Toronto (Canada), 18 Jan. Toronto will host the first game in Canada of the professional women’s basketball league in the United States, WNBA, with the May 13 preseason matchup between the Minnesota Lynx and Chicago Sky.
The game will help the WNBA assess the possibilities of expanding the league to Canada, following in the footsteps of the NBA when in 1995 it established the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies teams.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert confirmed the intentions of the women’s professional league during a conference call in which she announced that the game between Minnesota and Sky will be played at Scotiabank Arena, the home of the Raptors.
“This is the way to gauge the popularity of the sport in Canada,” Engelbert said, adding that the WNBA wants to see the response from the Canadian market and fans.
In a statement, Engelbert also said that the preseason game in Toronto “is an important milestone for the global growth of the league.”
The head of the WNBA recalled that last year, 207 countries and territories broadcast WNBA games.
Chicago won the WNBA championship in 2021 while the Lynx have won the title four times between 2011 and 2017.
It is the third time that the WNBA has played a preseason game outside the United States.
In 2004, Detroit Shock and San Antonio Silver met in Monterrey (Mexico); and in 2011 the Atlanta Dream played the UK women’s national team in Manchester, England. EFE
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