How Josh Harris’ bid landed the city a WNBA expansion team: ‘Philly deserves this’

NEW YORK — Once the 76ers settled their arena saga in mid-January, Josh Harris called Cathy Engelbert and Adam Silver.

His message to the commissioners of the WNBA and NBA: Time for Philly to finally get its WNBA team.

“Look, this has to happen,” Harris, the 76ers’ majority owner, recalled telling Engelbert and Silver. “Philly deserves this.”

That persuasion — and the formal bid — worked. After nearly six months of waiting, the league announced Monday that Philadelphia had been awarded a franchise that will begin play during the 2030 season, joining the returns of teams in Cleveland in 2028 and Detroit in 2029.

“We fought our way in,” Harris told a group of reporters assembled Monday at the NBA and WNBA headquarters in Manhattan. “… Philly sold it, and then obviously that we were prepared to invest in all the things you need to build a team and build infrastructure.”

Bids for this round of expansion were due at the end of January. Contenders included other well-known markets such as Houston — the Comets were an original franchise and won the league’s first four championships before folding in 2008 — along with new cities that reportedly included Nashville and Kansas City, Mo.

Engelbert said Monday that the league initially evaluated the ideal number of teams it wanted to reach by the end of the decade to match the league’s growth from a business and player-talent perspective, even amid new collective bargaining agreement negotiations. The league determined 18 was the correct number, meaning it was time to gradually add three teams.

“This is the right thing to do for this league at this time,” Engelbert said. “Some would have said we should wait until after the CBA is done. These guys need to get going.”

The bid came with what reportedly was a record-breaking $250 million expansion fee, which Engelbert declined to confirm Monday, although she did call the amount “historic.”

The league considered about 25 criteria while evaluating bids, the commissioner said, including market demographics, corporate partnership possibilities, fan viewership, and merchandise sales in those cities. Cleveland, Engelbert acknowledged, was the most ready in terms of built-out infrastructure, which is why it will begin play first among these three teams.

“We fought our way in.”

Philly is last because of its arena situation. The Sixers in 2023 proposed a project to build a new arena along Center City’s Market Street, which became the subject of political controversy. In January, the Sixers then announced it instead had entered a joint agreement with Comcast, which owns the NHL’s Flyers, to construct an arena for both teams in the South Philly sports complex.

That Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts would be involved with a Philly WNBA team’s proposed home was a positive to Engelbert. She called him a “great partner” in the league’s 11-year media rights deal with NBC Universal that will begin in 2026.

» READ MORE: Dawn Staley reiterates that she’d want an ownership stake in a potential WNBA team in Philly

Harris knew that sending the bid to Engelbert — a South Jersey native — “couldn’t have hurt.” And though the commissioner has worked to remain publicly neutral when asked about the potential to bring a team to her home area, Engelbert acknowledged Monday that “the one thing that probably played in Philly’s favor is my knowledge of the love for basketball in the city.”

Her father, Kurt, is in the Big 5 Hall of Fame following an All-American career at St. Joseph’s and played in the prestigious Sonny Hill League, she noted. Cathy Engelbert played at Lehigh for legendary coach Muffet McGraw, who also is a St. Joe’s product.

“Just knowing the roots of basketball are huge,” Engelbert said. “… That helped.”

Still, it took months for the league to evaluate those bids. Harris is not great at waiting. He continued calling and “bothering people and making our case.”

“We were obviously nervous and sweating it out for the city,” he said.

Finally, Engelbert’s congratulatory call to Harris arrived late last week. That led to Monday, where among those in attendance at the launch event were Roberts, Sixers minority owner David Adelman, and chief operations officer Lara Price. As event emcee Jess Sims began to formally welcome Philly to the WNBA, Harris prematurely jumped out of his chair.

“That was perfect, actually,” Sims said with a chuckle. She continued her prepared remarks, calling Philly “a city filled with eager and very passionate, vocal, and loyal fans. Some of the most in the entire world.”

Then Harris stepped to the podium. He spotted his wife, Marjorie, and daughter, Hannah, in the front row. He proclaimed that bringing a franchise to Philly “wasn’t just a ‘nice-to-have.’ It was an obligation.”

And after that successful bid, Philly now has the team Harris believes it deserves.

“This is such a happy day,” he said. “This is such an incredible day. Think about, over the years, how many people this team is going to inspire. I’m just humbled to be a part of it.”