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Miami was named as the most popular “ideal” destination for a WNBA expansion franchise in a recent player poll shared by The Athletic’s Ben Pickman and Sabreena Merchant.
Out of 35 survey respondents, 13 players (37.1 percent) named Miami as the city they would most like to see get a WNBA team, according to Pickman and Merchant.
The other most popular answers from players were Nashville (five players), Boston (four players) and Charlotte (four players), per Pickman and Merchant.
Two players each named Cleveland and Houston, while one vote apiece went to Austin, Denver, Philadelphia, Vancouver and “somewhere in the Southeast,” according to Pickman and Merchant.
Pickman and Merchant noted that part of the poll, which ran from May 27 to July 13, was conducted before the WNBA announced its expansion to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia on June 30.
No players polled before that announcement named Detroit as their top city, and only three total listed Cleveland and Philadelphia, Pickman and Merchant reported.
The WNBA received 11 bids for teams ahead of this most recent expansion, including bids from Miami and Nashville, according to Sportico’s Jason Clinkscales.
Clinkscales noted that neither the Miami nor the Nashville proposals came with support from NBA ownership, while the bids from Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia were backed by NBA teams.
The rejected Nashville bid was led by an ownership group including Peyton Manning and Candace Parker, according to The Tennessean’s Tom Kreager.
A group out of Boston led by Michael Carter-Williams also indicated interest in a potential bid for an expansion team but did not ultimately submit a bid, per the AP’s Doug Feinberg.
The WNBA previously expanded into Florida with the Miami Sol in 2000, but the franchise lasted just three seasons before folding due to financial issues.
Women’s basketball more recently expanded into the area with the inaugural season of Unrivaled. The 3×3 league played its winter season at Wayfair Arena, and 850-seat venue in Miami.
The WNBA has a pattern of expanding into cities with existing NBA ownership, including the league’s last round of expansion to Golden State, Toronto and Portland. Getting Miami Heat ownership involved in a future bid could be WNBA players’ best hope of eventually seeing professional 5v5 women’s basketball in Florida.
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