NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Nashville’s bid for a WNBA expansion team turned heads when it was announced last week. Perhaps nowhere did it get more attention than at Municipal Auditorium where several current WNBA players are working out in preparation for this week’s Athletes Unlimited season opener.
The WNBA veterans say the idea of a franchise located in Nashville makes perfect sense.
“Come on, Cathy (Engelbert),” three-time WNBA champion and Aces forward Alysha Clark said Monday, in reference to the league’s commissioner. “Let’s make it happen. Nashville deserves a team. This state deserves a team just because of the tradition that’s here and the support that’s always been here.”
The bid proposal submitted by a private ownership group led by Predators chairman and former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam is for the league’s 16th franchise. If awarded, the team would begin play at Bridgestone Arena in 2028.
Nashville is one of at least 10 cities vying for the single expansion spot. The city’s bid is considered strong, thanks in no small part to the state’s rich tradition in women’s basketball.
“When you look at all the (cities) that are trying to bid you do want to look at those ones and be like, ‘hey, who’s been there before doing it?’” Chicago Sky point guard Kia Nurse asked. “Doing the work in the darkness for women’s basketball to grow it, and Nashville and Tennessee itself is one of those places.”
Two-time MVP and three-time WNBA champion Candace Parker join Haslam’s star-packed ownership group which includes Peyton Manning, Tim McGraw, and Faith Hill. The recently retired Parker will serve as a player voice in the bid.
“To have Candace spearheading that and being the basketball part of it – the face of it essentially – is everything,” Clark said. “The legacy she left here and at Tennessee and in the Tennessee basketball community.”
The team will be called the Tennessee Summitt in honor of legendary Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt. With Parker now retired former Hillsboro High School and Tennessee star Isabelle Harrison is the last remaining WNBA player to have played for Summitt.
The 31-year-old Sky power forward says there’s no more fitting honor than to name a professional team after the legendary coach.
“It’s great,” Harrison said. “For her to finally get this recognition of what she’s meant to the game of basketball, period, and we can honor her with a WNBA team. And not only that but to have it in Nashville, I want to be a part of that in any way that I can.”
Nashville will get a trial run for how it supports women’s professional basketball this month. Athletes Unlimited, the nation’s only other 5-on-5 professional women’s basketball league besides the WNBA, will hold its fourth season at Municipal Auditorium this month. Players like Clark, Nurse, and Harrison will compete for the individual grand prize of $25,000 on rotating teams in the 24-team league.
The season opens Wednesday at 5 p.m. and games will run through March 2nd when the individual champion is crowned.
If you have more information about this story, please email me at Steve.Layman@newschannel5.com.
