The Kilmer Sports Ventures group has obtained a women’s professional basketball franchise, finally allowing the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) to establish itself in Toronto.
The team, which still does not have a name, will play at the Coca-Cola Coliseum, an amphitheater located in downtown Toronto.
The latter is also the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ farm club, the Marlies, and the Toronto club in the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
The Toronto WNBA team will begin operations in May 2026.
The CBC was the first to report the news on May 10 that the WNBA had awarded a franchise to the Kilmer Sports Ventures group, which is led by Toronto businessman Larry Tanenbaum.
Tanenbaum is the president and chief operating officer of the Kilmer Group, as well as the chairman of the board of directors of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which notably owns the Raptors in the NBA and the Maple Leafs in the NHL.
It will be the first Canadian team to enter the WNBA, which currently has 12 clubs, but wishes to add more.
Canada hosted numerous sold-out WNBA preseason games at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto in 2023, as well as at Rogers Place in Edmonton on May 4.
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