NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The chairman of the NHL’s Nashville Predators and his spouse wish to deliver the WNBA to Music Metropolis and have teamed up with a star-filled investor group together with Candace Parker, Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning and entertainers Tim McGraw and Religion Hill.
The group led by Invoice Haslam, a former Tennessee governor, submitted its bid to the WNBA on Thursday for a franchise that might begin enjoying in 2028. The staff additionally could be named the Tennessee Summitt in honor of the late Pat Summitt. Haslam mentioned they see how girls’s skilled sports activities is rising worldwide with a “void”
“We consider a WNBA staff, primarily based in Nashville, may function a beacon for women and girls, younger and previous, throughout Tennessee, whereas additionally creating extra alternatives for sports activities followers as our neighborhood continues to develop,” Haslam mentioned.
The Nashville bid additionally contains a plan to construct a follow facility for the WNBA staff that additionally could be used for youth basketball.
“Tennessee is the DNA of all the things girls’s basketball stands for,” Parker mentioned in an announcement. “I am excited to be part of the group working to deliver a WNBA staff to the state and honor Coach Summitt’s legacy.”
Parker is a three-time WNBA champion and helped Summitt win two of her eight nationwide championships on the College of Tennessee. Summitt died in 2016 because the winningest Division I coach 4 years after retiring following her prognosis of early onset dementia, Alzheimer’s kind.
A Tennessee native, Summitt coached the Woman Vols for 38 years and had a profession report of 1,098-208 in 38 seasons, plus 18 NCAA Last 4 appearances. Her son, Tyler, famous his mom was an enormous advocate for girls’s sports activities and ladies in management.
“I do know she could be proud and honored to be included within the growth of ladies’s skilled basketball into Tennessee,” Summitt mentioned.
The staff would play at Bridgestone Area, dwelling to the NHL’s Predators. Haslam began his buy of a majority share of the Predators in 2022.
The WNBA is including three growth groups within the subsequent two seasons with Golden State, Portland and Toronto becoming a member of to spice up the league’s franchises to fifteen. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has mentioned the WNBA want to add a sixteenth staff by the 2028 season. Cleveland introduced its bid to deliver a WNBA franchise again to Ohio final November.
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