CNBC's Alex Sherman joins 'Fast Money' with comments from the WNBA Commissioner on plans to expand the league with three new teams.

New York

The WNBA has announced it will add three new teams in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia, bringing the league to a total of 18 teams over the next five years. This expansion follows recent additions, including Golden State, and upcoming teams in Toronto and Portland.

Commissioner Kathy Engelbert cited a significant influx of basketball talent at younger levels and strong market demand as reasons for the league's confidence in expanding rapidly. The WNBA is also experiencing record ticket sales, increased sponsorship, and expects further growth with new media deals and a collective bargaining agreement that will raise player salaries.

WNBA expanding the league with three new teams

Exciting news for the WNBA today. The league announcing new franchises will be coming to three cities, Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia. That will bring the total over the next five years to 18 teams. Let's bring in CMBC sports reporter, Alex Sherman. Alex. Yeah, big news, a historic day for the WNBA today. You mentioned three new teams coming. Really, the WNBA is in full-on expansion mode right now. Golden State was introduced to the league this season. Toronto and Portland will be getting teams starting next season. And now we have a longer timeline here with Cleveland coming in 2028, Detroit in 2029, and then finally, the final team in 2030. So you've got Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, the final team in 2030. You know, I spoke with WNBA commissioner, Kathy Engelbert today, and I said that is a lot of expansion in a pretty short amount of time. What gives you the confidence that you're not moving too quickly with this? And she pointed to the talent influx coming to the league. Take a listen to what she told me. Every city I go to, I get talked about around, if Kathy, you should see the U-17 level of play. And I went to the McDonald's All-American game this year. These are high school seniors. A bunch of them could come right into the W today, but they have to go to college first. So it's the talent pool coming in over the next five years from what we can see, I think is extraordinary. So she's sort of laying out the bull case for investment in the WNBA. I think critics or skeptics have said, you know what? Yeah, there's been a lot of renewed interest in this league or even first-time interest. As Caitlin Clark has come into the league, we've seen a surge in TV ratings. But what Kathy Engelbert is saying there is basically, no, this is more than Caitlin Clark. Caitlin Clark is a stepping stone to a complete revitalization in the entire sport of women's basketball. And that the younger people, people in high school even, take a look at Caitlin Clark, and that is stepping up the level of play throughout the ranks, high school, college, and beyond. And that's why she says, look, we're not moving too fast here. We're gonna have this huge talent influx coming into college basketball and then later coming into the WNBA. Alex, thank you. Alex Sherman. So we have the talent side of things, but at the same time, you need the sponsorship side of things. You need the ticket sales, the crowd demand for these kinds of games. Does that match up with this sort of expansion, Karen? Yeah, that part is going insane. I mean, the ticket sales are huge. I think Valkyries, the new expansion team, Golden State, just started this year. Their ticket sales were off the charts. You also have sponsorship. Gigantic numbers, like up 70%. And that was for last year. That doesn't even get to this year, right? And then you have huge media deal changes. And then you're also gonna have the collective bargaining agreement. So all of the players will be paid more, which everybody wants. And then, you know, Cathy talked about this sort of inventory of great players, not just younger here, but also international. They've done an extraordinary job.

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Kyiv

Ukraine Invasion

Russia hits Kyiv with largest drone attack after Trump-Putin call

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Jerusalem

More than 80 people killed in Gaza in one day

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Gilimanuk

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Tehran

Iran Strikes

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Boise

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