Cleveland Deserves a WNBA Expansion Team Amid Growing Popularity

The 2024 WNBA season has come to an end and it culminated with the New York Liberty capturing their first championship in franchise history after a 28-year title drought.

Currently, there are 12 teams in the league, with three more set to come in over the next two seasons: The Golden State Valkyries in 2025 followed by Toronto and Portland in 2026. When Portland joins in 2026, it’s going to be the second time they've had a WNBA team as they previously had the Fire, who played from 2000 to 2002 before folding. Cleveland also previously had a WNBA team, the Cleveland Rockers, who played from 1997 until 2003.

Since Portland is getting a second chance with a WNBA team, Cleveland should also get another opportunity to support a franchise in a blossoming league.

Cleveland Deserves Another WNBA Team

According to the Sports Business Journal, the league averaged 657,000 viewers during the 2024 season, which is the league’s best mark in 24 years. Furthermore, there were a record 22 games that reached one million viewers across the league’s main broadcasting platforms: ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ION, CBS and NBA TV.

While a lot of the success the league experienced this season needs to be attributed to Caitlin Clark, who was drafted No. 1 overall by the Indiana Fever, and Angel Reese, drafted No. 7 overall by the Chicago Sky, fans also got introduced to the likes of some of the established stars in the league, including Sabrina Ionescu (Liberty), A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces), Breena Stewart (Liberty), Arike Ogunbowale (Dallas Wings), Kelsey Plum (Aces), Chelsea Grey (Aces), amongst others. 

When the Rockers were in the league, they played their home games at Gund Arena, the home of the NBA’s Cavaliers. However, they disbanded in 2004 due to low attendance figures. Cavaliers superstar guard Donovan Mitchell is even pushing for a WNBA team to return to Cleveland. 

The Fever, Liberty, Minnesota Lynx, Phoenix Mercury, Los Angeles Sparks, Golden State (2025), and Portland (2026) all share their home arenas with their NBA counterparts so there is a formula to success for bringing fans into an NBA arena for a WNBA game. However, if Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (RMFH) isn’t plausible for a new Cleveland WNBA team due to the Cavs and Monsters both playing there, then the Wolstein Center, which serves as the home court for the Cleveland State Vikings men’s and women’s basketball teams, could be practical for the team.

The Wolstein Center also served as the home of the Cleveland Crunch, a member of the National Professional Soccer League and Major Indoor Soccer League, from 1992 to 2005, and the Cleveland Charge, a G League affiliate of the Cavaliers, from 2021 to 2024.

When you look at some of the teams that are in the WNBA, there’s Minnesota, Chicago, Indiana, New York, and Connecticut. It wouldn’t be surprising if Philadelphia and/or Pittsburgh get a team in the future, so that would be a lot of potential rivals and geographic foes for a Cleveland WNBA team. 

The 2024 Women’s Final Four was in Cleveland this past season, and it was an incredible atmosphere at RMFH. When the Iowa Hawkeyes took on the South Carolina Gamecocks in the National Championship, there was not an empty seat in the arena. Furthermore, fans were into the game from start to finish.

While Clark was in the National Championship game, the energy showed that Cleveland does indeed care about women’s basketball. Even though  the Rockers originally folded in 2004 due to low attendance numbers, a new WNBA team in Cleveland would have the fan support behind them and that fan support could potentially grow into something bigger. Popularity of women’s sports has only grown in the last two decades. 

The Cleveland Monsters are a minor league hockey team, as they’re the AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Last season, they went on a deep playoff run that unfortunately ended in overtime of Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Hershey Bears (AHL affiliate of the Washington Capitals). As the Monsters made their playoff run, more and more fans started coming into RMFH for the games.

This shows that while the “Big 3” take precedence, especially the Browns, Cleveland will take notice of the smaller teams in the area and show their support.     

Since Portland is getting a second chance to have a WNBA team, the league is willing to go back into markets that it was previously in, which should give cities like San Antonio, Detroit, Houston, Charlotte, Miami, Orlando, and of course, Cleveland, hope that they can also get a second opportunity to have a WNBA team.   

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