Mayor John Tory says he wants to bring multiple professional women’s sports teams to Toronto following the WNBA’s announcement Wednesday morning that it will play a preseason game in the city in May.
The game between the Minnesota Lynx, whose roster features Canadians Bridget Carleton and Natalie Achonwa, and the Chicago Sky on May 13 at Scotiabank Arena will be the first WNBA game ever played in Canada.
“I’m thrilled at the prospect of a WNBA team coming here and the first step is to show the support, so I hope people snap those tickets up in no time to fill that arena and to show what I believe to be the case which is that there’s huge interest for women’s sports in Toronto and I’d be very proud for us to have a team in the WNBA,” Tory told reporters on Wednesday.
Tory said he also supports bringing a professional soccer team to the city, and that he’d like to ‘”settle some of the instability” that has existed around professional women’s hockey in Canada as well.
“I think people are ready for all those teams and they’ll support them and I think they’re all great games that people want to see, including me,” he added.
A move to Toronto by the WNBA has long been rumoured, but it would be the first team outside of the U.S. in the women’s pro basketball league.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the game, which is being held in partnership with NBA Canada and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., is more about the globalization of the game than a test run for a franchise in Toronto.
But Engelbert also said about 100 cities are on the league's radar for expansion.
“I've talked about narrowing that, Toronto is certainly one of the names on the narrowed list, but we're having conversations with several potential owner groups and many markets at this point. And we're just excited to see the passion for the game in Canada.”
The league is often criticised online for not making enough money to sustain itself, but Tory says he believes a WNBA team in Toronto would draw large crowds along with corporate sponsors.
“A lot of these comments about the shortcomings of women’s sports come from men, and I suspect that when we actually put the product in front of people, starting with the WNBA game at Scotiabank Arena, you’ll see, people will show up and sponsors will want to be there at women’s sports in all of those areas; soccer, basketball, and hockey,” Tory said.
“I think at the end of the day, people will be pleasantly surprised at the widespread corporate and fan support that there is for women’s professional sports in Toronto and I’m going to be doing everything I can to support those teams arriving in the city and successfully locating themselves here.”
