In less than a year, the WNBA will no longer be a one-country league.<\/p>\n
In Toronto, fan excitement for the Tempo, who tip off their inaugural season in May 2026, is already brimming, with the team hosting community events and providing open courts for local players to get to know the game. But if you ask Tempo team president Teresa Resch, her organization is determined to build a community that reaches far beyond the borders of the city it officially represents.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important that the fans are from coast-to-coast, and really can feel part of this community,\u201d Resch says.<\/p>\n
That goal has been central for this new franchise from its earliest days. As Larry Tanenbaum, chairman of the Tempo\u2019s majority ownership group, said on the morning the franchise was first announced in May 2024: \u201cThis team is Canada\u2019s team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, more than a year later, the WNBA is taking a major step toward making good on that promise when the Seattle Storm and Atlanta Dream take to the court at Rogers Arena in Vancouver on Friday night for the league\u2019s first-ever regular-season game outside of the United States.<\/p>\n
Resch is extremely excited about the momentum this opportunity will create for the W in Canada. And although the primary focus will remain on the Dream and Storm, her team refuses to miss out on such a huge opportunity to connect with WNBA fans on the West Coast. Members of the Tempo front office will be at the game, and the team will host a pop-up booth outside the concourse where fans can join the official Tempo fan club and purchase merch.<\/p>\n
Of course, one game in the Pacific time zone isn\u2019t enough to singlehandedly activate a vibrant cross-province fanbase. Resch notes her group is \u201cjust getting started\u201d and the Tempo are looking at other ways to engage Canadians, encouraged by early responses like the more than 10,000 fans from across the country who contributed ideas for the team\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that not everybody’s going to be able to attend a game, whether they live in Toronto, or in British Columbia, or in Halifax, but they can all be part of this fan club and be part of the community,\u201d Resch says. \u201cWe will look to play regular-season games outside of Toronto, which I think will be very unique to us as a professional sports team.\u201d<\/p>\n
As they consider how to expand their reach, the Tempo have investigated what\u2019s worked for the Toronto Raptors. The situations aren\u2019t identical since the Raptors initially shared the national fanbase with the Vancouver Grizzlies, but the Tempo can still look at what the Raptors have done since becoming Canada\u2019s lone NBA club in 2001. What helps in this process is Resch\u2019s 11 years of experience working with the Raptors as vice president of basketball operations. She remembers their 2019 run to the NBA Championship and all the \u2018Jurassic Park\u2019 viewing parties that popped up in different provinces.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve definitely taken cues and learnings from what (the Raptors) have done most recently,\u201d she says. \u201cBut we also think that it’s really unique that we get to be Canada’s team from the very start, and that\u2019s something that we’re really leaning into.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Tempo join the WNBA during a time of unprecedented fan engagement and success for the league.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat’s great is the product has always been wonderful, so it’s just more eyeballs on it,\u201d Resch says. \u201cAnd, you know, the fact that we are the very first team ever outside of the U.S. is a huge untapped market for the league. So, we look forward to really being the catalyst for this.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Tempo can really be a gateway to globalizing this league in a way that hasn’t been able to be done before,\u201d she continues. \u201cSo, we look forward to really leading that charge for the league.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last fall, Resch attended an event put on by Canadian Women in Sport at which Kia Nurse joined a panel with three young basketball players. The conversation that day, which focused on what a team in Toronto means to different levels of hoopers, really impacted Resch. Afterward, she had the chance to meet one of the young girls who spoke on the panel. Eleven-year-old Precious shook Resch\u2019s hand and looked up at her with wide eyes, the president recalls.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you going to remember me?\u201d Precious asked. To which Resch replied, \u201cHow could I forget you?\u201d<\/p>\n
The young player smiled and responded, \u201cOh good, because I\u2019m going to play in the WNBA someday. I\u2019m going to play for Toronto.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s young athletes like Precious who will continue to inspire and drive the Tempo\u2019s reach across the country. As Resch puts it: \u201cWe’re just scratching the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In less than a year, the WNBA will no longer be a one-country league. In Toronto, fan excitement…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-71595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}