PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island is getting its own professional women’s basketball team. The Upshot League said Thursday that Providence will host its eighth franchise, with the club set to tip off in May 2027 at the Amica Mutual Pavilion downtown.
Providence is part of a four-city expansion group for the league’s second season, alongside Tampa Bay, Baltimore and Nashville. It will be the first Upshot franchise in New England. Those newcomers join original teams from Savannah, Jacksonville, Greensboro and Charlotte that played the league’s first season this year.
The new team does not have a name yet. Fans are being asked to suggest one through an online contest, and supporters can hold season memberships now by putting down an $88 deposit.
Zawyer Sports and Entertainment, the company that owns and runs the league, will operate the Providence team, with financial backing from an investor group headed by Mark Walsh, who serves as board chair and managing partner. Walsh pointed to the region’s deep basketball roots, from Providence College games at the same arena to crowded high school gyms around the state, and said the franchise wants to give girls in Rhode Island pro players to look up to close to home.
The Upshot is not formally tied to the WNBA, but it bills itself as a developmental league comparable to the G League on the men’s side. It sent several players to WNBA rosters after its first season. The league’s No. 2 official is deputy commissioner Taj McWilliams-Franklin, a Hall of Fame player, and a search for a new commissioner is underway.
The announcement lands as New England loses its WNBA franchise, with the Connecticut Sun relocating to Houston to become the Comets.
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