Candace Parker and Peyton Manning Headline Tennessee Summitt WNBA Expansion Bid
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Given the massive growth of the WNBA over the past year or so, it's no surprise that cities and states around the league are eager to get in on the action.
This was seen of late with the Golden State Valkyries, Toronto Tempo, and a team in Portland all receiving expansion franchises, which will be beginning play in the WNBA over the next two years.
The expansion won't stop there, as the WNBA continues to keep growing its league in the coming years. And on January 30, we learned that a Tennessee-based team is trying to secure an expansion bid — and it's headed by several sports icons.
"Bill Haslam has announced his bid for the WNBA’s final expansion team: the Tennessee Summitt.
"The team's ownership group includes Candace Parker, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, and Peyton Manning," a January 30 X post from Front Office Sports wrote.
Bill Haslam has announced his bid for the WNBA’s final expansion team: the Tennessee Summitt.
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) January 30, 2025
The team's ownership group includes Candace Parker, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, and Peyton Manning. pic.twitter.com/CkbhlL0PnY
A January 30 article from The Tennessean's Paul Skrbina added, "Bill Haslam — who will take over as majority owner of the Nashville Predators on July 1 — and Parker, a former Tennessee Lady Vols star, and country music power couple Hill and McGraw are part of an ownership group that put in a bid Thursday to bring a WNBA expansion team to Nashville."
It later adds, "If the group wins the bid, the Summitt — named in honor of legendary Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt— would become the first professional women's team in the state of Tennessee and the 16th franchise in the WNBA."
It remains to be seen whether Tennessee will indeed receive an expansion team, given the competition they surely have in doing so. But adding Nashville as a WNBA location while paying homage to perhaps the most legendary coach in women's basketball history in Pat Summitt seems like a great direction for the league to take.