Is a WNBA Franchise in the Cards for Milwaukee?
Recent reports indicate a Milwaukee-based ownership group is bidding to become the next expansion franchise in the WNBA.
The Women’s National Basketball Association is in the middle of a boom and recent reports indicate that Milwaukee wants in on the action.
Per Sports Business Journal, Milwaukee is one of 12 to 15 cities that have a legitimate bid for an expansion WNBA franchise. This comes in light of Portland officially becoming the 15th WNBA franchise as of this week, which marks the third expansion team that the league has admitted over the last calendar year. Judging by comments made by WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert in Portland, a 16th team will be up and running no later than the 2028 season and the league has already started the process to find the next expansion city, according to Sportico.
Make no mistake, the field is crowded for Milwaukee to stand out in the growing arms race to land a WNBA team.
Engelbert previously addressed prospective cities like Philadelphia, Denver, Nashville and South Florida. All four in the mix as relayed by the report from SBJ, along with cities such as Charlotte, Austin, Kansas City and Cleveland. Rumored expansion fees for the next franchise start at $200 million and it goes to show you that not only has this been overdue for the league, but how much money is coming into the WNBA as well.
The WNBA has been rising in popularity all across the board and a brand new 11-year long TV deal that is being evaluated at $2.2 billion has certainly upped the stakes from both a visibility and financial perspective. Never has the game been in healthier hands and the next wave of superstars has catapulted the WNBA in ways that have long been in motion.
From that standpoint, it’s certainly not a surprise that a Milwaukee-based group of investors would want in on the action.
What a Milwaukee bid would look like remains unknown, though. It is a good guess that Bucks ownership would obviously have to be involved. It’s clear that the WNBA still values ownership groups that have ties to the NBA. And in case you missed it, the ownership group behind the Bucks looks to be bringing in a familiar face with CNBC reporting last week that franchise legend Junior Bridgeman will be buying a 10 percent stake in the team that is now being evaluated at $4 billion.
The timing of Bridgeman’s inclusion into the Bucks’ ownership is interesting, especially in light of this report that Milwaukee is pursuing a WNBA expansion bid.
Wes Edens and Jimmy Haslam – two of the Bucks’ majority owners – own a number of sports franchises across the world beyond the Bucks. Adding in Bridgeman certainly helps to load up and operate the Bucks as they compete and maintain an expensive roster within the NBA while also exploring the benefits of having a WNBA franchise in their portfolio. It’s certainly possible that they could find other interested parties with Wisconsin ties in forming a formidable expansion bid.
For example, Green Bay Packers legend and Hall of Famer Leroy Butler openly expressed his interest in helping bring a WNBA team to the city as recently as 2022 – a year before the WNBA’s expansion race kicked off with the arrival of the Golden State Valkyries. Butler’s ambition helped amplify the conversation over Milwaukee’s place within the world of women’s professional sports.
At the very least, Milwaukee is an untapped marketplace as it is nearly 46 years since the Milwaukee Does of the Women’s Professional Basketball League hosted the first women’s professional basketball game in the country. While that may be the Does’ biggest claim to fame before they went under after two seasons and after plenty of financial losses, including unpaid wages to players and former Bucks head coach Larry Costello, Milwaukee was still seen as a significant market due to the success of the Bucks at that time. The Bucks winning the 2021 NBA championship, the presence of Giannis Antetokounmpo and much more has managed to revive that thought in the modern NBA.
Despite the lack of a women’s professional team across all sports, the appetite for women’s sports in Milwaukee can be seen in other ways. For the second straight year, Fiserv Forum held the Women’s College Volleyball Showcase held at Fiserv Forum earlier this month and holds the record for the highest attended indoor volleyball game that occurred last year between Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin. The state has produced WNBA players such as Dallas Wings All-Star guard Arike Ogunbawale, Megan Gustafson of the Las Vegas Aces and Natisha Heideman of the Minnesota Lynx.
Despite the ambition among those that can make something like this happen and the desire among fans to see Milwaukee enter the WNBA, there are hurdles that stand in the way. The rising expansion fees are one obstacle, but the geographical footprint of the league is another that’s too big to ignore. The Midwest is well represented in the WNBA with the Lynx to the northwest, the Chicago Sky to the south and the Indiana Fever to the southeast. Adding a Milwaukee franchise would reinforce the WNBA’s roots in the Midwest, but that would not necessarily widen the reach of the league around the country.
Yet the thought of Milwaukee being a year-long destination for professional basketball is incredibly tantalizing on its face.
The home arena and the practice facilities are there for a Milwaukee WNBA team to use, though WNBA teams have prioritized having their own facilities. A prospective ownership is in place in Milwaukee that has the capital to break into the WNBA if they think the price is right. Ultimately, the ball is in the WNBA’s court to see whether a market like Milwaukee fits the description of what they are looking for in the next city to expand the league to.
At long last, the power of women’s sports is being felt on and off the court and certainly beyond the game of basketball, too. For Milwaukee to break through, it will take a level of ambition within the city and buy-in from the powers that be to make it all a reality.