Why Cleveland’s WNBA return is a win for Northeast Ohio

Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert continues to bet on this region.

Some will say it's the city, but make no mistake: If downtown Cleveland benefits, those benefits flow in all directions — east, west and, yes, south.

His latest gamble will continue that trend as he and his umbrella organization, the Rock Entertainment Group announced, its highly anticipated name for the city’s WNBA franchise that begins play in 2028.

Say hello to the Cleveland Sirens , and hopefully this team sings a song as sweet as what REG has done for this area with their inaugural season.

Cleveland Sirens: WNBA team has a name, and it comes from Greek Mythology

It may be the surest wager Gilbert has made in recent years, despite the reported $250 million franchise fee. While the two most recent teams — the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire — paid $50 million and $75 million respectively to enter the WNBA, it still may be a bargain.

The league is primed for continued growth. Celebrating its 30th anniversary, it reached profitability for the first time this season due to media rights, according to a report from Front Office Sports.

The league's national media rights agreement — an 11-year deal with Disney (ABC/ESPN), NBCUniversal (NBC/Peacock), Amazon (Prime Video), Paramount (CBS), Scripps (Ion), USA Sports (USA Network) and NBA TV — is worth $3.1 billion.

They’re walking into a situation where their $250 million investment will show an immediate return. According to Forbes, WNBA teams are valued at $414 million, up 52% over last year. That’s the best increase in that metric since the magazine has provided those numbers. CNBC’s valuations are even more bullish, putting average team worth at $460 million.

Return of WNBA in Cleveland rights an unavoidable wrong for the region

But let’s take this from an alternate angle.

Gilbert is righting what could be considered a wrong by bringing a team back to Cleveland that, while not profitable — none of the WNBA's original eight franchises were — was successful by nearly every measure.

The Rockers amassed a record of 108-112 over seven seasons from 1997-2003 , two of those years being positively abysmal with a combined 17-47 record. In four of those years (1998, 2000, 2001, 2003), they went to the playoffs.

They never averaged fewer than 7,400 fans per game and maxed out at 10,350 in their second season. The difference for the Sirens? The league, as a whole, averaged 11,148 in 2025. After attendance bottomed out to 6,615 fans per game in 2023, they are on track to average 11,381 in the current season.

Is there any doubt that Cleveland would support a team? Is there any doubt that Northeast Ohio deserves a team.?

The Rockers folded after then-team owner Gordon Gund, who happened to also owned the Cavaliers, couldn’t find a buyer and wasn’t willing to continue to absorb given the Cavs’ new priority – maximizing the potential of some Akron kid named LeBron James.

At that moment, given the state of the league, that's a choice anyone would have made. But the Cleveland community supported the team then, and it will again because the league is vastly different today.

WNBA's return will add cachet to Northeast Ohio

That huge spike in attendance from 2023, came courtesy of the public acknowledging what hoops heads already knew – women can play. Pioneers of the WNBA never got the recognition they deserved and now, players such as A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces), Caitlin Clark (Indiana Fever) and Angel Reese (Atlanta Dream) showcase their obvious skills and sports fans reap the benefit.

The latter two arrived in the 2024 season and have since been joined by players such as Paige Bueckers (Dallas Wings, 2025) and Olivia Miles (Minnesota Lynx, 2026), who is considered a leading candidate for the league’s Rookie of the Year award.

Fresh faces join veterans as these athletes become household names in the professional sports world.

Returning a team to Northeast Ohio only adds to the area’s cachet, something that REG and Gilbert have worked tirelessly for in the recent past and the future with projects such as the new Cavs headquarters and training facility at the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center that reimagines the Cuyahoga River area near Tower City and will feature a 6,500 amphitheater. T hen there’s COSM, the immersive shared reality experience for sporting events and other entertainment shows. Those projects are huge swings and gambles. So is the WNBA, to a degree.

But given its trajectory, the only way this bet on the league could have been surer is if Gilbert had gotten in on the WNBA’s ground floor and reaped the benefits of growth that it has provided.

George M. Thomas covers a myriad of things including sports and pop culture, but mostly sports, he thinks, for the Beacon Journal.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Why Cleveland’s WNBA return is a win for Northeast Ohio | Opinion

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