What’s next for Toronto’s new WNBA team?

“The next great moment in Canadian sports history begins today. »

These comments were made in a video officially announcing that Toronto will welcome the new franchise of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).

The launch was celebrated Thursday at a news conference in Toronto, attended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and rap superstar Drake, ambassador for the city’s NBA team .

The new franchise will be the 14th in the WNBA – and the league’s first expansion outside of the United States.

It’s also a monumental moment for women’s sports in the country, especially since basketball was invented by a Canadian.

The team, which is expected to begin play in 2026, has not yet been named.

But people are already interested in its name and its marketing, as well as the message the team will send to Canada and the world with its branding.

On social media, one user suggested the Toronto Dragons, who were on the Raptors’ shortlist of names.

The Toronto Aurora was launched by CBC journalist Tom Harrington, as a nod to the Northern Lights.

Others have suggested Northstars, or Huskies – the name of a historic Toronto basketball team that preceded the Raptors and disbanded in 1947 after just one season.

Larry Tanenbaum, the Toronto businessman who won the city’s WNBA franchise for C$50 million ($36.5 million; £28.7 million), told the Associated Press that the team would take its time choosing a name and “seek public input.”

For Misty Meeks, a public relations expert at NATIONAL, a marketing company based in Canada, the team name must fit the culture of the time, but also “grow and evolve over time and continue to stay relevant “.

It should also leverage the importance of being Canada’s first WNBA team, she said.

“You’re not just launching a new team, but rather you’re opening up the playing field for women’s sport in Canada, and that’s a huge effort,” Meeks told the BBC.

“It’s about defending something much more than just a team.”

Exactly 30 years ago, the city was tasked with naming an entirely new basketball team: the Toronto Raptors.

Tom O’Grady, who was at the time the very first creative director of the National Basketball Association (NBA), recalled that it was a “very difficult mission”.

“You have to remember that (in the early 1990s) the Maple Leafs were a religion in Toronto sports at the time,” he told the BBC, referring to the hockey team on ice.

“It was hockey and then everything else.”

The city’s baseball team, the Toronto Blue Jays, was also coming off two consecutive championship victories.

For that reason, Mr. O’Grady said the Raptors’ marketing team has focused on new territory. They would come up with a unique name and dress their players in a color that strayed from the traditional blue worn by the city’s hockey and baseball teams.

They also wanted to attract the city’s younger fans.

At the time, dinosaurs were all the rage thanks to the 1993 worldwide hit film, Jurassic Park. The Raptors name was born.

“It was perfect for what we were trying to do,” Mr. O’Grady said. It appealed to children and positioned the Toronto Raptors as an international brand.

“Everyone loves dinosaurs.”

The marketing team still wanted to put the name to the test and involve fans by holding a contest where Torontonians could vote for their favorite name from a list of 10.

Besides the Raptors, other nicknames included Bobcats, Beavers and Hogs – a nod to Toronto’s “Hogtown” nickname.

Mr. O’Grady admitted that a few other names received more votes than the Raptors.

“But I think people didn’t understand it, there were no pictures or logos (at the time),” he said.

Many would say that Mr. O’Grady and the NBA made the right choice.

Although the Toronto Raptors’ original purple and red jerseys were mocked by some at the time, the team became a huge success, winning a championship in 2019 and inspiring a new generation of Canadians to play the sport.

Mr. O’Grady was also instrumental in launching the first eight original WNBA teams.

At the time, the emphasis was on creating “sister franchises” of existing men’s basketball teams, he explained, because the teams often played in the same arena.

The name of Houston’s WNBA team became the Comets – inspired by the Houston Rockets, and the Sacramento team was named the Monarchs, in honor of the Sacramento Kings.

One of the WNBA’s newest franchises, the Golden State Valkyries, is an apparent knockoff of the Golden State Warriors, who play in the same arena.

But Mr. O’Grady said the Toronto team has a chance to forge its own identity, in part because it will play in a different venue than the Raptors – a place where the professional women’s hockey team of the city also hosts its matches.

“I think you want to make a statement that says, ‘We’re not just a sister team anymore. We are alone,” he said.

Thursday’s announcement gave some clues about the brand’s direction, as Mr. Tanenbaum noted that the franchise would be “Canada’s Team.”

“Although our home base will be here in Toronto, we will play games in Vancouver and Montreal throughout the season, uniting the country behind our franchise,” he said.

Whatever name the team chooses, Meeks said she hopes the franchise will be a success embraced by both fans and sponsors.

“I think the time is right,” she said.

And given the recent successes of women’s basketball, Meeks added that she has “high hopes that the WNBA will be very well received” in Toronto and across the country.