Philly fans say a WNBA team is ‘very long overdue’
Fans say they're pumped for a WNBA franchise in Philly. It may have huge ramifications, a Villanova expert says.
For Terri Boyer, who is well-acquainted with the Philly basketball scene, the news was as sudden as a game-winning three-pointer — and just as exciting. It also held far more significance.
The announcement that Philadelphia would be getting a WNBA franchise was as unexpected as it was welcomed for Boyer, founder of the Anne Welsh McNulty Institute for Women’s Leadership at basketball powerhouse Villanova.
“There’s been such a change in the way we engage with women and girls in sports,” she said. “You’re just seeing this explosion of interest.”
Still, if the unnamed Philly team were to win a title, Boyer wouldn’t expect a Super Bowl scale parade on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway — at least not yet.
But Boyer, who has 11- and 14-year-old daughters with athletic ambitions, said the team would be a source of encouragement for female athletes all over the region. They now would have a visible “pathway” to a professional career.
Elizabeth Bedford, of Society Hill, is hoping that one day her 7-year-old daughter might play in the WNBA. That may take some time, but the Philadelphia team won’t take the court until 2030.
“I am so excited,” Bedford said. “I think it’s very long overdue. I’m ready for it, and we would totally come out and support them.”
Emma Mooney and Austin Chang, from Old City, also announced that they were officially pumped.
“It’s really great that the city is getting it,” said Chang.
Mooney added, “It’s definitely a positive thing for the city.” Women’s basketball, she added, has been “getting more popular.”
Villanova certainly has played a role in that movement, partly through the electric performances of Maddy Siegrist, who is now pursuing a WNBA career. But it was the uber-talented Caitlin Clark with the Indiana Fever who “blew it out of the water,” Boyer said.
Philadelphia should be an ideal venue for a franchise, she said. Along with its historic Big 5 tradition, the region has a rich women’s hoops heritage highlighted by North Philly native and University of South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley.
University of Connecticut women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma, who has the most victories among all NCAA basketball coaches, grew up in Norristown.
“I’m confident Philadelphia and Pennsylvania will be the perfect home,” said voracious basketball fan Josh Shapiro, who is also the state’s governor.
Shapiro was captain and point guard of Akiba Hebrew Academy’s 1991 team that won the tri-county championship his senior year of high school. His teammates nicknamed him “the general.”
Alex Carr, a golf professional who just moved to Philadelphia from South Dakota, said she couldn’t wait for the team to become a reality.
“It’s exciting,” Carr said. “I feel like women’s sports are awesome, I work in sports so I like to have more women in every aspect of it.”
For Mark Spencer of South Philadelphia, a WNBA franchise in Philly would go a long way toward generating respect for women in athletics.
“This would be an opportunity for everybody to enjoy and be acknowledged,” Spencer said.
Elsie Soder, who lives in the Washington Square area, said the announcement represented “a fantastic development.”
Soder added, “I think that bringing women’s sports to the area and having them be taken seriously is something that all the fans of Philadelphia can get behind. It’s a very positive thing.”
“We’re really excited,” said City Councilmember Mark Squilla, even if the players shouldn’t be shocked if they hear a boo or two. “Our fans are a little tough,” he said.
Watching the announcement was a surreal experience for firefighter Jen Leary, a former football player, who founded WatchPartyPhl, a queer-run initiative that advocates for women’s sports.
The group is raising money to open a women’s sports bar in Philly by next summer. She has organized large watch parties for women’s sporting events that she says have drawn diverse straight and gay crowds.
She said the gatherings give her confidence that a large and passionate fan base is ready to support a WNBA franchise.
“Philly’s a sports town, right? We’re about to show the world that Philly is a women’s sports town,” she said.
Said Villanova’s Boyer, “This isn’t just for girls, but for boys to see women doing amazing things with their physical prowess. Everybody sees that no matter who you are, if you have the talent, you have the opportunity.“
If the Philly team should win it all some day, she said, that mega-scale Parkway just might become a reality.
Staff writer Jadon George contributed to this article.