Cleveland receiving WNBA expansion team spurs optimism on local women's basketball scene

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Cleveland receiving WNBA expansion team spurs optimism on local women's basketball scene

Nate Ulrich, Akron Beacon Journal · Akron Beacon Journal

Tue, Jul 1, 2025 ·

9 min read

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Paris Caldwell frequented Cleveland Rockers games as a kid growing up in Akron .

Her late mother, former University of Akron player Yontami Jones , even tried out for the Rockers before they competed during their first season as one of eight WNBA charter franchises in 1997.

And although Jones didn't make the team, she supported it. As a longtime high school girls basketball coach at Kenmore and later Kenmore-Garfield, Jones took her players to Rockers games.

However, not everyone backed the Rockers as much as Caldwell and her mom. The team lasted for just seven seasons and folded in 2003.

"It did feel like a gut punch a little bit," Caldwell told the Beacon Journal.

Paris Caldwell smiles as she speaks on behalf of her late mother, Yontami Jones, during the Summit County Sports Hall of Fame Induction ceremony Oct. 4, 2022, in Akron, Ohio.

The WNBA is returning to Cleveland

More than 20 years later, these are better times for women's basketball advocates in Northeast Ohio. The sport's landscape has changed, and the WNBA is back in Cleveland .

Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert's Rock Entertainment Group bid $250 million to restore the WNBA in Cleveland and secured the league's 16th franchise . The reborn Cleveland team is set to debut in the 2028 season, the WNBA announced June 30, and play its home games at Rocket Arena. A nickname for the new team has yet to be announced.

Caldwell is ecstatic about Cleveland's WNBA comeback and optimistic about the franchise's long-term viability, especially after she attended the NCAA Women's Final Four in April 2024.

"There was so much support for women's basketball there," Caldwell said. "I think it's spreading so much, so I honestly think it'll be here to stay."

New Kenmore-Garfield girls basketball basketball coach Paris Caldwell stands near the scoreboard Dec. 21, 2020, in Akron, Ohio. Caldwell takes over as coach after her mother, Yontami Jones, recently died from cancer.

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A Garfield assistant coach, Caldwell said player participation for local high school girls basketball has been down since the COVID-19 pandemic. She and Copley's Julie Solis are among coaches who are hopeful Cleveland competing in the WNBA can help the sport recover at the prep level.

"I think bringing back the WNBA is a huge win for the city," Solis said. "Cleveland's a passionate sports town, so I think the way that WNBA has been growing in popularity, I think the fans will fully embrace it here.

"As far as my job [in coaching], I think it's going to inspire the young athletes more. I think you're going to have role models to look up to that are right in their backyard and dreams to chase because of those role models."

Copley girls basketball coach Julie Solis watches her team play against Woodridge in a Division II district semifinal Feb. 28, 2024, in Elyria, Ohio.

More teams will mean more roster spots at the highest level. WNBA squads are composed of 12 players.

In May, the Golden State Valkyries started their first season, bringing the number of active WNBA teams to 13. Toronto and Portland secured expansion teams and will launch with the 2026 season. In addition to Cleveland, the WNBA announced June 30 Detroit and Philadelphia will receive franchises, starting play in the 2029 and 2030 seasons, respectively. Put another way, 18 teams are locked in.

"Expanding the WNBA is really cool, and it'll give a lot of people more opportunities," said former Ellet star Caitlyn Holmes , who's preparing to play for the Kent State University women's basketball team.

Holmes' coach, KSU's Todd Starkey , explained he envisions local college programs benefiting from a trickle-down effect spurred by the WNBA's return to Cleveland.

"I don't think it can hurt you in recruiting to have a WNBA team in the same area," he said. "All ships rise with a tide."

Ellet's Caitlyn Holmes, left, moves up the court against Buchtel's Aaliyah Golden on Jan. 31, 2024, in Akron, Ohio.

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Starkey vowed to buy season tickets for Cleveland's WNBA team. The WNBA season takes place from May to October, so Starkey said he can picture fans attending Guardians games at Progressive Field and WNBA games next door on the same day.

"In Northeast Ohio, people come out for stuff when the weather breaks," Starkey said. "So now go to a [WNBA] game. Go to a Guardians game."

Because of proximity, Starkey said Cleveland's WNBA team could become a natural rival of the Indiana Fever. Of course, the Fever drafted Caitlin Clark first overall last year after she and Iowa fell to Kamilla Cardoso and South Carolina in the NCAA championship game in Cleveland.

Kent State women's basketball coach Todd Starkey waves to the crowd while being introduced during a watch party March 18, 2024, at Water Street Tavern in Kent, Ohio.

Speaking on Zoom, Rock Entertainment Group and Cavs CEO Nic Barlage said Gilbert and Co. began its pursuit of a WNBA team three years ago. But Barlage also said the 2024 Women's Final Four in Cleveland "was really the final little catalyst we needed to go all in and go all in a big way to be able to recruit this opportunity back to Northeast Ohio."

For the first time, more people watched the women's national title game than its men's counterpart — 18.9 million viewers compared with 14.8 million, according to Nielsen.

In August, the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission announced the Women's Final Four, held April 4-7, 2024, provided Northeast Ohio with $32.9 million in direct spend, according to the Destinations International Event Impact Calculator.

The GSCS stated 36,584 fans attended the two sold-out Final Four sessions, 20,624 fans visited Tourney Town, the free festival at the Huntington Convention Center, and 11,291 fans flocked to free practices. The games at practices were held at Rocket Arena.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley reacts with the trophy after the Gamecocks defeated Iowa in championship game of the 2024 NCAA Women's Tournament on April 7, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio.

The success of last year's Women's Final Four is encouraging for businesses hoping to benefit from WNBA-related economic impact in Cleveland.

Ally Eclarin and Cassy Kopp sold Kent sports coffee shop State Champs on Sept. 30 and embarked on a new mission to bring a sports bar with a fresh flavor to Cleveland. They partnered with Shelley Pippin, an owner of Brewnuts, and opened The W Sports Bar in May at 5428 Detroit Ave., in Cleveland's Gordon Square neighborhood.

"Top shelf is women's sports," Eclarin said. "It's the default. But we're also going to play Cavs games, Guards games, men's sports, whatever it is. We want [women's sports] to be seen as equal.

"We don't want it to be seen as other. We've never wanted to see it that way. We still want the sentence to be A'ja Wilson, Donovan Mitchell. There should be no separation of the two."

Ally Eclarin, left, and Cassy Kopp, co-owners of State Champs, pose for a portrait in their sports-themed coffee shop April 17, 2024, in Kent, Ohio.

Eclarin grew up a huge sports fan in the San Francisco Bay Area and moved to Ohio two years ago. She said the WNBA returning to Northeast Ohio is "a validation" of Cleveland's strength as a sports town — one capable of embracing women's athletics.

"Cleveland's legit," Eclarin said. "The fans are here. We deserve this. It's a cool 'thank you for seeing us' kind of moment."

WNBA news: How the Women's Final Four and Caitlin Clark helped usher a return to Cleveland

St. Vincent-St. Mary girls basketball coach Carley Whitney calls out to her players during a Division II regional semifinal against Streetsboro on March 5, 2024, in Barberton, Ohio.

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St. Vincent-St. Mary girls basketball coach Carley Whitney said Northeast Ohio is "ready" to champion Cleveland's WNBA expansion team, but her wish is for a sustainable franchise.

Like Caldwell, Whitney remembers the Rockers being part of her Akron childhood, only to be ripped away.

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Former longtime Cavs and Rockers owner Gordon Gund pointed to low attendance and a failure to turn a profit in any of the original team's seven seasons as reasons for its demise.

"Can you get enough interest in a younger player or an older player that's going to draw a crowd?" said Whitney, the director of league and events for Ohio Basketball. "Even if [Cleveland's new players] are decent and above, what kind of marketing are you putting out there? How are you maintaining a crowd? What are your ticket prices? And are you working closely enough with the Cavs to tap into that market?

"I think that it could explode. I do. But it's about longevity, right? So you don't want to be a flash in the pan. That's where rosters and marketing and merchandise come into play — and community involvement."

The Rockers ranked 10th among 14 WNBA teams with an average attendance of 7,400 in 2003. When Gund pulled the plug back then, no buyer was found.

Green girls basketball coach Alicia Manning works the sideline during a game against Hoban on Feb. 7, 2024, in Akron, Ohio.

Former Green girls basketball coach Alicia Manning has advice for Cleveland's new WNBA ownership. It essentially boils down to this: You paid to bring the team back, but you still need to spend top dollar to promote it and ensure it's a good product.

Manning was raised north of Atlanta in Woodstock, Georgia, but she left to play for the late coaching legend Pat Summitt at the University of Tennessee. When Manning returned home to attend an Atlanta Dream game early in the WNBA franchise's existence, she thought the community lacked awareness about the team, which played its first season in 2008. She also explained the game day experiences during Dream games were not comparable to those of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks.

"You go to the Hawks game, and it's like fire and awesome music and awesome videos and all this really cool fan interaction stuff that they're doing," Manning said. "Then I go to an Atlanta Dream game, and I'm like, 'It's not like they don't have the capacity to do it. All this stuff is here. Why have they not done the same thing for their women's sports?'

"The only way people are going to come back is if they invest the same amount as they do for the guys games."

Gilbert's group has created a pathway to prove Cleveland's new WNBA team can last.

"There's so many talented former athletes in this area, specifically female athletes," Manning said of Northeast Ohio, "and it's just really good to know that we can be represented at a professional level and that they have found worth to [the WNBA] coming back to Cleveland."

St. Vincent-St. Mary girls basketball coach Carley Whitney guides the Irish in a game against Erie on Jan. 9, 2025, in Akron, Ohio.

Dan Gilbert's group wants Cleveland's WNBA franchise to become Ohio's team

A new generation of WNBA fans awaits, and the reality has hit home for some of the bigwigs involved in Cleveland's winning bid.

"As a father of two young daughters, it means the world to me to be able to showcase to them what they can accomplish and having these role models that are world-class athletes in their own backyard," Barlage said. "But for the greater purpose of Cleveland and the state of Ohio, this is going to be the first [major] women's professional sports team in the state. So we want this to be the state's team."

From Cleveland to Akron to Columbus to Cincinnati, opportunities to grow a fan base exist.

"We're finally at the stage where 10- and 12-year-old girls, if you ask them who their favorite basketball player is, they actually say a girl now," Whitney said. "They don't say a man."

A Cleveland WNBA player may become a popular answer in a few years.

"If you see it, you can believe it," Caldwell said. "I think Northeast Ohio needs that again."

Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich .

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland's WNBA return has Ohio women's basketball supporters hopeful

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