A Vision for the WNBA in Detroit
Arn Tellem
Earlier this year, I proudly joined Detroit Pistons owners Tom and Holly Gores and an exceptional coalition of Detroit-based sports, business, and community leaders in submitting a bid for a WNBA expansion team in Detroit. This bid aligns with the vision for the Pistons that Tom Gores set out when I partnered with him ten years ago: to think and act boldly without boundaries and limitations.
From moving the Pistons to downtown Detroit to the $3 billion Future of Health: Detroit project in the New Center neighborhood in partnership with Henry Ford Health and Michigan State University, we’ve made significant progress in integrating the Pistons into Detroit’s remarkable revitalization story. But there is still more work to do.
Bringing a WNBA team back to Detroit is the next chapter in advancing this vision. While the bidding process remains ongoing, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver remarked on a recent visit to Detroit that it is a matter of “when” not “if ” the WNBA returns to Detroit. We are hopeful for a positive announcement as the expansion process unfolds.
It’s the Perfect Time to Bring the WNBA Back to Detroit
A successful bid would mark the return of the WNBA to an exceptional sports town that enthusiastically embraced the league when the Detroit Shock played at The Palace of Auburn Hills two decades ago. The Shock won three WNBA Championships (2003, 2006, and 2008) and led the league in overall attendance three consecutive seasons. Although the team moved to Tulsa in 2009, it was as evident then as it is now that the WNBA belonged in Detroit.
Now nearly twenty years later, Detroit and the WNBA are each undergoing a remarkable transformation, making this the perfect time for the league’s return to our city. Detroit’s
incredible comeback over the last decade has been well documented and continues to be a national success story. Similar to Detroit, the WNBA is experiencing its own renaissance. In 2024, the league recorded its highest total attendance in twenty-two years and TV ratings and viewership were the highest in the league’s history. These trends are expected to continue in the coming years behind the success of players like Caitlin Clark, Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, and Alyssa Thomas.
Inspiring Girls to Dream Big On and Off the Court
Taken together, these forces make Detroit an ideal city to be awarded a WNBA franchise in the current expansion round. Detroit has the best fans in the world and, as with the Shock two decades ago, we are confident they will passionately support the team as one of their own, particularly given the incredible rise in popularity of women’s sports in recent years. As Detroit’s only women’s professional sports team, it will bring a new generation of sports stars to Detroit and inspire girls to dream big about the possibilities of success on and off the court.
New WNBA Team Would Offer Platform to Create Economic Opportunity in the City
Yet, this opportunity is about much more than simply adding another major professional team to downtown Detroit’s sports landscape. While we fully intend to build a team that competes for WNBA championships on a consistent basis, our ambitions extend far beyond the court. We aim to utilize the team’s platform to create economic opportunity in the city, support women’s and youth sports, and provide Detroit’s youth access to top-tier sports facilities to further their growth and development.
Beyond the direct jobs created by the team’s operations, the addition of twenty-two home games and other related events to the Detroit sports calendar will spur additional economic activity at bars, restaurants, and hotels around downtown Detroit during the WNBA season.
Youth Academy Would Be First of Its Kind in U.S.
Our plans for the team’s state-of-the-art headquarters include a youth development academy to promote youth sports and address the lack of access and equity among youth sports facilities in Detroit – the first of its kind in the United States. This campus will be a major events center for Detroit, creating jobs and attracting athletic competitions and events to our community. In addition to the WNBA’s facilities, the plans include indoor basketball and volleyball courts for community use, as well as outdoor fields for youth soccer, flag football, and other activities.
While this youth sports facility will primarily host practices and games for Detroit school teams, it will organize camps and clinics and host youth sports events such as regional and national high school and AAU basketball tournaments, bringing the best competition from around the region, state, and country to compete in Detroit.
Fulfilling a Bold Vision Laid Out Ten Years Ago
While our ownership group is excited by the prospect of delivering another pro sports team to Detroit’s passionate fan base, the opportunity to leverage the team and our collective strengths to achieve a much broader impact on the Detroit community was equally – or even more – compelling. Whether at the professional or youth level, sports have a unique and remarkable ability to serve as a unifying force in a community, bringing people together across lines of age, background, culture, geography, and belief to create shared experiences that foster community unity and pride.
If through the WNBA team and the youth sports facilities we can create economic opportunity, advance youth sports, and develop these deeper community connections – all while pursuing WNBA championships – we will be well on our way to fulfilling that bold vision Tom Gores laid out ten years ago.
