A group of Vancouver business and basketball figures is working to bring a Women’s National Basketball Association franchise to the city, with a potential bid timeline of up to five years.
The effort is led by retired finance executive Bill Bakk, who has assembled a team of advisors with backgrounds spanning finance, sports administration and professional basketball. Before moving forward, the group consulted with the WNBA, Canada Basketball and the NBA to gauge whether Vancouver would be a viable market for expansion.
Jodi Evans, a former Canadian Olympic basketball player and vice chair of Deloitte Canada, is advising the group. She pointed to strong attendance figures for other Vancouver women’s professional sports franchises as evidence of local demand. According to Evans, the Vancouver Rise soccer club draws the largest fan attendance in the Northern Super League, while the Goldeneyes hockey team has the second-highest attendance in the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
League’s Growing Value
The WNBA has seen a sharp rise in popularity in recent years, with growth in attendance, broadcast viewership and sponsorship. Evans said average screen viewership for a WNBA game has grown from 440,000 three years ago to 1.4 million now, more than tripling.
That surge has driven up the cost of joining the league. The Toronto Tempo, currently the WNBA’s only team outside the United States, paid a $50 million franchise fee in 2024. The three most recent expansion teams — Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia — each paid $250 million.
Bakk said he expects the franchise fee facing his group’s eventual bid to reach roughly $300 million U.S., not including the cost of constructing a practice facility. Converted to Canadian dollars, he estimated the total cost could land near $500 million. Bakk said discussions with potential investors are ongoing and new investors are coming forward, though the fee remains a significant hurdle.
Local Demand and Next Steps
Recent attendance figures in Vancouver have bolstered the group’s case. Last year, a sellout crowd of nearly 16,000 filled Rogers Arena for the first regular-season WNBA game ever played outside the United States, a matchup between the Seattle Storm and Atlanta Dream. In Toronto, the Tempo’s debut season also drew large crowds, including 12,400 fans for a game against the Portland Fire and close to 16,000 for a game against the Las Vegas Aces.
Bakk identified Rogers Arena and the Pacific Coliseum as potential home venues for a Vancouver franchise. He said the next milestone for the group is finalizing and publicly announcing its investors.
The advisory group also includes Kevin Hanson, former UBC and Canada men’s basketball coach; Theresa Hanson, former Simon Fraser University athletic director and current athletic director at Saint Martin’s University; Julie Smulders, chief operating officer of Willoughby Asset Management and founder of the She’s Got Next professional women’s network; David Nelson, chairman of Nelson International; and Dave Cobb, managing director at the Jim Pattison Group and a former executive with VANOC, the Vancouver Canucks and the Vancouver Grizzlies.
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