The Toronto Tempo are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Tempo compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at Coca-Cola Coliseum. Beginning play in May 2026, they are the first WNBA team located outside of the United States and the first in Canada.
History In May 2023, the WNBA held a preseason exhibition game between the Minnesota Lynx and Chicago Sky at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto; the sellout crowd and accompanying enthusiasm led to speculation on whether the city could host a women's team alongside the existing men's Toronto Raptors.
On May 10, 2024, reports emerged that the WNBA and Kilmer Group were negotiating for a Toronto-based expansion franchise. The WNBA officially announced the creation of the franchise on May 23. The team will become the 14th in the WNBA and the first to be based outside the United States. The team will be owned by Kilmer Sports Ventures, led by Toronto-based billionaire Larry Tanenbaum, who paid an expansion fee of $50 million USD for the franchise. Tanenbaum is a minority owner and chairman of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), which owns fellow professional Toronto sports teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors among others. Tanenbaum originally pursued the WNBA venture through MLSE, though other members of the board turned it down. CBC News reported a source stating the WNBA expansion franchise is expected to play at Coca-Cola Coliseum, an 8,500-seat arena at Exhibition Place that has hosted most Toronto Marlies AHL games since 2005 and Toronto Sceptres PWHL games since 2024.
When approving the team, the WNBA board of governors voted 13–0 and the NBA board of governors voted 29–1, with only the New York Knicks voting against the expansion; at the time, the Knicks were in the process of suing the Toronto Raptors due to "alleged theft of proprietary information".
Early stage team members included Teresa Resch, who was named president of the franchise, Patrick Lee (chief financial officer), Lisa Ferkul (chief revenue officer), and Whitney Bell (chief marketing officer).
On December 4, 2024, the "Toronto Tempo" nickname was accidentally posted to the dropdown menu of the WNBA website; later that day, the Tempo logo was leaked on SportsLogos.net courtesy of an anonymous WNBA source. The next day, the Tempo name, logo, and colour scheme were officially unveiled by the team.
In February 2025, Monica Wright Rogers was hired as the first general manager for the Toronto Tempo. In May 2025, Eli Horowitz was hired as the assistant general manager and senior vice president of basketball strategy.
On March 3, 2025, American former professional tennis player Serena Williams was announced as a joint-owner of the team. In May 2025, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy and Lilly Singh joined the ownership group for the Tempo. On September 23, 2025, Geoff Molson and France Margaret Bélanger from Groupe CH, the ownership group of the Montreal Canadiens were announced as additional members of the Tempo's ownership group. Former Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri joined the ownership group in March 2026.
In January 2025, the team announced its first founding partner Sephora. In April 2025, the Tempo announced their founding partnership with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
In August 2025, the team announced that during the 2026 season it would play two regular season games at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. In September 2025, the Tempo also announced that an additional two regular season games during the 2026 season would be played at Bell Centre in Montreal.
The Toronto Tempo took their first steps towards building a roster on April 3rd, 2026 by selecting 11 players as part of the expansion draft. They selected Julie Allemand (Los Angeles Sparks) as their first pick (the 2nd pick of the draft after the Portland Fire). On April 13th, 2026 as part of the 2026 WNBA Draft Toronto selected Kiki Rice (6th), Teonni Key (22nd), Saffron Shiels (26th), and Charlise Dunn (36th).
Starting in April 2026, the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport on the campus of University of Toronto will be the practice facility for the Tempo professional basketball team until a purpose-built facility by Exhibition Place is constructed to open by 2028.
On July 7, 2026, former Toronto Raptor player Kyle Lowry and his wife, Ayahna Cornish-Lowry joined the Tempo’s ownership group.
On August 18, 2026, the team revealed their mascots Dez the snapping turtle and Dot the Arctic hare during half-time against the Indiana Fever.
Inaugural Season (2026–present) The Toronto Tempo made its regular-season debut on May 8, 2026 against the Washington Mystics at Coca-Cola Coliseum in front of a sellout crowd of 8,210 in a loss to the Mystics 68–65. The game marked the first WNBA regular-season game played in Canada and the league's first game featuring a franchise based outside the United States. The Tempo recorded its first regular-season victory five days later, defeating the Seattle Storm 86–73 at home. As part of the franchise's role as Canada's first WNBA team, Toronto played regular-season home games in two other Canadian cities, Montreal and Vancouver. The team also played three games at the larger Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, home of the Toronto Raptors. The Tempo set a new WNBA regular season attendance record on July 10th, with 20,996 fans in attendance at the Bell Centre in Montreal in a game versus the Dallas Wings.https://tempo.wnba.com/news/historic-crowd-at-montreals-bell-centre-becomes-largest-regular-season-audience-in-wnba-historyMarina Mabrey tied the WNBA single-game scoring record with 53 points in a win against the Los Angeles Sparks on June 25, 2026.On July 31, 2026, the Tempo acquired forward Aneesah Morrow from the Connecticut Sun in exchange for the rights to Maria Kliundikova and a 2028 second-round draft pick.
The Tempo began the season with a 7–5 record before a long-term injury to Brittney Sykes, followed by injuries to several other core players. Nyara Sabally, Kiki Rice and Marina Mabrey all missed significant time and the four players appeared together for only 78 minutes over the course of the season.On August 23, 2026, they were reduced to a season low seven players available after an injury to Julie Allemand. They finished their inaugural regular season with an 11–33 record, placing sixth in the Eastern Conference. They tied the Connecticut Sun for the best odds in the 2027 WNBA Draft lottery with each team having a 29.5% chance to secure the number one overall pick.
Media
Beginning with the 2026 season, Bell Media became the WNBA's primary media partner in Canada under a multi-year deal. All Tempo games not selected for global streaming on Prime Video (one game in the 2026 season) are scheduled to air on TSN, with some games simulcast on CTV and streaming on Crave.
On September 20, 2026, ESPN premiered Setting the Tempo, a four-part documentary chronicling the creation and launch of the Toronto Tempo. The ESPN original features behind-the-scenes looks at the hiring of the front office, coach and building the roster among CBA uncertainty going into their first season.
Coaches and staff
Head coaches On November 4, 2025, the Tempo announced the hiring of Sandy Brondello as the team’s first Head Coach. Assistant coaches
Olaf Lange, Associate Head Coach Ciara Carl, Assistant Coach Carly Clarke, Assistant Coach Brian Lankton, Assistant Coach Sadie Edwards, Assistant Coach & Head Video Coordinator Justina King, Assistant Video Coordinator & Team Operations Support
General managers Monica Wright Rogers (2025–present)
Season-by-season record & roster Toronto TempoSeasonTeamConferenceRegular SeasonPlayoff ResultsWLPCT 2026 2026East 6th 11 33 Did not qualifyRegular season 11 33 0 Conference ChampionsPlayoffs 0 0 0 WNBA Championships
Current roster
References
External links