Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham says people misinterpreted her comments when she seemed to imply WNBA players would not want to play in Detroit and Cleveland, two cities on tap for expansion teams in the coming years.
Cunningham, 28, clarified what she meant on Thursday, July 3, explaining that she understands the role both cities played in the league’s early days, when Detroit had the Shock and Cleveland had the Rockers.
“First of all, I know the history behind the WNBA,” she said in a video posted via X by Fever reporter Tony East. “I know that both of those cities have had teams before, and they got us where we’re at. So I’m thankful for that.”
Cunningham first drew the ire of fans and athletes from both cities when she said during media availability on Tuesday, July 1, that she didn’t “know how excited people are to be going to Detroit or Cincinnati,” confusing the two Ohio cities. She suggested Nashville and Miami as expansion candidates that were ultimately not chosen.
“All I was getting at is, like, [Nashville’s] Broadway, the off-court lifestyle, and so I think that is intriguing,” she continued. “That’s all I was getting at. I’m thankful for what they’ve done, for our history of the sport.”
The WNBA announced on Monday, June 30, that it will expand from its current 13 teams to 18 by 2030. Toronto and Portland are already set to begin play in 2026, with the league announcing Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia joining the fray in 2028, 2029 and 2030 respectively. They all join the Golden State Valkyries, who are in the midst of their first season in the W.
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All five new cities are also NBA markets, with several of their ownership groups overlapping.
“I think it’d be fun to kind of get some teams outside the NBA market,” Cunningham said. “I do think there is a benefit when you do have an NBA team. But that’s all I was getting at. I think people misread that situation. I would never speak down upon middle-class, blue-collar working people. That’s where I come from. I’m from Missouri. I get I’m in Indiana, and that’s kind of why I’m hinting at, Broadway sounds fun. All that I was saying.”
Each upcoming team paid a $250 million expansion fee, five times the fee the Valkyries paid in 2023 — a product of the league’s meteoric growth over the past half decade.