Teresa Resch is not a hardcore baseball fan, but she admits she was transfixed by the Toronto Blue Jays\u2019 run to the World Series. As president of the Toronto Tempo, one of two new WNBA franchises along with the Portland Fire that will begin play next spring, Resch watched with amazement as Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and Co., provided one of the greatest communal experiences in recent Canadian history. In a country of just 41 million, Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Blue Jays averaged 10.9 million Canadian viewers, the most-watched non-Olympics telecast on record in Canada. (Only the 2010 Vancouver Games drew higher viewership.) That shared adventure gave Resch even more belief that her franchise also has the potential to bring Canadians together.<\/p>\n
\u201cWasn\u2019t that so joyful?\u201d Resch said. \u201cIt was sad that we lost, but there was so much joy throughout the entire playoff run. I grew up a big Twins fan, growing up in Minnesota, but I really connected to the Blue Jays. I was all-in. I thought about how this can be Tempo. The Tempo can be the same type of nation-building event that the Jays were going to the World Series. I remember (infielder) Ernie Clement was being interviewed, and he was asked, \u201cWhat makes the Blue Jays special? He\u2019s like, \u2018We\u2019re all friends.\u2019 I took that clip and sent it to everybody in our organization. I was like, friendship equals championships. That team really resonated with a lot of people, the joy they felt amongst each other. I could feel it as a fan. I didn\u2019t even know all of their names (of the players) until September, but it gave me hope that this is a role the Tempo can also play for this country.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an interview last week, Resch offered an update about the Tempo franchise roughly six months away from playing games (assuming the WNBA CBA negotiations are concluded by then, and that is no guarantee<\/a>). Resch said the Tempo have 32 employees now, and by opening tip, she predicts the team will have 55. One of those employees is Sandy Brondello, who last month was officially named Toronto\u2019s head coach<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen (general manager Monica Rogers) and I were talking about who we were targeting and what the profile of the coach of the Tempo was going to be, the thing that stood out were: No. 1 a good person, somebody that is going to be authentic, genuine, and that you wanted to work with,\u201d Resch said. \u201cThen 1A was somebody who was really well established and experienced, specifically in the WNBA. (Brondello\u2019s) profile fit exactly what we\u2019re looking for. But then you get a chance to talk to her, meet with her, hear her share her priorities, how she operates, and it was a grand slam. It confirmed all the things that you thought about her ahead of time.\u201d<\/p>\n Here are some highlights from my conversation with Resch. You can listen to the full conversation here.<\/a><\/p>\n How will the Tempo approach the expansion draft?<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going to give out state secrets, but Monica has a great strategy team. That\u2019s something that we invested in, our people, to help shape our strategy. There\u2019s so many different variables that can impact the expansion draft \u2014 the status of the league, protections, who\u2019s available, and what the crop looks like in free agency and the college draft. I would say that any strategy surrounding the expansion draft is rooted in the current status. I don\u2019t think that you can say this team used this strategy prior, so let\u2019s replicate it 100 percent. There\u2019s things that you can pull from previous new WNBA teams as well as expansion drafts in other leagues. But ultimately, you have to kind of create your own strategy. The fact that the Portland Fire are coming in the same year as us adds another wrinkle. We\u2019re excited about getting players. We want to make sure that people understand an expansion draft is just that \u2014 it\u2019s a draft and it\u2019s expansion. It\u2019s not your final roster. Depending on the strategy, some of those players might be taken to hold rights. They might be taken because we know there\u2019s another team that really wants a player we have access to, so we can then enter into a trade for someone else. There\u2019s a lot of different things that can happen, so you have to be really flexible.\u201d<\/p>\n Will the success of the Golden State Valkyries have an impact on how the Tempo builds its roster?<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one more piece of incredible data to help us make great decisions. To be able to see their strategy play out and how it actually came to fruition is a great piece of data that\u2019s gonna help us create our strategy.\u00a0 Whether it was the Valkyries this year or Atlanta in 2008, all those different points of data will help us define what our strategy is.\u201d<\/p>\n How will the college draft order be determined between the Tempo and Fire?<\/p>\n \u201cI heard a coin flip, but we haven\u2019t gotten any definitive word.\u201d<\/p>\n On getting a permanent practice facility<\/p>\n \u201cWe are really excited to be able to bring that to life. We are working very closely with different partners to make sure that we\u2019re securing the site, securing design plans, and all those things that need to cross the finish line before it becomes real. We\u2019re excited to bring something to life that we think will really serve our population of elite women professional athletes. We look forward to saying more when the timing is right. This was always part of the plan and something we talked about when we were awarded the team. It\u2019s something that will be coming to fruition. We\u2019ll be using the University of Toronto for the interim. That\u2019s where we will be spending our first season.\u201d<\/p>\n What makes Brondello the right fit?<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s one of the winningest coaches in WNBA history. If you\u2019re not trying to at least have a conversation or woo her, you\u2019re missing the point. As soon as she became available, we knew that anybody else looking for a head coach was probably gonna be interested. We knew we would have competition. Monica and I talked about making sure that we were authentic to who we are and authentic to the opportunity here. It\u2019s not for everyone. We\u2019re a startup. It\u2019s an expansion team who does not have anybody under contract. It\u2019s a very different position than other teams that she was considering. We had confidence that if she was telling us what she truly felt about her priorities, we were gonna be a great fit for her. It turns out that she wasn\u2019t lying, and all those things that she said she was prioritizing in her decision-making are what led her here.\u201d<\/p>\n Will single-game tickets be available during the season?<\/p>\n \u201cFor our first season, we have two goals: Number one, sell out every single game. Number two, have as many unique visitors over the season as possible. In order to achieve that, you have to have different ways that people can enter. We have our season seat holders, but we also hope that they bring friends to experience a Tempo game. Once we have the season seat holders all secured, then we\u2019ll go back into the marketplace and do group sales, half packs, different products that will be toward our second goal of exposure, which is as many unique visitors as possible. We\u2019re also gonna have some games that are not held at Coca-Cola Coliseum. We\u2019ve already announced games in Montreal and Vancouver, so we\u2019ll have two games in each of those markets. We also look to have games at Scotiabank Arena (home of the NBA Raptors and NHL Maple Leafs) during the season. Those will provide a great entry point for people who maybe are just looking to come to one game or maybe that one weekend is the only one that works for them.\u201d<\/p>\n On getting a local broadcast deal<\/p>\n No updates to share. But we\u2019re really excited that for the first time in history, there will be one. In the past, Canada has never had a broadcast deal with the WNBA. It\u2019s always just been a pass-through of NBA rights holders. So we\u2019re really excited that we\u2019re gonna have an actual deal within Canada that\u2019s going to bring so many more WNBA games to so many fans across this country from coast to coast. Stay tuned for that.<\/p>\n One last mascot question for ya \ud83e\udd72<\/p>\n What should our mascot be wearing to the first-ever game? \ud83d\udc54<\/p>\n Presented by @TurboTaxCanada<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Toronto Tempo (@TempoBasketball) November 26, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n On coming up with a mascot<\/p>\n \u201cWe encouraged our fans to complete our Mascot Aura audit, which will inform our mascot. What is the game presentation? What is the aura of the mascot? What is the vibe? What sets (New York Liberty mascot) Ellie apart is,<\/a> I don\u2019t know what else to call it, but it\u2019s her aura. What she brings every day, her personality, how she dresses, how she acts, the different things that are happening around her for every game day. That\u2019s what we wanted the fans to help us shape. We actually brought in some kids ages 5 to 9 to get their thoughts on it, which was really fun. We look forward to taking all that information and helping us shape the true personality of our mascot.\u201d<\/p>\n