After winning a massive $250 million bid, Cleveland will welcome the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA)’s 16th franchise team beginning in the 2028 season.
The announcement is part of a larger planned expansion of the league, which also includes new teams in Detroit and Philadelphia. The move marks a new era in women’s professional sports, particularly for LGBTQ+ athletes, who had previously been encouraged by coaches and team owners to remain closeted while active in the league.
Today, some of the league’s most high-profile players are out as LGBTQ+, including former teammates Dijonai Carrington and NaLyssa Smith, Jewell Lloyd, first draft pick Paige Bueckers and three-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner.
During the 2025 season, LGBTQ+ news and culture publication Autostraddle counted at least 44 LGBTQ+ players currently active in the league, which means Cleveland could see a team stacked with out LGBTQ+ athletes competing at the top of their game.
‘Pivotal moment’
For nearly a decade, Cleveland was home to the Rockers, one of the league’s original eight franchise teams. The team played seven seasons, but folded in 2003 after former owner Gordon Gund failed to secure a buyer.
Since then, an international wave of interest and investment in women’s sports has transformed the culture around women athletes and the teams they play for.
Earlier this year, Deloitte reported the women’s sports industry could be worth more than $2.35 billion globally by the end of 2025 – a number that is only expected to increase.
Via a press release, new Cleveland WNBA team owner and longtime Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert called the league’s return to the city a “pivotal moment.”
Gilbert purchased the Cavs in 2005, and also owns and operates the Cleveland Charge and the Cleveland Monsters – a National Basketball Association (NBA) G League team and an American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate team, respectively – via his Cleveland-based multi-billion-dollar company Rock Entertainment Group (REG).
“Years from now, we will reflect on this day as a truly monumental point in Cleveland’s sporting history,” Gilbert said. “We’re confident that this team will honor our city’s enthusiastic support of women’s sports, reinvigorate our WNBA fan base and help cultivate the next generation of women basketball enthusiasts and athletes.”
Supporters expect the team will bring an economic boost to the region, creating dozens of jobs, generating tax revenue and increasing foot traffic and business activity downtown. The team will play home games at the Rocket Arena in downtown Cleveland, where the Cavaliers also play.
Allison Howard – executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Rock Entertainment Group and the Cleveland Cavaliers – told The Buckeye Flame fans made 3,000 initial payments to reserve seats during the first 30 hours season ticket packages were available for purchase.
“We’re seeing a whole new audience stepping forward, and it’s energizing to know how ready this city is to embrace a new women’s basketball team,” Howard said. “This is an unprecedented and tremendously exciting time for our entire city.”
Cleveland ‘ripe’ for WNBA expansion
In 2023, Cleveland hosted the National College Athletics Association (NCAA)’s women’s college basketball semi-finals, drawing more than 23,000 spectators and clocking more than 40 million viewers nationwide.
Greater Cleveland Sports Commission (GCSC) and Destination Cleveland President and CEO David Gilbert said the Final Four tournament drew an estimated $22 million economic boost to the city. He also told reporters with WKYC that Cleveland benefited from “great timing” – noting an explosive moment of popularity for the sport.
Ultimately, Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark captivated fans and became first pick in the 2024 WNBA draft. During her rookie season, Clark helped fuel a record-breaking 170% jump in viewership, along with a staggering boost in in-game attendance, culminating in the most successful season since the league’s 1996 debut.
The same year, Cleveland emerged as a strong contender for one of three new WNBA franchise teams. Crain’s Cleveland sports business reporter Joe Scalzo called the city “ripe” for a WNBA expansion team, citing the importance of the city’s pre-existing NBA infrastructure – including the Cavaliers’ new $170 million practice and health care facility, set to open 2027.
Embracing out LGBTQ+ athletes
The Cleveland Rockers dissolved just one year before New York Liberty center Sue Wicks became the league’s first active out LGBTQ+ player when she came out as gay in a 2004 interview with Time Out New York.
Prior to the league’s groundbreaking 2014 LGBTQ+ Pride campaign, LGBTQ+ players were largely encouraged to remain closeted throughout their careers as professional athletes, including iconic out LGBTQ+ WNBA player Sue Bird – who is now dating Olympic gold medalist and out LGBTQ+ soccer star Megan Rapinoe.
In 2010, before the league took an official stance in support of out LGBTQ+ players – former Rockers center and current Chicago Sky assistant coach Ann Wauters announced she was pregnant alongside her wife.
Nearly a decade later, the Belgian national – who has also contracted with teams in Russia, Turkey and South Korea over the last two decades of her professional career – noted the substantial shift in culture around LGBTQ+ players in a 2017 personal essay for Outsports.
“In my first years — 2000 to 2002 with the Cleveland Rockers — there were a lot of players who hid their sexuality. You could feel that they weren’t ready for this,” Wauters said. “Media didn’t mention the sexuality of players years ago. The WNBA didn’t want to associate with the gay fan base, who really represented a big number of fans.”
“At a certain point, they also completely changed their view and embraced those fans,” she added. “From total silence, these fans suddenly became a part of the community.”
Since retiring from the league, more than 30 players have come out as LGBTQ+, including former Rockers Vicki Hall, Vanessa Nygaard, Jamila Wideman, Penny Taylor and Jenny Boucek – who is currently assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks.
None were out as LGBTQ+ during their time with the team.
‘Cleveland is a place where everyone belongs’
Today, players are commonly drafted into the WNBA following successful college careers as out LGBTQ+ athletes – some even publicly dating or marrying current or former teammates.
Former Dallas Wings teammates Dijonai Carrington and NaLyssa Smith have been a couple since their time as collegiate teammates at Baylor University. Earlier this month, Autostraddle called their relationship a “non-stop delight for the women’s basketball community.”
The pair recently attended WBNA All-Star weekend, drawing fanfare in head-to-toe Coach at the brand’s launch party for the event.
In Cleveland, Allison Howard told The Buckeye Flame fans are excited to embrace the league’s growing reputation as a cultural hub where art, music, high-end fashion and LGBTQ+ culture intersect.
Via a written statement, Howard said the culture of silence around LGBTQ+ identity in women’s sports is over in Cleveland – and that Cleveland sports fans are ready to welcome out LGBTQ+ athletes with open arms, both on and off the court.
“Without question, LGBTQ+ athletes are welcomed and celebrated here in Cleveland, both in the community at large and throughout Rocket Arena,” Howard said. “Our mission is to create an environment where every player feels comfortable and safe, whether they’re inside our venue or out in the city. Cleveland is a place where everyone belongs and everyone is welcome.”
“Cleveland is more than ready to show up for women’s basketball,” she added. “We couldn’t be more ecstatic to add the 16th WNBA team to Cleveland’s incredible sports legacy.” 🔥
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly attributed Allison Howard’s quotes to Zach Abaie,vice president of corporate communications for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The attribution has since been corrected. Additionally, a previous version of this story incorrectly identified Cleveland’s Rocket Arena by its former name. The name has since been corrected.
Ignite Action
- To learn more about Cleveland’s WNBA team, click here.
- To place a deposit on Cleveland WNBA season ticket packages, click here.
- To purchase official Cleveland WNBA merchandise, click here.
- If you are a young LGBTQ+ person in crisis, please contact the Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor.
- If you are an transgender adult in need of immediate help, contact the National Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860
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