Toronto Tempo President Details Startup Approach to Building WNBA Franchise

Toronto Tempo President Details Startup Approach to Building WNBA Franchise

The Toronto Tempo has entered its inaugural WNBA season, achieving record attendance and strong initial performance, despite being the league's newest expansion team. Team president Teresa Resch shared insights into the strategy of building a new sports franchise akin to a startup, while navigating unique challenges in the Canadian market.

"We've run this like a startup, a new country, everything was new," Resch stated in the interview. She emphasized the timing of the team's launch, which coincided with the ratification of a new collective bargaining agreement that significantly increased player salaries. "This has been a transformation. It's the largest increase in salaries of any professional sports league ever in history."

Resch highlighted the condensed timeline for assembling the team, taking just 16 days compared to the typical six months for such a process. Despite facing adversity, including key player injuries early in the season, the team has managed to compete. "Injuries have been really tough for us. We have never had the same starting lineup through our first 20 games."

The team's financial success relies on local sponsorship and ticket sales, though the league's new media rights and sponsorship deals have bolstered revenues. Resch is balancing realistic expectations with ambitious targets. "We're in professional sports. We're competitive people. So there is this level of competitiveness that we wanted to make sure we delivered, and we're still in the hunt for the playoffs."