'The one missing link' has arrived in Toronto

Expansion team will help fill void

- DOUG SMITH

There was a sporting void here, Larry Tanenbaum saw it and filled it.

His Kilmer Sports Venture will be announced Thursday as the ownership group of a WNBA expansion franchise for Toronto, starting in 2026.

“The one thing that I’ve seen throughout my 28 years is the one missing link was truly professional women’s sports,” Tanenbaum said in an interview with The Star on Wednesday evening. “It was an obvious thing. We all watch the Olympic basketball, we watch Olympic hockey, we watch Olympic soccer — all women’s teams — why shouldn’t there be a professional women’s basketball team here?”

Tanenbaum, the chair of MLSE, created Kilmer Sports Venture as a stand-alone company to operate the team that will play out of the Coca-Cola Coliseum. He sees women’s professional sports as not only a wise business investment — the WNBA franchise fee has been set at $50 million (U.S.) — but one with societal benefits.

“The Raptors are Canada’s team and this team will be Canada’s team, a professional women’s team,” Tanenbaum said. “It’s exactly what the NBA did for Toronto and for Canada — there was a path for the young guys playing basketball in high school, on their driveways, in college. It will do exactly the same for women.”

The WNBA has been eyeing Toronto as a possible expansion site for years. Tanenbaum’s involvement cemented it.