Cleveland Cavaliers owner Gilbert wants to get a new WNBA team

Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, said Wednesday that his parent company, Rock Entertainment Group, plans to look for a new WNBA team. Gilbert wants to bring women’s basketball back to Cleveland more than 20 years after the city’s last team folded.

Cathy Engelbert, the commissioner of the WNBA, has said that she wants the league to have 16 teams by 2028. It was just revealed that teams in Toronto and Portland will start playing in 2026.

The Golden State Valkyries will be the second new team next season.

In a statement to Reuters, Rock Entertainment Group said it was committed to “diversifying our platform to provide access to sport and equality on many levels.”

“It has long been woven into our mission to utilize our platform to unite our community in ways that drive equal opportunities across the board,” it said.

“To that end, we are actively pursuing bringing a WNBA expansion team to Cleveland.”

People are becoming more interested in the WNBA because of its famous rookie class, which includes Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark.

Clark’s last year at Iowa, where she broke the all-time college scoring record, sent TV numbers through the roof. In her first season in the WNBA, she was named Rookie of the Year.

Rock Entertainment Group used a few recent sports mega-events in Cleveland to back up their bid. For example, this year’s women’s Final Four broke all kinds of TV records.

The Rockers, one of the original teams in the league, played in Cleveland. The team folded in 2003, with the former owner saying that low attendance was to blame.