WNBA's Toronto Tempo will be 'Canada's team,' president says, as 1-year countdown begins

As Toronto Tempo begins the one-year countdown to its inaugural tip off with a weekend of celebrations, the president of Canada's first WNBA franchise said she hopes the team will draw hundreds of thousands of fans from coast to coast. 

"We have the opportunity to create something really unique and really special for the first team outside of the U.S.," said Teresa Resch. 

"We're truly going to be Canada's team." 

Tempo fans gathered in Toronto Saturday to play basketball and attend panels exploring the game's cultural impact in celebration of the one-year mark before the opening game. 

STACKT Market is hosting an event this weekend near Bathurst and Front Street W.  that will allow fans to "interact with the Tempo brand" for the first time, Resch said. 

The event is running from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Fans can play basketball and check out a merch pop-up store. 

There will also be three panels a day, touching on subjects that include how food, fashion and art intersect with basketball, Resch said. 

Speakers will include Monica Rogers, the team's general manager, and Lily Singh, a part-owner and Canadian media star who is also the team's chief hype officer. 

Resch said 19 people are currently working for the team, which will go up to 50 by tip off — including a full coaching staff and medical team. 

Players will join the team through the expansion draft, college draft and free agency in the lead-up to next year's season, she said. 

"Our mission is to win championships and prove that women' s basketball is an incredible business," Resch said. "I think we're well on our way." 

Women's basketball 'changing the culture'

Among those at Saturday's event was Brey Johnson, head coach for Lay-Up, a Toronto charity that provides free basketball programming for children. 

The U.S. has rallied around women's basketball recently, Johnson said, and she thinks the enthusiasm will spill over north of the border. 

"Women's basketball right now is having a movement. It's really changing the culture," she said. 

More girls are getting involved in the sport, and boys who don't play with girls are noticing more and more that "women can ball too," she said. 

Johnson said she's always wanted to live in a city with a WNBA team. She said she expects the first game will be "very special," with people from all communities in the city coming out to support the team. 

"Toronto has a really good pattern of supporting its women's teams. If you support women … you're never going to lose," she said.