WNBA has expansion plans. ‘Kansas City is a perfect place,’ says KC sports official

The WNBA is expanding, and Kansas City wants to be considered for a franchise.

The women’s league, which completed its championship finals before record television ratings earlier this week, is set to grow from 12 to 15 teams by 2026. Those destinations are known: Golden State, Portland and Toronto.

Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said she would like to see a 16th team by 2028. Kansas City has its hand up.

“Kansas City is a perfect place to support a WNBA team,” said Kathy Nelson, president and CEO of the KC Sports Commission and VisitKC.

It starts with the venue: T-Mobile Center, opened in 2007 with the NBA or NHL in mind but still waiting for its first pro-team tenant.

The case grows, Nelson said, when considering Kansas City’s embrace of women’s sports.

“You think about the KC Current, the Big 12 women’s basketball tournament,” Nelson said. “Women’s sports are on the rise, and so is Kansas City.”

The Current plays in CPKC Stadium, the first stadium build exclusively for a professional women’s soccer team. This year, Kansas City became the first National Women’s Soccer League team to sell out every home game in a season.

In its T-Mobile Center debut last March, the Big 12 Women’s Championship played to its largest crowds in more than a decade, before the event returned to Kansas City.

To Iowa State women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly, Kansas City’s location in the middle of the country would fill a void on the WNBA map. The closest teams to Kansas City are in Minneapolis, Chicago, Indianapolis and Dallas. And there are other advantages.

“I think they’d have a hard time finding a better option,” Fennelly said. “I’ve seen how Kansas City operates. You’ve got the World Cup coming. ... I think it would be a no-brainer. That’s from my experience coming here.”

Oklahoma State coach Jacie Hoyt, who coached KC’s women’s team (formerly UMKC) from 2017-22, said Kansas City’s sports and basketball identity would serve it well.

“This part of the country loves basketball,” Hoyt said. “You look at the success of the soccer team, and I don’t think it would be any different for basketball.”

The WNBA season runs from May to October, and this season teams played 40 regular-season games. Other cities and regions reported to be interested: Philadelphia, Austin, Nashville, central Florida, Miami, Charlotte, Cleveland and Denver.

The rising popularity of the WNBA and women’s basketball overall in recent years is measured in revenue, attendance and television ratings. The NCAA championship game in April, when South Carolina defeated Iowa, was watched by nearly 19 million, outdrawing the men’s championship game.

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark was a huge ratings driver, and that carried into her rookie WNBA season with the Indiana Fever. Ratings were up throughout the sport, and the WNBA has a new media rights deal worth $2.2 billion over the next 11 years.

Every WNBA team improved year-over-year ticket sales in 2024.

Asked about expansion at the WNBA Finals, Engelbert said there’s been plenty of interest.

“Just in general for the 16th spot, as I’ve mentioned, the good news is we have a lot of demand from many cities,” Engelbert said. “I’d say 10 or so, maybe even plus at this point, because I think the more people are watching the WNBA and seeing what we’re growing here and seeing these players and the product on the court, more people are interested in having it in their cities.”

Nelson didn’t identify potential owners or investors, and the cost for entering the league for the two most recent additions — Toronto and Portland — were $115 million and $125 million. Nelson said the WNBA knows of Kansas City’s interest.

“But we can’t just assume they’re going to consider us,” Nelson said. “We have to be aggressive, and I feel like we will be”