The Tempo tipping off their inaugural WNBA season against the Mystics at Coca-Cola Coliseum on Friday marks the “culmination of months of compressed preparation and years of belief that professional women’s basketball would finally have a permanent home north of the border,” according to Lori Ewing of REUTERS. In “roughly a 20‑day span” this spring, the Tempo named a new principal owner in former Raptors President and current Mavericks President and Alternate Governor Masai Ujiri, unveiled their court, announced plans for a performance center, selected players in the expansion draft, went on sale with single-game tickets -- “selling out multiple games” -- and opened training camp. Behind the scenes, the work “has been relentless” from “negotiating player housing, furnishing apartments and setting up banking systems and communications.” Even sourcing a tarp “large enough to cover a basketball court for the team’s public unveiling took days.” From the outset, the franchise has “framed itself as more than a city team.” At the Tempo’s launch, owner Larry Tanenbaum “made that explicit.” He said, “The name may be Toronto Tempo, but this is Canada’s team.” Tempo President Teresa Resch believes that the franchise has a “rare opportunity to claim that identity immediately.” The club has “already held events in Vancouver and Montreal,” and will play regular‑season games in both cities (REUTERS, 5/6).
FEELING AT HOME: GLOBE & MAIL’s Rachel Brady wrote the Coca-Cola Coliseum is “becoming a hot spot for women’s sports.” The Tempo joins the PWHL’s Toronto Sceptres in “making it home.” The Tempo’s custom-court is the “most front-facing of the upgrades this new team needed to make” within the stadium they lease from Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment before WNBA basketball arrives in Toronto. The team “got creative” with some of the floor seating behind the baskets, adding in some booth-style tables. Brady noted many of the team’s changes to the building -- “made over the past 18 months” -- are in areas “fans won’t see.” For example, the “specially built climate-controlled storage system for the basketball court.” The Tempo also had their “own state-of-the art locker room created to make the arena home, designed by women for women” (GLOBE & MAIL, 5/7).
GIVING BACK: GLOBE & MAIL’s Oren Weisfeld wrote Resch “built a team that Canada can be proud of.” The Tempo have “nailed basically every decision so far,” giving sports fans “plenty to be excited about” ahead of Friday’s season opener. Weisfeld: “Now comes the hard part. Canadian sport is facing a crisis at the grassroots level, especially for young women. … The Tempo are part of the solution, showing Canadian girls what is possible” (GLOBE & MAIL, 5/7). CBC.ca’s Shireen Ahmed wrote the Tempo’s arrival is a “real moment of growth for women’s sports in Canada.” Tempo assistant coach Carly Clarke, the only Canadian on the team’s coaching staff, said that the goal is to “become a world-class organization, to compete, win championships and grow basketball for women’s and girls” (CBC.ca, 5/7). Tempo coach Sandy Brondello said that her team has a “responsibility not only to grow the game here in Canada but also to leave a legacy that will inspire generations to come” (TORONTO STAR, 5/7).
KEY PIECES: THE ATHLETIC’s Brian Hamilton wrote the Tempo and Fire are “vital to the larger purpose of confirming there’s enough money and interest to make the league’s growth make sense.” It is a “bet that will continue” with three more WNBA expansion clubs by 2030, which reportedly will bring in a total of $750M in expansion fees. But that “doesn’t necessarily equate to the same stakes for all of them.” To be the only team in Canada is to be a “magnet for nationwide curiosity and to operate at the forefront of the WNBA’s global ambition.” Hamilton: “The Tempo will get grace for trying to be everything to everyone in basically a month. They also don’t really have time for grace in the first place” (THE ATHLETIC, 5/8).
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: In Toronto, Bruce Arthur wrote the Tempo are “not designed to be expansion fish food.” The roster is “aiming to be competitive.” And while the Tempo are an expansion team, their arrival is also a “real moment in women’s basketball in this country.” Arthur: “It will be a fight for attention in Toronto. Ideally the Tempo create their own fan base, and community. It’s an opportunity. It’s a culmination. It’s a start” (TORONTO STAR, 5/8).
