Why WNBA's Toronto expansion franchise selected 'Tempo' as its name

As Teresa Resch began one of the more monumental tasks of starting a professional sports team, she thought of an early conversation with a colleague. The identity she set out to design and find as the Toronto WNBA expansion franchise’s first president will be talked about for the next 30-plus years.

But so, too will the story of it. What do you want that story to be? the colleague asked.

“We want that to be the story of Canada,” Resch said in an interview with Yahoo Sports on Thursday. “We want to be a story of our fans. We want to be a story of all the people, not just a group of creatives sitting in a room. So it was really important every step of the process that we included not just a lot of people, but people who care, people who are passionate [and] people who have different perspectives.”

The WNBA’s 14th team, and its first international expansion team, announced its identity as the Toronto Tempo on Thursday. The name initially appeared in a dropdown menu on the WNBA website earlier in the week, but was quickly removed. The colors, which were not included in the release or initial identity graphics, will be Nike Bordeaux and Hydrogen Blue, a “modern twist on the Toronto professional sports team palette,” Resch said.

Toronto, whose bid was awarded to the Kilmer Sports Group in May, will begin play in the 2026 season with Portland, which has yet to announce a name and branding. The Golden State Valkyries, the league's first expansion team since 2008, are set to build their roster via an expansion draft on Friday (ESPN, 6:30 p.m. ET) ahead of their 2025 inaugural season. They revealed their first jerseys on Thursday.

The name “Tempo” came directly from the franchise’s “Name Your Team” campaign that solicited feedback from more than 10,000 people across Canada and the world, the team said in a release. There were more than 1,000 unique names submitted, Resch said, and she estimated tens of people recommended “Tempo.” The submissions on the cutting room floor will be shared on their website, she said.

“When we were first getting some of the names, we would go through them and [ask] what’s sticking?” Resch, who worked with the NBA's Toronto Raptors for a decade, said. “What’s sticky? What keeps coming back? And Tempo was one of those. It was always from the beginning a name that we were considering.”

Resch said they liked the uniqueness, alliteration and, most importantly, “we loved it was the same in English and French.” The Tempo want to be a team for the entire country (it will play a small set of home games away from Coca-Cola Coliseum in other Canadian cities) and both languages are the official ones of Canada. They intend to extend their reach beyond the North American continent as well.

“We know that one out of every four of our fans are new Canadians, and they all have family in places around the world, so we really look forward to being the gateway to the world for the WNBA,” Resch said.

The Toronto team worked with the Mettle agency, put out a call for additional contract designers residing in Canada and established a community council for valuable feedback. The council represented Canada through various geography, demographics, age and profession, Resch said. The name went through the standard legal and trademark clearances as well as how it would translate in reality.

The group also liked that the name spoke about the game of basketball, rather than relying on objects and things. Name identities in the WNBA have often shied away from the typical animals used in the professional men’s leagues. The Minnesota Lynx are the only animal-based nickname active in the league after the Sacramento Monarchs folded in 2009.

It wasn’t something Resch said played into their identity decision, but they did take stock of their peers while finding their own niche.

“It was something we observed understanding where the league was at and how we would fit in, but also stand out amongst our peers,” Resch said. “We definitely looked at what was happening in the league, all of professional sports and then also within Canada.”

The Tempo logo is the letter “T” within a basketball speeding toward the right with motion lines trailing it. There is also a plain letter “T” with motion lines out of it. According to the team, the forward-leaning motion represents the “team’s desire for progress.” The sharp angles and round curves are a “nod to the dynamic nature of the team and the game.” And the six motion lines represent the five players on the court as well as the “sixth player in the game: the fans.”

The entire identity symbolizes "the rhythm of our city, our country, and the game of basketball,” per the release.

"Tempo is pace. It's speed. It's a heartbeat. And it's what you feel when you step into the streets of this city, and in the energy of the people who call Canada home," Resch said in the release. "As Canada's WNBA team, I know the Tempo will set our own pace, move at a championship cadence, and inspire people across this country."

Resch said the next steps will be hiring a general manager early in 2025. Merchandise, which was not available at the identity’s launch, will also be coming soon in the new year.