This year, elite women’s sports will cross the billion-dollar mark. Whether you call it a golden age or a moment of glory, there’s no denying that female athletes are finally getting their due. In Canada, they have funding, rabid fans and a slate of brand-new pro teams in hockey, soccer and, soon, basketball.
This past May, Larry Tanenbaum, MLSE’s billionaire chairman, announced his intent to bankroll the WNBA’s Toronto franchise, the first expansion team outside the U.S. He then put in the call of a lifetime to Teresa Resch, the Raptors’ former VP of operations (and Masai Ujiri’s influential right hand), and asked her to be WNBA Toronto’s first president.
Resch, a former Division II volleyball player from Minnesota, has held positions at Disney, Life Time Fitness and the NBA. Now, she’s building a team from scratch. For Maclean’s, I spoke to her about this pivotal moment in sports history and what she needs to do leading up to the team’s 2026 tipoff: sort out jerseys, sponsors, a name and prepping Coca-Cola Coliseum (a.k.a. home court). “We want everyone to be a fan,” Resch says. “Our players are going to be aspirational for a lot of girls and boys across the country.”
—Katie Underwood, managing editor
