How Many WNBA Teams Are There? Every Team and Where They Play

There are 15 WNBA teams for the 2026 season — seven in the Eastern Conference and eight in the Western Conference. That's up from 13 in 2025, after the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo joined as expansion franchises. Toronto is the first WNBA team based outside the United States.

The league is in the middle of the fastest growth spurt in its history. It had 12 teams as recently as 2024, and it has already announced three more franchises that will push the total to 18 by 2030. Here's the full picture — every team, where it plays, and how the map got this way.

All 15 WNBA Teams at a Glance

Capacities are the basketball configuration listed by each venue; several arenas curtain off upper decks for smaller crowds, and a few teams now move marquee games to bigger buildings. For a full ranking of these venues, see Every WNBA Arena and Its Capacity, Ranked.

One note on the conference split: the WNBA still lists an Eastern and a Western Conference in its standings, and Seattle is in the West. You will occasionally see a table online that places the Storm in the East — that's a transcription error, not a realignment. Toronto, despite being farther north than any US team, slots into the Eastern Conference on geography.

Why the Conferences Are Uneven

Fifteen teams don't divide evenly, so the WNBA runs a 7–8 split, with the extra team in the West. There are no divisions inside the conferences — a simpler structure than the NBA's six-division setup described in How Many NBA Teams Are There - Every Team by Conference and Division. The imbalance also matters less than it would elsewhere, because the WNBA no longer seeds its playoffs by conference. Since 2022 the postseason has used league-wide seeding: the eight teams with the best records make the field, ranked 1 through 8 regardless of conference. The conferences survive mainly as a scheduling and standings convenience. Full details are in WNBA Playoff Format Explained.

From Eight Teams to 15: The League's Expansion History

The WNBA tipped off in June 1997 with eight franchises, all owned by the NBA and all sharing a market with an NBA club:

• Charlotte Sting
• Cleveland Rockers
• Houston Comets
• Los Angeles Sparks
• New York Liberty
• Phoenix Mercury
• Sacramento Monarchs
• Utah Starzz

Each team played a 28-game schedule, and Houston won the first title — the start of four straight championships for the Comets. Four of those eight original franchises still exist today: the Sparks and Liberty under their original names, the Mercury in Phoenix, and the Starzz, who became the San Antonio Silver Stars and then the Las Vegas Aces.

Expansion came fast. Detroit and Washington arrived in 1998, Minnesota and Orlando in 1999, and four more — Indiana, Miami, Portland and Seattle — in 2000, taking the league to a then-record 16 teams. That peak didn't hold. The 2002–2009 stretch was a contraction era, and the league bottomed out at 12 franchises, where it sat for most of the 2010s.

The Teams That Folded or Moved

Not every WNBA city stuck. Here's what happened to the franchises that are no longer on the map:

Cleveland Rockers (1997–2003). An original franchise that folded when owner Gordon Gund declined to keep operating it and no buyer emerged. Cleveland is getting a team back in 2028.

Houston Comets (1997–2008). The league's first dynasty — four straight championships from 1997 to 2000 behind Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson, a run that still shapes Which WNBA Teams Have Won the Most Championships. The Comets folded before the 2009 season when the league could not find an owner. Houston, too, is coming back.

Sacramento Monarchs (1997–2009). Won the 2005 title, then folded when the Maloof family, who also owned the NBA's Kings, shut the team down in November 2009.

Charlotte Sting (1997–2006), Miami Sol (2000–2002), Portland Fire (2000–2002), Orlando Miracle (1999–2002). The Miracle relocated rather than folding — it became the Connecticut Sun in 2003, the first WNBA team bought by a non-NBA owner (the Mohegan Tribe). The other three shut down.

Detroit Shock → Tulsa Shock → Dallas Wings. One franchise, three cities. Detroit joined in 1998, won three championships (2003, 2006, 2008), then moved to Tulsa in 2010 and on to Arlington, Texas in 2016 as the Wings. Detroit gets an expansion team in 2029.

Utah Starzz → San Antonio Silver Stars/Stars → Las Vegas Aces. The other multi-city survivor. Utah from 1997, San Antonio from 2003, and Las Vegas since 2018, where the franchise has become the league's modern powerhouse.

The Current Expansion Wave

The WNBA's second growth era started in 2025 and is scheduled to run through 2030.

The Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia franchises were all approved on June 30, 2025, in a single announcement that set the league's course to 18 teams. Cleveland unveiled the Sirens name in August 2026; the Detroit and Philadelphia teams had not been named as of September 2026.

There's one more move on the books that doesn't change the team count. In May 2026 the WNBA and NBA boards approved the sale of the Connecticut Sun to Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta and the franchise's relocation to Houston for the 2027 season, reviving basketball in the market that produced the league's first dynasty. The Sun are finishing the 2026 season at Mohegan Sun Arena, with some home games played in Boston and Hartford.

Run the math and the league goes 15 teams in 2026 and 2027 (Connecticut simply becomes Houston), 16 in 2028, 17 in 2029 and 18 in 2030 — the largest the WNBA has ever been, and two more than the 16-team peak of 2000.

Toronto and the League's First Border Crossing

The Tempo are a genuine first. No WNBA franchise had ever been based outside the United States before Toronto's debut in May 2026, and the club needed sign-off from both the WNBA and NBA boards of governors to get there.

The ownership group is headlined by Larry Tanenbaum, who paid a reported $50 million expansion fee, alongside investors including Serena Williams, Kyle Lowry and Masai Ujiri. The team plays at Coca-Cola Coliseum on the Exhibition Place grounds — a roughly 8,500-seat building that also hosts the AHL's Toronto Marlies — while a purpose-built practice facility is developed on the same site.

Toronto's arrival gives the WNBA a genuinely international footprint at a moment when its rosters are already among the most international in North American pro sports. For context on how the other leagues handle cross-border teams, see How Many Teams Are in the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB - A Complete Reference.

Where the Teams Actually Play

WNBA venues split into two very different categories, and the gap is enormous — from roughly 3,500 seats in College Park, Georgia to more than 19,000 in Los Angeles and Portland.

Shared NBA arenas. Golden State (Chase Center), Los Angeles (Crypto.com Arena), Minnesota (Target Center), Phoenix (Mortgage Matchup Center), Portland (Moda Center) and Indiana (Gainbridge Fieldhouse) all play in full-size NBA buildings. Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena and Brooklyn's Barclays Center are the same scale.

Purpose-sized smaller venues. Atlanta's Gateway Center Arena, Washington's CareFirst Arena, Dallas's College Park Center on the UT Arlington campus and Chicago's Wintrust Arena are all intentionally intimate. The upside is a full building and real atmosphere; the downside is a hard ceiling on gate revenue, which is one reason several clubs now schedule high-demand games in larger arenas nearby.

That tension — small buildings, growing demand — is the defining business problem of this era of the league, and it feeds directly into the economics covered in How Much Do WNBA Players Get Paid - The Salary Structure, Explained.

How the Roster of Teams Shapes the Season

With 15 teams, each club plays a 44-game regular season in 2026, running May 8 to September 24 — the league's 30th season. Under the collective bargaining agreement ratified in March 2026, that grows to as many as 50 games in 2027 and 2028 and up to 52 from 2029.

More teams also means a bigger draft. The 2026 WNBA Draft ran three rounds of 15 picks for 45 selections total, up from 39 in the 13-team 2025 draft. The mechanics are covered in How Does the WNBA Draft Work - Eligibility Rules Explained, and the game itself in How Long Is a WNBA Game - Quarters, Clock and Overtime Rules.

When this page updates: the team count changes in 2027 (Connecticut becomes Houston), 2028 (Cleveland), 2029 (Detroit) and 2030 (Philadelphia). This page is reviewed after each expansion announcement and each season's arena changes.

FAQ

How many WNBA teams are there in 2026? Fifteen — seven in the Eastern Conference and eight in the Western Conference. The Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo joined for 2026, following the Golden State Valkyries in 2025.

How many teams did the WNBA start with? Eight, in 1997: Charlotte, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, Sacramento and Utah. Four of those franchises still exist, though two have moved cities.

Is the WNBA adding more teams? Yes. Cleveland begins play in 2028, Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia in 2030, taking the league to 18 teams. All three were approved in June 2025.

Is there a WNBA team in Canada? Yes. The Toronto Tempo debuted in 2026 as the league's first franchise outside the United States. They play at Coca-Cola Coliseum and compete in the Eastern Conference.

What happened to the Houston Comets? The Comets won the first four WNBA championships (1997–2000) and folded before the 2009 season when no buyer was found. Houston returns in 2027 when the Connecticut Sun relocate there under new owner Tilman Fertitta.

Which conference is the Seattle Storm in? The Western Conference. Some third-party tables incorrectly list Seattle in the East; the WNBA's own standings put the Storm in the West.

What's the biggest WNBA arena? Among the 2026 venues, Portland's Moda Center (19,393) and Los Angeles's Crypto.com Arena (19,079) are the largest by listed basketball capacity. The smallest is Atlanta's Gateway Center Arena at about 3,500.

Do WNBA teams share arenas with NBA teams? Many do. Golden State, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Phoenix, Portland and Indiana all play in their city's NBA building. Others, including Atlanta, Washington, Dallas and Connecticut, use smaller dedicated venues.