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Women’s basketball fans gathered to watch March Madness at Lady Justice Brewing.
Courtesy of Dea Vander-Fertgus
Denver is reportedly among several cities bidding for a new WNBA expansion team.
The basketball league is in expansion mode, with two new teams in Toronto and Portland already scheduled to debut in the 2026 season.
Now, the team is looking for a 16th team to join the league by 2028, and the competition is heating up. In a report this week, The Athletic identified nine contenders, including a group from Denver.
Denverite previously reported the influential Dimond family was part of the Denver bid. Navin Dimond is the founder of the hotelier Stonebridge Companies. Ashley Dimond, his daughter, confirmed to The Athletic that they plan to build a new arena for the team, assuming they win the bid.
Bryan Leach, CEO of Ibotta, also is involved in the bid, The Athletic reported. Ibotta is a sponsor of the Denver Nuggets and Leach has become a major player in Denver.
League Commissioner Cathy Engelbert visited Denver in August 2023, meeting with Mayor Mike Johnston’s office and the potential Denver investor group. The meeting also included Rob Cohen, CEO of IMA Financial Group. Cohen also is an investor in Denver’s new NWSL team. It’s unclear if Cohen is still involved.
Landing the team could be expensive if Denver is selected.
The WNBA investor groups in Toronto and Portland reportedly paid well over $100 million each to secure their franchises this year — more than twice the expansion fee paid for the Golden State Valkyries in 2023.
In a press conference last year, WNBA Commissioner Englebert said there were close to a dozen cities “that are very viable that we’re evaluating.” She named Denver, Philadelphia, Nashville and South Florida among the candidates. The Athletic also reported that groups from Austin, Charlotte, Cleveland, Detroit and Houston are interested.
Denver recently secured a professional women’s soccer league with the NWSL. The owners reportedly paid a league-record $110 million fee. The team is off to a strong start, raking in more than 5,000 deposits for season tickets in just three days — also a league record. The NWSL investors also plan to build a women’s soccer stadium in the coming years.
Women’s sports have seen a “meteoric” rise in viewership and interest, Nielsen reported in 2023. The WNBA recently hit an average of 1.2 million views for games on ESPN, a league record, and drew the largest audience for the Finals in 25 years. A PwC survey found industry leaders are expecting the women’s sports market to grow at 7.3 percent per year.
Mayor Mike Johnston’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Cohen and Ashley Dimond also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
