Canadian media star Lilly Singh joins Toronto Tempo ownership group
Scarborough, Ont., native will also serve as chief hype officer, team says
Lilly Singh may live in Los Angeles, but she maintains that she's a "Toronto girlie" at heart.
And so it was that Singh woke up at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning to make sure she accepted an Instagram collaboration with the Toronto Tempo which officially introduced her as the WNBA expansion team's newest part-owner and chief hype officer.
"And I have not slept since, that's how high I am. Listen, this is a dream come true little Llily would never believe," Singh, of Scarborough, Ont., told CBC Sports. "This is a reality Lilly, who flew back and forth to Raptors games during the playoffs, [would] have never believed."
Singh, an actress, writer and advocate, joins 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, Xero CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy and Larry Tanenbaum — the chairman of Kilmer Sports Ventures, which brought the Tempo to Toronto — in Tempo ownership.
As chief hype officer, Singh said she plans to bring her trademark energy to all facets of the team.
"I think for a lot of my life I was like, this is a lot, tone it down. But I'm in my era of actually just fully leaning into that," she said.
The 36-year-old originally gained fame as a YouTuber. She then built upon her following with a world tour in which she transformed her online content into a show featuring singing, dancing, comedy and more, and later went on to host a talk show on NBC. Now, she hosts CTV's primetime quiz show Battle of the Generations.
Singh, who has 13.7 million Instagram followers and 1.5 million TikTok followers, is also president of Unicorn Island, a non-profit which aims to boost diverse voices through storytelling and advocacy.
Beyond professional leagues, Singh said she's witnessed through her advocacy work how sports can help girls across the world.
"It's reinforcing what I already knew from the day I was born, which is women are amazing. But I think we are now truly getting opportunities to see the extent to which they're amazing on a major stage," Singh said.
Additionally, Singh is a founding member of National Women's Soccer League's Angel City FC alongside Williams. She also partnered with the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic organizing committee to create logos for the Games.
'A creative visionary'
Tempo president Teresa Resch said she was excited to welcome Singh.
"Lilly is a creative visionary with infectious energy and enthusiasm. She's been one of the earliest and most vocal supporters of this team, and we're thrilled to have her as part of our ownership group," Resch said.
"Her expertise in online community-building and socially driven storytelling, not to mention her deep passion for this game, this league and this city, will be absolutely invaluable."
Singh mentioned bringing fellow celebrities to Toronto for Tempo games and said she is workshopping ideas to enhance the in-game experience.
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The title of chief hype officer was originally hers, but it was one the Tempo immediately jumped on board with during their first call, Singh said.
"We immediately got along. [Resch] is so great. Her team is so great. I could feel their passion through the screen. And I just, you know, fully nerded out," she said.
Singh said her dad has been bugging her since the team was originally conceived one year ago about whether she'd play a role.
"Now here's the thing, I can't be telling my dad anything because my dad cannot keep his mouth shut. He cannot keep a secret. My mom, I could tell, but I had to literally lie to my dad until this morning and I literally sent him the Instagram post to be like, there you go," Singh said.
The addition of Singh comes three days before the 2025 WNBA season tips off — which also denotes the unofficial one-year-out marker for the Tempo, who will begin play next season.
Toronto does not yet have a head coach or players, but a growing team behind the scenes now includes 18 people, featuring Resch, general manager Monica Wright Rogers and others.
The Tempo will play out of Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto while hosting certain regular-season games in cities across Canada.
And Singh, the team's official hype woman, plans to be present at nearly all of them.
