While they may not have been selected for the 16th bid, Philadelphia still seems to have a good chance at landing a WNBA team.
Well, it looks like the wait will have to go on even longer.
The WNBA is expected to award their newest franchise to Cleveland, as was reported by the Sports Business Journal. Though the official announcement isn’t expected until March, the report says this was a league record bid worth about $250 million, with the team expected to join the league in 2028. They will once again be called the Cleveland Rockers, the original WNBA team that folded there in 2003.
There’s still plenty of room for optimism as it’s also reported that the WNBA has “re-thought its original plan of adding just one team and could award one or two more franchises to bring its league total to 18 clubs.”
Philadelphia was mentioned as one of the presumed leaders for the 18th team, along with Houston, Nashville, Detroit and Miami.
It was reported that Houston was the “most-positioned” city for the 17th team, but that Philadelphia was also “another clear frontrunner,” citing Sixers’ ownership’s new partnership with Comcast for a new arena. A priority for that partnership was to house a WNBA team as well as the Sixers and Flyers.
At least ownership doesn’t seem to be waiting for the arena to be built to join the league. If Philadelphia wins that 18th bid, it sounds like the league wants to bring them in 2028 along with Cleveland, well before the new arena is planned to open.
The WNBA’s expansion has started to happen quite rapidly. The Golden State Valkyries will join the league as the 13th team this season, and Toronto and Portland will each join the league in 2026.