Denver is reportedly among several cities bidding for a new WNBA expansion team.
The basketball league is in expansion mode, with two new teams in Toronto and Portland already scheduled to debut in the 2026 season.
Now, the team is looking for a 16th team to join the league by 2028, and the competition is heating up. In a report this week, The Athletic identified nine contenders, including a group from Denver.
Denverite previously reported the influential Dimond family was part of the Denver bid. Navin Dimond is the founder of the hotelier Stonebridge Companies. Ashley Dimond, his daughter, confirmed to The Athletic that they plan to build a new arena for the team, assuming they win the bid.
Bryan Leach, CEO of Ibotta, also is involved in the bid, The Athletic reported. Ibotta is a sponsor of the Denver Nuggets and Leach has become a major player in Denver. Leach declined to comment to Denverite.
League Commissioner Cathy Engelbert visited Denver in August 2023, meeting with Mayor Mike Johnston’s office and the potential Denver investor group. The meeting also included Rob Cohen, CEO of IMA Financial Group. Cohen also is an investor in Denver’s new NWSL team. It’s unclear if Cohen is still involved.
Landing the team would be expensive.
The WNBA investor groups in Toronto and Portland reportedly paid well over $100 million each to secure their franchises this year — more than twice the expansion fee paid for the Golden State Valkyries in 2023.
In a press conference last year, WNBA Commissioner Englebert said there were close to a dozen cities “that are very viable that we’re evaluating.” She named Denver, Philadelphia, Nashville and South Florida among the candidates. The Athletic also reported that groups from Austin, Charlotte, Cleveland, Detroit and Houston are interested.
Denver recently secured a professional women’s soccer league with the NWSL. The owners reportedly paid a league-record $110 million fee. The team is off to a strong start, raking in more than 5,000 deposits for season tickets in just three days — also a league record. The NWSL investors also plan to build a women’s soccer stadium in the coming years.
"Denver is one of the greatest sports cities in the world," wrote Jordan Fuja, a spokesperson for the mayor, in a text message. "With record-breaking early season ticket sales for our new NWSL team and Denver breaking the attendance record for a professional women's hockey game in the U.S., it's clear Denverites are hungry for more women's sports teams. We would be thrilled to welcome a WNBA team with open arms."
Fuja didn't answer a question about whether Johnston has had more meetings about the bid.
A "meteoric" rise:
Women’s sports have seen a “meteoric” rise in viewership and interest, Nielsen reported in 2023. The WNBA recently hit an average of 1.2 million views for games on ESPN, a league record, and drew the largest audience for the Finals in 25 years. A PwC survey found industry leaders are expecting the women’s sports market to grow at 7.3 percent per year.
Cohen and Ashley Dimond did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Editor's note: This article was updated Feb. 13, 2025 at 2:08 p.m. with comment from the mayor's office.
