TORONTO — The WNBA isn't just coming to Toronto, it's coming to Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, rapper Drake, Raptors star Scottie Barnes and former Raptors great Kyle Lowry were all in attendance at a downtown hotel on Thursday morning as the WNBA made the new franchise official. Larry Tanenbaum's Kilmer Sports Ventures are the owners of the as-yet unnamed team, that he hopes will be adopted across the country.
Kilmer Sports Ventures paid US$115 million for the WNBA team. Tanenbaum was also responsible for bringing the NBA to Toronto, with the Raptors joining the league 30 years ago. "I don't think Toronto and indeed Canada can thank you enough for all your contributions to sport but this one, even a Montrealer can get way behind," said Trudeau to Tanenbaum on the dais at Hotel X."As a Montrealer it does pain me to say that Toronto is such an incredible sports city.
Kilmer Sports said that upgrades to the arena will be made so it can be used by the WNBA team for training and practices as well. "We're gonna put all those things to use because we've made mistakes in the past and we won't have to make those in the WNBA because we know those things now," she said."It's an untapped market.
"We're excited to expand outside the United States and this is our first as we continue to work to bring in new audiences, new fans," said Engelbert."It creates new opportunities for players.
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