.

'It's time'

The WNBA is currently in negotiations with the players association, Escott said, so he doesn't expect anything to move forward with the bid until that process is complete.

His group has been in touch with league stakeholders and players, and they're all saying they want a team, he says. The team is now looking for executives, and has secured a venue, according to Escott.

The team is bouncing around names like The Toronto Huskies and The Toronto Towers for the franchise.

"It's time for the WNBA to grow, and Toronto, I would contend, is the best market in North America to do it," Escottsaid.

"I'm very confident that 10 or 20 years from now, after this team has been on the go for a while, you'll be able to look at the people Canada is sending to the Olympics and the people on these teams, regardless of sport, will say the reason they felt they could do what they do is they saw somebody in 2019 or 2020 that looked like them, and they felt with that confidence that they could do it."

adam.carter@cbc.ca