{"id":801190,"date":"2026-07-14T11:34:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T11:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/801190\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T11:34:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T11:34:24","slug":"keybank-becomes-founding-parttner-of-cleveland-wnba-franchise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/801190\/","title":{"rendered":"KeyBank becomes founding parttner of Cleveland WNBA franchise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cleveland-based KeyBank has emerged as the founding partner of the city\u2019s impending WNBA franchise, with a long-coveted multiyear deal two years ahead of the team\u2019s first game. As a longtime partner of Rock Entertainment Group — and a previous sponsor of the Fever before the Caitlin Clark era — KeyBank had its Chief Brand Officer Patty Jurca reach out to the team following SBJ\u2019s report<\/a> in February 2025 that Cleveland would likely become the WNBA\u2019s 16th franchise in 2028.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we heard they were in the running to bring the WNBA back to Cleveland \u2026 we were so excited and kept asking them for updates even though they couldn\u2019t share,” Jurca said. \u201c\u2026We would say, \u2018Come on, you know something.\u2019 So we were eagerly anticipating this to come so that we could start to have this conversation of what role is it going to play in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once Cleveland was awarded a team in June 2025, talks began to evolve in-house. \u201cI think it was an email from me to Patty or maybe I was answering Patty\u2019s email — \u2018When are we going to be able to get together and really talk about this?\u2019\u201d said team President of Business Operations Allison Howard. <\/p>\n

As part of the arrangement, KeyBank will offer exclusive benefits and seating to fans who have placed initial $28 deposits to become ticket members for the yet-to-be-named Cleveland franchise — plus early access to the team\u2019s merchandise once the name and branding are revealed later this summer. Howard said the front office has received roughly 9,000 deposits, some as high as $100 from fans who are anxious to sit courtside. She said 70% of those ticket members do not have ticket arrangements with the NBA\u2019s Cavaliers or the G League\u2019s Cleveland Charge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have a brand, we don\u2019t have colors, we don\u2019t have a mascot — all of that stuff is coming later in the summer,\u201d Howard said. \u201cBut this fan base has already really shown up.\u201d<\/p>\n

KeyBank\u2019s other team-centric activations include a \u201cHigh Five\u201d tunnel that gives fans rarified access to players entering the court for warmups, as well as a chance to be presenting partner of an annual theme night with an associated fan giveaway.<\/p>\n

\"NA\"Pictured left to right: Nic Barlage, Rock Entertainment Group, CEO; Trina Evans, KeyBank, Chief of Staff and Director of Corporate Center; Allison Howard, Cleveland WNBA, President of Business Operations; and Chris Gorman, KeyBank, Chairman and CEO Cleveland WNBA <\/p>\n

In the near term, KeyBank and the team\u2019s front office is offering a sweepstake in which 14 fans (regardless of whether they\u2019ve made a deposit) can win a pair of tickets to a game during the 2028 inaugural season. The fans can enter at WNBACleveland.com<\/a>, with the contest closing on Aug. 10.<\/p>\n

The two will also collaborate on a yearly community impact program, considering KeyBank\u2019s headquarters are downtown. \u201cOne of the things that we\u2019ve always liked about our partnership with Rock Entertainment has been that it\u2019s not just slapping our logo on the building,\u201d Jurca said. \u201cWe\u2019re really trying to make an investment in our city and in Cleveland.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s previous WNBA franchise, the Rockers, played from 1997-to-2003 until then-Cavaliers owner Gordon Gund wanted to focus entirely on rookie LeBron James — and passed on purchasing the team from the NBA. The Rockers subsequently folded but are among the names being considered for the 2028 re-make.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of kid about that, but this is usually the first question out in the community or anywhere,\u201d Howard said of the impending name. \u201cThere has been a lot of surveys, a lot of listening\u2026You have one chance to announce a brand and do it the right way. And the fans, our future players all deserve for it to be done in a very respectful and, quite frankly, very fun way.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cleveland-based KeyBank has emerged as the founding partner of the city\u2019s impending WNBA franchise, with a long-coveted multiyear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,282058,82,630],"class_list":["post-801190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-keybank","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801190","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=801190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}