With 1 year until the franchise tips off, WNBA's Toronto Tempo starting to come together

Myles Dichter · for CBC Sports

· Posted: May 09, 2025 1:18 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

Toronto Tempo president Teresa Resch has 1 guarantee: her squad volition person jerseys successful clip for tip-off adjacent season.

"That's what I tin 100 per cent perpetrate to. Anything else, I would beryllium lying," Resch said successful a caller speech with CBC Sports.

Yet arsenic preparations for Canada's archetypal WNBA squad intensify with 1 twelvemonth until its debut, Resch and her increasing unit person already had to spot their bid for on-court merchandise — signifier gear, seat wear, coaching attire and the like.

Even without a jersey design.

"We don't person immoderate thought who our manager is going to be, oregon immoderate of our players. The deadlines don't alteration for us. So we had to spot that order," Resch said.

The 2025 WNBA play begins May 16. For Toronto, it besides serves arsenic the unofficial 1 twelvemonth retired marker. And portion roots person been planted for the franchise — a president, wide manager, nickname and logo being the astir notable — there's inactive plentifulness near to bash earlier the Tempo play basketball.

To honour the occasion, the squad volition clasp what it is billing arsenic its archetypal unrecorded lawsuit — a conscionable and greet successful downtown Toronto May 24-25. There are plans to clasp akin nationalist events crossed Canada passim the season.

In a twelvemonth from now, however, determination volition beryllium hoops to beryllium played.

Resch said she has inactive not yet received immoderate denotation from the league connected what the enlargement draught mightiness look similar erstwhile the Tempo participate alongside an enlargement sister successful Portland.

WATCH | Meet Tempo GM Monica Wright Rogers:

She besides wouldn't code the corporate bargaining agreement, which expires aft this play and represents the 1 anvil that could stroke up the Tempo's inaugural season.

Regardless of however that each plays out, the free-agent people is acceptable to beryllium historic.

"We cognize that determination is simply a precise ample fig of players [whose] the contracts volition expire astatine extremity of the play and we look guardant to engaging with and talking to those players astir perchance being successful Toronto," Resch said.

In the meantime, GM Monica Wright Rogers has already deed the roadworthy astatine assemblage and pre-season games to scout imaginable Tempo targets.

Resch said she hasn't afloat acceptable her ain docket for the season, but she plans to beryllium successful Vancouver for the first-ever regular-season WNBA crippled successful Canada connected Aug. 15 arsenic good arsenic Indiana for all-star weekend.

Otherwise, Resch conscionable wants to devour tons of basketball.

"Obviously we're scouting arsenic well, similar knowing what's happening successful the league, however the [expansion Golden State] Valkyries are [doing], immoderate of the things that are moving good for them hopefully we tin instrumentality ourselves and besides larn from thing that benignant of goes sideways," Resch said.

She besides hopes to summation cognition disconnected the court.

"This is truly the archetypal play that we'll person radical dedicated to the Tempo truthful that we tin really beryllium truly focused connected those learnings. So there's a batch we tin larn from the concern side. Going to the games, knowing the in-arena experiences arsenic good arsenic immoderate of the backmost end," Resch said.

"What's unthinkable astir the W is it is simply a large assemblage and there's a batch of champion practices shared."

Behind the scenes, the Tempo squad has grown to 18 people, and things are opening to accelerate owed to the accrued personnel.

The wide feeling among the Tempo's archetypal dozen-and-a-half hires? Excitement.

"I mean, deliberation astir your ain beingness erstwhile you're starting thing new. And there's conscionable a batch of excitement due to the fact that we each spell into thing feeling precise positive, right? We cognize that it's not gonna beryllium an casual journey, but we're up for the situation and excited astir it. There's a batch of momentum, a batch of positivity, bully vibes each day. So it's bully to person that," Resch said.

The budding radical has helped alteration the Tempo into an operational concern — a definite measurement guardant from erstwhile twelvemonth agone erstwhile Resch and CFO Patrick Lee were the team's archetypal hires.

Still, it is aboriginal stages. The Tempo proceed to instrumentality back-end concern bundle similar CRM and ERP systems, among different "acronyms that I had nary thought what they stood for six months ago," Resch said with a laugh.

The extremity is short-term symptom for semipermanent gain.

"We'll beryllium capable to find retired much astir our instrumentality base, we'll beryllium capable to prosecute with them successful a much personalized way. We'll beryllium capable to person fiscal documents that aren't truthful manual truthful we tin way our advancement and marque definite we're moving a truly large business," Resch said.

Elsewhere, determination proceed to be job postings on LinkedIn to articulation the Tempo, including 1 for a manager of hoops operations to enactment side-by-side with Wright Rogers.

The squad besides keeps adding to its ownership group, with Xero CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy precocious joining Larry Tanenbaum and Serena Williams. Resch said different summation volition beryllium announced soon.

And so, dilatory but surely, things are coming unneurotic for the Tempo — and the radical is learning together.

"You're gathering that strategy from scratch, which is simply a truly large opportunity, but besides means you don't person historicals to basal it on. You person immoderate marketplace probe and things crossed the league, but thing that has really happened successful your marketplace for your squad before," Resch said.

"So, I mean, those things are conscionable exciting. You tin telephone them challenges. I deliberation it's conscionable opportunities to marque your people and acceptable the code for what is going to beryllium an incredibly palmy franchise for galore years to come."