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WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert
Toronto will have a WNBA expansion franchise beginning in 2026 and the organization wants fans’ input on the team’s name and branding.
WNBA Toronto has launched a campaign through which fans can submit their ideas for all aspects of the team’s identity, as well as the inspiration behind their suggestions. To weigh in, fans can go to nameyourteam.ca and fill out a form or text WNBA to 1-833-662-3664 by August 28.
“We don’t want to limit people,” team president Teresa Resch told SportsNet. “Instead of just asking for a name, we want people to really share with us what this team is going to mean to them, what inspired them — any sort of inspiration that moves them.
“And we hope to hear from all of Canada and really take all that information and create a name and a full brand identity, from a collective and not just a name or two here and there.”
Once the team compiles the suggestions, SportsNet reports that a group of designers and advisors will pull the top candidates and submit them for legal and trademark review. The league and team will then announce a final decision by the end of the year.
The Toronto WNBA Franchise Will Not be Tied to the Raptors
With many WNBA teams existing in the same markets as established NBA franchises, it’s common for the two teams to share ownership groups and brand identities. For example, the Tsai family owns both the Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty, while Joe Lacob and Peter Guber own the Golden State Warriors and the 2025 expansion Golden State Valkyries.
The Toronto WNBA team, however, will exist separately from the wildly popular Toronto Raptors.
“It’s great to have the Raptors and 30 years to look upon what basketball can really do and how it can impact Canada, but we’re really charting our own path here,” Resch said.
The Raptors have helped turn Toronto into a basketball city, from the days of the high-flying Vince Carter to their 2019 NBA championship. Last year, the Lynx and Sky sold out the 19,800-seat Scotiabank Arena as a test run for a WNBA franchise.
That was enough to prove to the WNBA there was sufficient interest to make it happen.
“This is whole point of (the campaign), having a lot of people influence us and create inspiration from all corners of the country to come together with a team and name, something that people can have a lot of pride in,” Resch added.
Team Name Campaigns Have Led — or Almost Led — to Hilarious Outcomes
While it may be smart for the Toronto WNBA team to solicit fan input for their brand identity, similar campaigns have led to unorthodox results in the past.
Most franchises have been able to avoid the truly bizarre. For example, the San Jose Sharks of the NHL held a name-the-team contest and rejected entries like the Rubber Puckies and Screaming Squids. The same goes for the Atlanta Falcons, who settled on their avian mascot over fan suggestions like the Peaches and Vibrants.
One strange name that did sneak through: the Hartford Yard Goats. Leave it to Minor League Baseball to keep things weird. When the Colorado Rockies’ Double-A affiliate moved from New Britain to Hartford, Connecticut, the team held a naming contest and received more than 6,000 entries. New Jersey schoolteacher Anthony Castora suggested Yard Goats as an homage to the city’s rich railroad history. (For the uninitiated, a Yard Goat is a train that stays in the rail yard and moves other trains from track to track.)
While it’s not likely the WNBA would approve a name quite as outlandish for its Toronto franchise, the potential is still there for unique branding. Valkyries was a good start in California, but let’s see how creative Canadian basketball fans can get.
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