It was announced on Monday, June 30th, that the WNBA will officially be expanding to a full eighteen teams within the next few years, with one of those new locations being none other than Philadelphia. After years of fighting for a bid to welcome a new team to the league in the city of brotherly (and sisterly) love, it has recently been announced that the wait will just be a little bit longer. With the first of these expansion teams initially being introduced via a press conference in October 2023, and 2025 being their inaugural season, it’s no surprise that the unnamed Philadelphia team will see its first tipoff in 2030. In this era of expansion for the sport, the league has stated that it wants and needs to take the time to ensure that this investment in establishing several franchises in some new (and recurring) cities can be a sustainable one. After the Toronto and Portland announcements, rumors began circulating that Philadelphia had been considered but passed over twice before. The WNBA felt that the city, amid the relocation drama of the 76ers, served as a question mark for the basketball team already in Philadelphia, let alone a hypothetical new sports team.

The WNBA is coming to Philadelphia. 🏀

The league announced Monday that the city has been awarded an expansion team, which will begin play during the 2030 season.

More details: https://t.co/a9F9YuWCF7 pic.twitter.com/osDkU1bopC

— Philadelphia Inquirer Sports (@phillysport) June 30, 2025

In 2022, the 76ers upset many as they unveiled plans to construct a new arena in Center City, under the working title “76 Place at Market East.” Under the plan, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE) would purchase multiple buildings in the area surrounding the arena site, including the Fashion District Philadelphia shopping mall, which would be demolished, making way for the new arena and other entertainment venues. The residents and proprietors of nearby Chinatown, who feared the new arena would negatively affect the neighborhood economically, protested; however, the Philadelphia City Council approved the arena proposal in December 2024, much to their dismay. Despite gaining approval from the city council, plans for 76 Place were dropped after HBSE, who owns the Sixers, and Comcast Spectacor, who owns the Flyers,  announced a deal earlier this year to build a new arena in the existing South Philadelphia Sports Complex instead, with the two ownership groups owning the new arena in a 50-50 joint venture, with the two teams sharing a home once more, but making their new place suitable for a third, WNBA team as well. Perhaps, with some background deals happening behind closed executive doors, the agreement between HBSE and Comcast Spectacor, which occurred in January of this year, was a subtle hint of what was to come. All three teams will see this new complex when the WNBA team makes its debut in 2030.

As WNBA Commissioner and a South Jersey native, Cathy Engelbert has now said, “From neighborhood courts to historic college arenas, basketball runs deep in Philly, and we’re proud to bring the W to a city that’s ready to embrace it.” With so many current WNBA superstars from the area, it’s no secret that the Philadelphia area has talent when it comes to the game, specifically women’s basketball, so it was no brainer for the league to finally agree to expand to yet another mid-atlantic metropolis, adding to the Mid-Atlantic teams already in the league, the Conneticut Sun and New York Liberty. “Philadelphia is one of the most storied basketball cities in the world, and our region is home to some of the best women’s players and coaches to ever grace the hardwood. It’s only right that this city gets the WNBA franchise it deserves, and we’re humbled to help usher in a new era of Philadelphia basketball…We are committed to building a world-class organization, fostering the continued growth of women’s professional sports in this great city, and bringing one of the fastest rising leagues in the world to Philadelphia in 2030,” said Co-Founder and Managing General Partner of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, Josh Harris, “This city’s spirit, grit, and love of basketball are second to none. We’re committed to building an organization that reflects that energy and is rooted in community and driven to consistently compete for championships.” He also mentioned how “deeply personal” it was for him to bring a WNBA team to the city, and that HBSE has been telling the city that the team will officially open in 2031, despite the league announcing that the unnamed Philly team would be incorporated into WNBA play by 2030.

dawn staley, philadelphia rage, abl, 1998 pic.twitter.com/yR52GgJS7w

— nadirah (@hinadirah) June 30, 2025

This new team will be the first major professional sports team introduced to the city since 2008, and while the other two teams listed in this expansion, Cleveland and Detroit, have been home to WNBA teams in the past, Philly has never been so lucky. When women’s basketball gained popularity in the mid-to-late 1990s, the American Basketball League (ABL) was established and existed for only two full seasons, 1996-1997 and 1997-1998, and the league announced a third 1998-1999 season, but with the WNBA having emerged in June 1997, during the ABL’s run, they were in direct competition, and ultimately quit operations mid-season. During its time, the league initially consisted of eight teams, four in the Eastern Conference and four in the Western Conference. It expanded to nine in its second season, in which the Richmond Rage was relocated to Philadelphia, marking a professional homecoming for the team’s star, basketball legend, Dawn Staley. The ABL got off the ground before the WNBA, and at least early on, its quality of play was higher than the rival league, partly due to the league’s signing of a majority of players from the 1996 USA women’s national team. Although the NBA bankrolled the WNBA, the ABL offered higher salaries, making it more enticing for the athletes. The two leagues also had different schedules: the ABL played during the winter, and the WNBA played during the summer. This arrangement, however, put the ABL in direct competition with the well-established men’s NBA for an audience. Ultimately, the league found the WNBA’s more substantial financial resources, thanks to the NBA’s marketing machine, to be too much to overcome; thus, the Rage was disbanded.

This new team marks a new era for Philadelphia and will provide the continuously expanding WNBA with more opportunities for organic geographic rivalries. Hopefully, this Philly team will show the rest of the W what playing in the city is all about, with the city’s unwavering fan base right behind them, supporting this new team every step of the way. Personally speaking, as a South Jersey native who, as many could’ve guessed, follows Philadelphia sports religiously, this announcement means so much to me. I cannot wait to see how the city, HBSE, and the W all begin to integrate professional women’s basketball into this city, which is so ready to see another successful sports team establish itself in South Philly.