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

Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

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.”

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