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On Tuesday, the Rockers’ application moved into the next step of the process when the US Patent and Trademark Office published the renewed trademark. This news does not fully give the league the trademark of the name, but June 3 began a 30-day opposition period for individuals or companies to challenge the trademark’s formal publication.
Rock Entertainment Group, owned by Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, submitted a formal bid on Nov. 20, 2024, to bring the WNBA back to Cleveland for the first time since 2003, when the Rockers disbanded under then-owner Gordon Gund. A lot has changed in the WNBA in the 21 years since the updated bid, reported at a league record $250 million, including who owned the trademark to use the Rockers name.
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The Women’s Basketball League, an expansion professional league that went public in February of 2025, filed for the Cleveland Rockers name on Sept. 28, 2023, with its application published Aug. 14, 2024. However, the filing was for a service mark to use the name during live basketball events and no other protections were granted despite the WBL having a logo and merchandise for its edition of the Rockers.
In the WNBA’s application and subsequent publication, WNBA trademarked the Rockers name for merchandise and “Entertainment services in the nature of live basketball games and basketball exhibitions and the production and distribution of radio and television broadcasts of basketball games and exhibitions,” according to the trademark’s classification, which all but locks in the league’s intent to use it for competition.
When the league submitted trademark applications in February, reports surfaced that Rock Entertainment Group planned on announcing the new franchise “no later than March.” The WNBA did not respond to The Next’s request for comment on the trademark work and whether it is playing a role in the delayed announcement of the expansion franchise.
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Now, all that remains is a formal announcement after nearly four months since initial reports that the league approved the record bid. Cleveland won’t play until the 2028 season, two years after the Toronto Tempo and an unnamed Portland side begin in 2026.
Rocket Arena will be the home of Cleveland’s WNBA team. The Cavaliers’ move into a new training facility on the Cuyahoga River frees up the team’s current facilities in Independence, Ohio, a short drive south of downtown Cleveland.
In seven seasons in the WNBA, the Rockers amassed a 108-112 record with one playoff series win out of four postseason trips. Cleveland was the first of four original franchises to fold in the 2000s.
