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Could Boston get its own WNBA expansion team? A Wahlberg brother and a former NBA player with Massachusetts ties are making their pitch.
The Boston Globe reported Tuesday that an ownership group led by Boston actor and New Kids on the Block member Donnie Wahlberg and former NBA Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams, a native of Hamilton, is preparing an offer for the WNBA.
“As a longtime Boston Celtics fan who attended countless NBA games in my lifetime, nothing would bring me more joy than to have a WNBA franchise in the city of Boston,” Wahlberg said in an email to the Globe. “I look forward to the day I can walk into the Garden, along with thousands of the greatest (and most knowledgeable) basketball fans on the planet, to root for Boston’s hometown WNBA team.”
Mayor Michelle Wu also released a statement to the Globe saying she’d love to see a WNBA team in Boston.
As the city of champions, Boston is the hub for sports fans, and we would be delighted to host a trailblazing WNBA team,” she said. “The introduction of a women’s team would expand opportunities for young basketball players in our city and we look forward to learning more about what we could accomplish together.”
Wahlberg and Carter-Williams’ potential ownership group — called Boston Women’s Basketball Partners — has yet to officially apply for a team. Even then, they’d have to be selected from a group of other interested cities, including Detroit, Philadelphia, Nashville and Charlotte. And it likely won’t come cheap. The most recent expansion group in Cleveland bid a record $250 million.
There certainly appears to be a good amount of WNBA interest in Boston. The Connecticut Sun played a sold out game last summer against the Los Angeles Sparks at TD Garden. And they’re scheduled to return for a game against the Indiana Fever and star point guard Caitlin Clark on July 15.
