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Christopher Boan has been covering sports and sports betting for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
WNBA 2028 Expansion Odds
With the Golden State Valkyries tipping off their debut season this summer, and the Toronto Tempo and Portland WNBA team expected to debut in 2026, it’s worth wondering which cities could be next in the league.
Ahead of the 2025 WNBA season, PennStakes.com developed odds projecting where the next WNBA expansion team could be located. This next WNBA team is expected to begin play in 2028 and the situation is worth monitoring for Pennsylvania sports betting.
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WNBA 2028 Expansion Odds
Location |
Odds |
Percent Chance |
Detroit, MI |
+400 |
20.0% |
Nashville, TN |
+450 |
18.2% |
Philadelphia, PA |
+500 |
16.7% |
Houston, TX |
+700 |
12.5% |
Cleveland, OH |
+900 |
10.0% |
Milwaukee, WI |
+1000 |
9.1% |
Kansas City, MO |
+1300 |
7.1% |
St. Louis, MO |
+7050 |
1.4% |
Denver, CO |
+9900 |
1.0% |
The Field |
+2400 |
4.0% |
The WNBA has expanded and contracted its number of teams several times through the years but the number of teams settled at 12 from 2010 to 2024. This year’s addition of Golden State, which will play home games at the Chase Center in San Francisco, home of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors since 2019.
These odds on which cities will be next for WNBA expansion is exclusive to PennStakes.com, but Pennsylvania sportsbook apps will offer plenty of game odds, futures wagers and more throughout the 2025 WNBA season.
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Which City Will Get The Next WNBA Team?
It appears that the top WNBA expansion candidate is a name that’s familiar to fans of the league, as the Motor City is our top city for the next expansion club in the WNBA, 16 years after the Detroit Shock moved to Tulsa.
Golden State’s entry this year expands the league to 13 teams. That number grows to 15 with Toronto and Portland entering the WNBA next year. The hip peaked at 16 teams from 2000 to 2002 but the aim seems to be at least hitting that number again.
Detroit, where the Shock won three WNBA titles (2003, 2006 and 2008), is our top candidate to get next in line after Portland and Toronto , at +400, narrowly beating out Nashville (+450) and Philadelphia (+500) for the top spot. Those +400 odds would translate to a 20% probability if it were offered at operators with real money Pennsylvania sportsbook promo codes.
A big motivator behind the WNBA’s drive to return to Detroit is the backing of an investment group spearheaded by the men behind the Detroit Lions and Pistons, with Tom Gores of the NBA franchise submitting the city’s expansion bid this year, according to reports. The former Detroit Shock franchise played in Tulsa from 2010 to 2015, then moved to Texas and became the current Dallas Wings.
Other names to keep an eye on when it comes to Detroit’s hypothetical ownership team include NBA star Grant Hill, Sheila Ford Hamp of the Lions and Lions QB Jared Goff, per ESPN’s reports on the subject.
Nashville, second on our list, has a bid is backed by star athletes with Tennessee connections such as Candace Parker and Peyton Manning – plus the chairman of the NHL’s Nashville Predators, Bill Haslam.
Other cities to keep an eye on when it comes to landing that coveted 16th WNBA club include Philadelphia, which is the largest city in the country without a team in the league, followed by Houston (+700) and Cleveland (+900).
Longshots to keep an eye on when it comes to ing the expanding basketball league include Milwaukee (+1000), Kansas City (+1300), St. Louis (+7050) and Denver (+9900). But WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has been known to go off-script before, which could allow a surprise city to jump in and land a franchise in the league when it expands again.
In the meantime, Caesars Sportsbook Pennsylvania has the defending champion New York Liberty as the preseason favorite to win the 2025 championship with +225 odds, followed by the Las Vegas Aces at +275.
USA Today photo by Kirby Lee
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