Over the next five years, the WNBA is set to expand to three new cities. This means three new teams, dozens of new players, and a whole host of hometown fans.
Earlier this week, the WNBA announced it would expand to Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia, bringing the league's team total up to 18 (if you include the 2026 expansions to Portland and Toronto). While the league's growth is always exciting, one rising star wasn't that impressed by the news.
Following the announcement, Sophie Cunningham, a guard for the Indiana Fever who has gained notoriety over the last few weeks for physically defending teammate Caitlin Clark, voiced her displeasure with the cities that the league decided to expand to.
"You wanna listen to your players too, where do they wanna play? Where are they going to get excited to play?
...I don’t know how excited people are to be going to Detroit or [Cleveland]."
Indiana Fever forward Sophie Cunningham gets honest about WNBA expansion news
Cunningham also listed cities that could have been better choices, including Miami, Nashville, and Kansas City. She even went as far as to say that the league doesn't want to expand too quickly because there will inevitably be teams that dominate and those that struggle too greatly.
There are teams across the country, literally, with franchises in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and (almost) everywhere in between. Sure, Detroit and Cleveland might not be the most exciting cities in the world, but they have already proven to be success stories for sports.
Detroit has the Lions, Tigers, but not Bears (oh my), and more. Cleveland has the Guardians, Cavaliers, and Browns. These cities are sports cities. The same goes for Philadelphia, which is a massive metropolis and is home to the current defending Super Bowl Champions.
Keep in mind, Cunningham is stating this view from Indiana... not exactly the most thrilling state in the country itself. Yet, the Fever have no difficulty bringing in hordes of fans for their home games (it doesn't hurt to have one of the most famous female athletes on your team).
Expansions are good news, no matter which cities those teams end up in... It's just like "Field of Dreams" says, "If you build it, they will come."