The WNBA is, finally, officially, coming to Toronto.
Kilmer Sports Ventures has been awarded a women’s professional basketball team.
The as-yet-unnamed team will play out of Coca-Cola Coliseum, an arena in downtown Toronto at Exhibition Place.
Coca-Cola Coliseum is also home to the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies and hosted the first Professional Women’s Hockey League’s Toronto team, as well as its first-ever playoffs.
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Toronto’s WNBA team will start playing in May 2026.
The CBC was the first to report on May 10 that the women’s professional basketball league had awarded a franchise to Kilmer Sports Ventures, headed by Toronto businessman Larry Tanenbaum.
Tanenbaum is the chairman and CEO of Kilmer Group and the chairman of the board for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns the NBA’s Raptors and NHL’s Maple Leafs.
It will be the first Canadian team in the league, which currently has 12 teams but is expanding.
Canada has hosted sold-out WNBA pre-season games at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena in 2023 and Edmonton’s Rogers Place on May 4.
© 2024 The Canadian Press