Few professional sports leagues have seen the explosion in viewing and search interest that the WNBA has over the last half-decade, and a potetial development could add juice to Ontario betting sites as well.
In 2023 alone, the league has seen a 67% jump in viewership among nationally televised games on ABC, CBS Sports Network, ESPN and ESPN2, with sizable jumps in WNBA League Pass subscriptions and attendance as well.
Among that popularity, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert hears one question over and over, the same one her predecessors have been asked for more than decade: When will the 12-team WNBA expand?
Engelbert told The Athletic she hopes to identify one or two cities for an expansion franchise by the start of the WNBA playoffs in September or by year’s end at the latest. Those new teams could begin to play as early as the 2024 season, she said.
Due to all of this, OntarioBets.com developed hypothetical odds of where the next WNBA franchises could be placed.
While you won't find these odds on Ontario sportsbook apps, we like one particular Canadian city's chances below.
Odds Of Next WNBA Expansion Franchises
Why Toronto Is Among Leading Candidates
Between the league’s expansion of regular season games across the border this season and the steady drumbeat of interest in women’s basketball in Canada, there’s no shortage of reasons why Toronto is among the top contenders for a WNBA expansion franchise.
That’s why Canada’s largest city ranks in a tie with Philadelphia as our No. 2 contender for a club, at +200, coming in behind only San Francisco (at -175).
A main reason why Toronto finished behind the Bay Area stalwart on our list is that the California metropolis already has two sets of potential ownership groups that could field a competitive team from Day 1 (in the Golden State Warriors on the San Francisco side and the African American Sports & Entertainment Group in Oakland).
Toronto finished ahead of other basketball-crazed metros, such as Nashville (+300), Denver (+550) and Portland (+700) on our WNBA expansion city list.
Still, there’s reason for optimism in Toronto that Engelbert could plunk an expansion club inside Scotiabank Arena, following in the footsteps of the NBA’s Raptors in 1995.
If Toronto does land an expansion team, they’d become the first Canadian club to enter the WNBA, replacing the Seattle Storm as the league’s northernmost franchise whenever they take the court for the first time.
Keep it here at OntarioBets for more WNBA expansion coverage, plus all news relating to Caesars casino Ontario.
