SPORTS

A women's sports boom, a Raptors rebuild and a no-nonsense Leafs makeover are all on the docket for 2025. Meanwhile, the feds will tackle sports betting ads, while Alberta ramps up its own gambling scene.

- 

1 Women's Pro Sports Leagues Will Explode Across Canada

Riding the wave of last year's wildly successful Professional Women's Hockey League launch, women's sports of all kinds will dominate this year. Two new teams-possibly out of Quebec City and Calgary-will join the league's 2025-26 season while existing ones will finally get official names. (Toronto Sceptres, anyone?) And basketball fans rejoice: Canada's first WNBA franchise is set to kick off in 2026. As they wait, Canadian sports junkies can tune into the Northern Super League, the country's first women's pro soccer league, as its six clubs duke it out starting in April.

2 The Raptors Will Rebuild

The Raptors' 2019 championship high feels as distant as the Jurassic era: last season, the team ended in 12th place in the NBA's Eastern Conference and traded away big names like Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby. Team president Masai Ujiri-

whose own contract is up for renewal in 2026-has made it clear his team won't be championship contenders for the 2024-25 season. Instead, this is a time to rebuild: a year of head-down reconstruction for the team, an unsexy yet necessary investment for better years ahead.

3 A Broadcasting Arms Race Is Coming