Sophie Cunningham Isn't Too Fired Up About Some WNBA Expansion Cities, Detroit Fires Back
Detroit responded with its previous experiences as a WNBA city
The WNBA is riding a wave of Caitlin Clark-fueled attention (although they'd probably deny that was the reason) that has led to another batch of expansion cities being announced; however, Clark's teammate and designated enforcer, Sophie Cunningham, isn't too excited about some of them.
This week, the league announced that it will be adding teams in three new cities — Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia by the year 2030. This round of expansion, combined with the previously announced teams that will be setting up shop in Portland and Toronto (which will be known as the Toronto Tempo), will bring the league's total to 18 franchises.
However, when asked about it, the Indiana Fever star didn't sound too pumped about two of the latest cities that were announced: Cleveland and Detroit.
"I also think you want to listen to your players, too, like, where do they want to play? Where are they going to get excited to play and draw fans?" Cunningham said. "Miami would've been a great one, Nashville is an amazing city, Kansas City — amazing opportunity with a huge arena downtown that no one's using."
Cunningham makes a good point about Kansas City — which she noted has seen success with its PWSL team — and talked about why the league should avoid expanding too fast, but it was her comments on Detroit and Cleveland that won't win her any fans in those markets.
"I don't know how excited people are to be going to Detroit or Cincinnati," she added.
They'd be really bummed going to Cincinnati, considering the WNBA is expanding to Cleveland. They'd show up and would be like, "Where is everybody?"
Anyway, those comments won't win Cunningham too many fans in Detroit or Cleveland, and the City of Detroit had already fired back at her by spitting some serious facts.
"The last time we were home to a WNBA team (Detroit Shock) we ranked top five in attendance for five straight seasons, No. 1 in attendance for three straight seasons and set a single-game attendance record of 22,076 fans at Game 3 of the 2003 WNBA Finals," the account posted. "Additionally more than 775,000 people were excited to come to Detroit for the 2024 NFL draft. Detroit is a sports town. We’re sure we’ll see the same excitement for the WNBA returning."
Look out! Sophie Cunningham vs. Detroit is the feud I didn't know I needed.
The new franchise isn't slated to debut until 2029, but it'll be interesting to see how Cunningham is received the first time she plays there.