A prospective ownership group led by Bill Bakk and Jodi Evans has announced plans to pursue a WNBA expansion team in Vancouver.
The WNBA's 30th regular season will conclude after Thursday's slate of games, and the league will expand to 18 teams by 2030, but Vancouver could be in the market soon.
This season, the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire played their inaugural season. While there have been no reports of the WNBA adding Vancouver to the expansion list, it would be Canada's second team if approved.
According to Front Office Sports, Colin Salao, a group of prospective owners headed by Bill Bakk, a former business executive, and Jodi Evans, who is a Deloitte managing partner, announced plans to bring a WNBA team to Vancouver.
Vancouver Group Enters Early Stages of Expansion Process
For an expansion team to be formed, an ownership group must submit a formal bid, pay an expansion fee, and receive approval from the WNBA and NBA Boards of Governors. As of now, Evans and Bakk would be in the early stages after announcing their intentions for a bid.
There are no guarantees that the bid will go through. There was chatter about bids in St. Louis, Kansas City, Austin, Texas, Nashville, Houston, Miami, Denver, and Charlotte. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced her retirement and will finish her term at the end of the year.
Engelbert took over in 2019 with a plan to expand the league to 16 teams by 2028. However, she was able to expand to 18 teams by 2030. The Golden State Valkyries, Fire, and Tempo are the most recent expansion teams.
Last year, the WNBA announced that the league will expand to Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia by 2030. Both Cleveland and Detroit had teams previously but ceased operations or relocated.
The Detroit Shock won three WNBA championships before moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma, which led to them becoming the Dallas Wings in 2016.
WNBA Expansion Teams Have Faced Steep Climb
Expansion teams enter the league with low expectations and miss the postseason during their inaugural season, with the exception of Golden State. The Valkyries are the only expansion team that made the postseason during their inaugural season.
Golden State captured its second playoff berth as an expansion team. Both Portland and Toronto missed the postseason but remained competitive throughout the season.
Currently, there are no further plans to expand beyond the three teams joining the league in 2030, but adding another team in Canada could continue to push the league's global image and brand.
The WNBA playoffs are set to begin on Sept. 27, and the seeds are mostly locked with the exception of two teams.
