Is Baltimore Ready for a WNBA Team?

Could professional basketball make its long-awaited return to Baltimore? One Maryland lawmaker says the city is ready, and he wants the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) to make it happen.

U.S. Congressman Johnny Olszewski, a former Baltimore County executive now representing Maryland in Washington, is calling for Baltimore to be added to the WNBA’s next wave of expansion cities.

“Let’s put Baltimore on the next WNBA expansion list,” Olszewski posted this week on social media, shortly after the league announced plans to add teams in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia over the next five years.

Supporters say Baltimore already has the fan base and local talent to support a team, thanks in part to hometown star Angel Reese.

Reese, who grew up in Randallstown and played at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, has become one of the WNBA’s brightest young stars. After a standout college career at Maryland and LSU, where she won a national championship, Reese has made back-to-back All-Star appearances in her first two seasons and captured the league’s rebounding title as a rookie.

Last weekend, Reese and fellow All-Stars made headlines by wearing shirts reading “Pay us what you owe us,” a call for better pay and working conditions for WNBA players.

“Equal pay. Equal play. Period,” Olszewski said in a statement of support. “I stand with Maryland’s own Angel Reese and every WNBA player fighting for what they’ve earned.”

Fans got a taste of WNBA action earlier this summer, when the Indiana Fever played the Washington Mystics at CFG Bank Arena on May 28. Tickets sold quickly for the historic matchup, Baltimore’s first-ever WNBA game, with many hoping to see rookie phenom Caitlin Clark.

Although Clark was sidelined by injury, she still traveled with the team, signing autographs and meeting fans before the game.

Clark and the Fever are slated to return to Baltimore on September 7 for a rematch against the Mystics.

The city hasn’t had a professional basketball franchise since the original Baltimore Bullets folded in 1954. The Bullets played a decade in Baltimore, winning an American Basketball League title in 1946 and the Basketball Association of America championship in 1948 before merging into what became the NBA.

Nearly 80 years later, many believe it’s time to bring professional basketball back, and to give women athletes the spotlight.

“Baltimore has the fans, the history, and the players to make this work,” said one supporter on social media. “We’re ready.”

Is Baltimore Ready for a WNBA Team? Lawmaker Calls for Expansion  was originally published on magicbaltimore.com