Philly awarded WNBA franchise that will begin play in 2030

The WNBA is coming to Philadelphia.

The league announced Monday that the city has been awarded an expansion team, which will begin play during the 2030 season. It will be owned and operated by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which also owns the 76ers.

“Philadelphia has long-deserved a WNBA team,” league commissioner Cathy Engelbert told The Inquirer. “And we’re proud to say that today is officially the day.”

Philadelphia’s addition, which is subject to approval from the WNBA and NBA Board of Governors, is part of rapid expansion to get the league up to 18 teams. It was announced alongside a team returning to Cleveland in 2028 and Detroit in 2029. Those teams will join the Golden State Valkyries, who are playing their inaugural season, along with the Toronto Tempo and still-to-be-named team in Portland, Ore., which will begin play in 2026. The expansion fee for this round reportedly was $250 million.

Philadelphia’s team will play at the sports complex’s new arena — which will also be home to the Sixers and NHL’s Flyers — that is scheduled to be completed in 2031. Managing partner Josh Harris told The Inquirer that he hopes the construction timeline can be moved up to allow the WNBA team to play there during its inaugural season. If that is not possible, it will play at the Wells Fargo Center (which becomes Xfinity Mobile Arena on Sept. 1) in 2030.

Harris said as soon as the Sixers’ years-long saga to construct a new arena ended in January, he and Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts moved on to the thought that “we’ve got to get a WNBA team here.” The pursuit of a team also has been publicly supported by Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker.

While evaluating the most recent collection of expansion-team bids, Engelbert said the league considered factors such as market demographics, team facilities, area college programs, and fan interest. What put Philadelphia over the top, she said, was “Josh and his partners stepping up making a very, very lucrative bid for a great basketball city that hit all the criteria.”

“We’re really confident this will be a powerhouse,” Engelbert said, “both on the court and in the community.”

Added Roberts in a statement: “This is a great day for Philadelphia, and we’re proud to be a small part of bringing the WNBA to our hometown.”

This is Philadelphia’s first new professional sports franchise since Major League Soccer’s Union was founded in 2008. It also is the first professional women’s sports team in the area since Women’s Professional Soccer’s Philadelphia Independence, which played at Widener University and West Chester University’s football stadiums in 2010-11.

Additionally, the Women’s United Soccer Association’s Philadelphia Charge played at Villanova Stadium from 2000 to 2003, and the Philadelphia Rage of the American Basketball League played at the Palestra at the University of Pennsylvania from 1997 until the league abruptly folded in December 1998.

A Philadelphia team joining the WNBA comes with a personal connection for Engelbert, who hails from South Jersey and whose father, Kurt, is in the Big 5 Hall of Fame following an All-American career at St. Joseph’s University. Engelbert played college basketball at Lehigh University for coach Muffet McGraw, another Big 5 Hall of Famer from St. Joe’s, before pursuing an accounting career and ascending to CEO at Deloitte. She became the WNBA’s commissioner in 2019.

“It’s only fitting that this iconic sports town is finally home to a WNBA franchise,” Engelbert said in a news release. “From neighborhood courts to historic college arenas, basketball runs deep in Philly — and we’re proud to bring the ‘W’ to a city that’s ready to embrace it.”

Harris purchased the Sixers from Comcast Spectacor in 2011. He has been criticized by some local sports fans for also owning division rivals of the Eagles and Flyers in the NFL’s Washington Commanders and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. Yet Harris said he finds fulfillment in bringing women’s professional sports back to Philly because of his family roots in the city.

His grandfather was a postal worker in Philadelphia, and his mother grew up in a rowhouse near Temple and attended the university. Josh Harris followed in his father’s footsteps by attending Penn, and during that time witnessed the Sixers’ 1983 NBA championship.

Harris also has two daughters, whom he hopes are representative of the WNBA team’s “opportunity to touch, over time, thousands — or even millions — of girls, women, and men.”

“The way I think about it — and our family thinks about [it] — is this will lead to a lot more women’s athletes and girls’ athletes,” Harris said.

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Added Engelbert: “[There is] a vision for the future for young girls who will pick up a ball because of this.”

This announcement also arrives with the WNBA amid what Engelbert called “enormous momentum” as a business endeavor.

The league was ranked by Morning Consult, a business intelligence company, as the fastest-growing brand in 2024. According to a news release, the WNBA is on its way to setting records in television ratings, attendance, merchandise sales, and social media engagement. The incoming player talent also warrants more WNBA roster spots, as multiple first-round draft picks were cut from their teams during recent training camps.

“This is a megatrend,” Harris said. “ … I think you’re going to see ratings grow substantially, so I like being part of that growth.”

The work immediately begins for the ownership group, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, to get this new franchise started. It needs a name and brand identity that fan input will help create, Harris said.

He must build out the basketball operations and business sides of the organization, citing the general manager, coach, and team president as his three most important hires. And he wants to make Philadelphia a player destination, which includes constructing a separate practice facility for the WNBA team.

“Everyone has their ownership style,” Harris said. “Mine is to hire incredible people and then hold them accountable — and then Philly holds all of us accountable.”

Could those involved with the franchise include local legend Dawn Staley? At a book-launch event last month, Staley said she would not want to coach a then-hypothetical Philadelphia WNBA team, but instead “[wants] ownership.” Engelbert told The Inquirer that Staley’s current position as South Carolina’s national title-winning coach would create conflict-of-interest “complications, some lawyers will tell us about that.”

“We always love to have Dawn advocate for our players and for the ‘W,’” Engelbert said.

Now, the “W” finally comes to a city already rich in basketball history. And Engelbert hopes this team can “put Philly on the map for women’s professional sports.”

“It just needed to happen,” Harris said. “ … It’s about sports for life, when it comes to normal people. But it starts with the top of the triangle [with] these professional sports, and they’re the role models.”