If someone had asked me to name a basketball player a year ago, some big names that would have come to mind would be Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Stephen Curry. Ask me that same question today, and the first names that come to mind are Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, and Angel Reese. Throughout March Madness and into the WNBA drafts, women’s basketball has ignited a social media craze. 

And Toronto is getting in on the hype too. 

Expansion into Toronto

On May 23, the WNBA announced its expansion into Toronto with the league’s 14th team. The expansion team is expected to begin playing in the 2026 season, while the new team name and branding details have yet to be announced. Kilmer Sports Ventures, a Toronto-based sports investment group, will pay 115 million USD for the first WNBA team outside the US, which will be run by former Toronto Raptors executive Teresa Resch. 

The team will begin playing at the Coca-Cola Coliseum and feature at Scotiabank Arena on occasion. Additionally, some games are also set to be played in Vancouver and Montréal. Kilmer Sports Ventures has also committed to building practice facilities in Toronto for the players. Until that facility is built, the athletes will train at U of T’s Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert expects the league to expand from 12 to 16 teams by 2028. A week earlier, the league revealed the team name of its 13th franchise — the Golden State Valkyries — as part of its expansion project. The Valkyries begin their inaugural season in 2025.

Soaring heights of women’s basketball

The 2024 WNBA draft broke the ESPN viewership record with a peak of 3.09 million viewers, boosted by an expansion announcement and a strong rookie class featuring National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) superstars such as Cameron Brink, Clark, and Reese. Social media took the draft by storm, discussing the transition of intense rivals into the professional league. The draft spurred countless reaction videos and fan edits of the players, further fuelling hype and viewership. 

Indiana Fever guard Clark first entered the public eye as she shattered numerous sporting records with the University of Iowa, including becoming the women’s NCAA Division I all-time scoring leader. Clark’s on-court success translated directly to increased attendance and TV viewership: dubbed by some as the Caitlin Clark effect.

In April, when Clark faced off against Chicago Sky forward Reese in Iowa’s NCAA Elite Eight matchup against Louisiana State University, the game garnered so much social media attention that it attracted a peak audience of 16.1 million viewers. This made it the most-watched women’s basketball game on ESPN at the time. 

Later in the same tournament, the championship game between Iowa and the University of South Carolina amassed 24 million viewers at its peak, making it the most-watched women’s basketball game of all-time and the most-watched basketball game — men’s or women’s, college or professional — since 2019.

The rise of women’s basketball, fuelled by social media and NCAA success, is driving unprecedented growth in the WNBA. The league’s expansion into Toronto marks a significant milestone, promising increased opportunities through roster spots. As the WNBA gains momentum, it paves the way for greater recognition of women’s basketball, empowering women athletes and enhancing their professional prospects.