The Current - Canada's first WNBA team is about to take to the court

Episode Date: May 8, 2026

Toronto Tempo begin their inaugural season as Canada’s first WNBA team. Freelance sports journalist covering the WNBA and the host of the women's sports podcast Cinderella Stories on Savanna Hamilton why this is an exciting time to be a sports fan.

Okay, three songs. You guess who thereby. Three little birds, one love, and jamming. Yeah, that was a really hard quiz. These are all, of course, by Bob Marley. A whole lot of the world felt close to Bob and his music before and after his passing. But the guy who really knew him best was his son, Ziggy. On Q, Ziggy Marley will tell you about his new record and about the song he says, connect him to his late father, Bob Marley.

You can hear that conversation now. Just search Q with Tom Power wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. We're ready for you, Tempo. We've been ready for a long time. Thank you so much for bringing basketball to our city. I wish you all success this year.

Hi, Kiki. Let's go, Tempo. We're rooting for you. We cannot wait to party with you. If you need a sub, let me know. I have a good free throw. Welcome to Toronto, Kiki Rice. Let's go, Tempo.

It is an exciting day to be a basketball fan in this country. Tonight, the Toronto Temple makes history kicking off their inaugural season. Canada's first ever WNBA team facing off against the Washington Mystics in Toronto. Savannah Hamilton is a freelance sports journalist covering the WNBA host of the women's sports podcast. Cinderella Stories, Savannah. Good morning. Good morning. Are you ready for tonight?

Oh, I'm absolutely pumped. I mean, I could barely even sleep last night. I felt like a kid, like the night before Christmas, basically. Tell me what it's taken for the team to get to this moment. It's been a sprint to build something from nothing, right? Yeah. Oh, my gosh. It has taken so much for, you know, so many people in the organization.

And even before the Toronto Tempo even was officially announced, just to, like, garner interest in understanding, like, the real market potential and the work that WMB Canada has done to like get the preseason games going across the nation from Toronto to Edmonton to Vancouver Lager. It got fully and dense. And more importantly, it took a lot of belief, belief that, I believe in women's sports, that it can be a sustainable product in this country. Was that belief always there, do you think?

I think it was. I think it truly, truly was. I just think that there's been a lot of barriers and a lot of naysayers. if you will, against women's sports, people who didn't want to put the time or investment or see it as a viable product, which didn't really make sense to me because I remember being in university, having a quote-unquote class discussion about if the DA was a bad product or if it was marketed poorly. And that was literally a conversation that was led by, you know, a professor in the class. And I took journalism. And I always said that, no,

you guys, it didn't have the chance to succeed, at least in Canada at the time, because it was never even on TV. So how could a audience know how to resonate with a product that they've never seen before? So put it on TV first and foremost. And then we can even talk about the marketing element afterwards. And guess what? After about a couple of years later, maybe like 2020, I started seeing it more and more and more on TV. It started getting picked up. And then there's, like I said, there's lots of change makers, you know, even myself.

I decided to pitch a show on NBA TV Canada, Swish, inside the WMBA for four seasons. It ran to talk about what this product looked like and also just champion who these women even are. And so you've got to gain the interest. And so the belief grew with time for sure. One of those great stories and one of those women that will be playing for the tempo is Kia Nurse, coming home to play in Toronto. You know her because you used to play with her, right? Yes, actually. So we grew up playing against each other.

We saw each other many times in the Ontario basketball circles between high school and and rep basketball. So I've seen, I've had a front row seat. So you've seen her development and success and it's been awesome. What does it mean for her to be on this team as it starts its journey in the WNBA? Yeah, it means a lot to her. I know that, you know, I've spoken to her, you know, through the media scrums and at Media Day. And she said that it wasn't necessarily a given process either.

Like, you know, I think a lot of people, you know, they hear her name and they think like 100% women, the face of women's basketball in Canada. And she'll be the first one to tell you that she stands on the backs of many, many, many, many, or I should say the shoulders, sorry, of many, many giants in Canada. But, yeah, she said that wasn't necessarily been to be in a position, but she's really grateful to help usher in a historic chapter for Canada. This is a team based in Toronto, but to your point, they played exhibition games right across the country. Is your sense that the nation is watching this? Oh, they better be. It took a lot to get here. And look, good, like the best news ever was the fact that all 44 games are going to be streamed, or sorry, broadcasted on TSN.

And that's huge because that's the national network, right? So, and I know Leah McNabb from WNBA Canada offices and WMBA offices in the States, she did her best to get that deal. And it took a while. But they got it on national television. And so that it's going to be accessible to all Canadians. What would you say just finally in that if you were able to go back to that class that you were in where the viability of women's sports and the WNBA was being questioned? What would you say in that class now, given the fact that this team is going to, you're going to? to hit the court tonight and that fans are already,

I mean, you walk the streets of Toronto, people are already wearing gear shouting at the Toronto tip. But what would you say in that class now? I'd say, well, well, well. You know what? Like, especially to the professor that was actually leading that conversation too and didn't seem to have the belief in women's sports,

I would say you just wait and see. That it's here now and that this is a real viable entity. Yeah, exactly. And your favorite male athlete, he watches. women's sports. And if you truly love the game of basketball especially, you watch the WNBA. Enjoy tonight. Thank you so much. Savannah Hamilton, freelance sports journalist covering the WNBA and the host of the women's sports podcast, the Cinderella stories, the Toronto Tempo play their first official game in the

WNBA tonight, kicking off the season against the Washington Mystics. This has been the current podcast. You can hear our show Monday. to Friday on CBC Radio 1 at 8.30 a.m. at all time zones. You can also listen online at CBC.c.c.c.com or on the CBC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca.ca.com.