Philadelphia's WNBA expansion team gets official approval

The WNBA is officially coming to Philadelphia after the women's professional basketball league and the NBA Board of Governors approved the expansion team on Thursday.

The Philadelphia expansion team will begin play in 2030 and is one of three expansion teams approved. The other two are Cleveland (2028) and Detroit (2029).

The expansion was announced in June 2025 after years of advocacy, from fans to comedian Wanda Skyes to Mayor Cherelle Parker.

The unnamed team is owned by Comcast Spectacor and Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which also owns the Sixers.

"Philadelphia, the W's coming. Let's go, this is awesome," HBSE co-founder Josh Harris said last June. "To the city of Philly, this is your team. Philadelphia is a city about sports, and basketball in particular, including generations of extraordinary women's basketball talent, athletes who have shaped the game and inspired countless others. For me and the community, bringing the WNBA to Philly wasn't just nice to have. It was an obligation."

The expansion announcement came months after Comcast and HBSE announced a new shared arena planned with the Flyers and Sixers for South Philadelphia, set to open in 2031. The Flyers and Sixers currently share Xfinity Mobile Arena.

While the WNBA team does not have a formal home — the team will be based in South Philadelphia — it's fair to suggest the plan is to have it share an arena with the Flyers and Sixers.

Social media accounts have been set up for the WNBA team — @phillywnba. A hype video was posted shortly after the announcement, showing girls playing hoops in the city. The narrator asks two girls what they want to be when they grow up, and both say "in the WNBA," adding that they would go to games if there were a team in Philadelphia.

In the hype video, the narrator asks a girl what Philly means to her. The girl responded, "It means home," and then the video ends with "A new home team."

And after Thursday's formal approval, Philadelphia will officially be a new home for a WNBA team.