The Toronto Tempo logo, Toronto's new WNBA team.HO/The Canadian Press
Canada’s first WNBA team now has a name: the Toronto Tempo.
The soon-to-launch women’s pro basketball team revealed its branding on Thursday, the result of a consultation with the public in which more than 10,000 people submitted ideas.
“Tempo is pace. It’s speed. It’s a heartbeat. And it’s what you feel when you step into the streets of this city, and in the energy of the people who call Canada home,” explained team president Teresa Resch. “As Canada’s WNBA team, I know the Tempo will set our own pace, move at a championship cadence, and inspire people across this country.”
The team hurried its announcement into action after the name was leaked. Basketball fans noticed the name Toronto Tempo posted briefly on the WNBA website, in a pull-down menu of teams, on Wednesday. A screen capture of that menu went viral, prompting a flurry of fan reaction. Some liked it, while others jeered and suggested the team go back to the drawing board.
Toronto’s team had intended to unveil its logo in early 2025 but already had plans in place so it took the news in stride. Early Thursday, the franchise rolled out the announcement – complete with team logos and a promo video – and reacted to a burst of media requests.
“You just jump into action. In sports, nothing goes as planned, so you just pivot,” Resch told The Globe and Mail. “I mean, that’s what tempo is all about, right? It’s the fast and slow of it, and you’ve got to always be ready for what the world throws your way.”
The franchise also quickly redirected its fans from WNBA Toronto social-media channels to new Toronto Tempo accounts. One task it couldn’t complete was selling team merchandise. That’s coming soon.
The Tempo team colours were chosen from the palette of Nike, makers of WNBA uniforms and gear. The pale blue is ‘Hydrogen Blue’ and the red-wine hue is named “Bordeaux.” The WNBA asked for the name and logo by Nov. 1, so Nike could start making products.
The primary logo is a basketball emblazoned with a T, tailed with six lines, as though in rapid motion. The lines represent the five players, plus one for the fans. It’s also a nod to the Toronto moniker, the 6ix.
“It’s very real that we now have an identity, something that people can rally around,” Resch said. “I’m excited to see where the fans take it.”
Just as the Raptors had done 30 years ago when naming the expansion NBA team, the city’s WNBA team called on fans to help select the moniker.
Of the 10,000 submissions, there were lots of duplicates, but more than 1,000 unique names. The team enlisted a large group of experts to help vet and discuss the submissions and help the team and WNBA decide. That group included some creative agencies, plus two professors from design programs – Dr. Ana Rita Morais from George Brown College in Toronto and Dr. D’Wayne Edwards from Pensole Lewis College in Detroit.
Fans were able to follow the process on the Toronto WNBA team’s podcast, called Bringing Home The W, which gives fans behind-the-scenes content about all facets of getting this team to the court.
The podcast mentioned that among the submissions, many were nostalgic, such as Grads, after the wildly successful Edmonton Grads women’s team from 1915-40. Or Huskies, the name of Toronto’s short-lived first NBA team in the late 1940s. There were lots of dinosaur-related suggestions, too, with fans surmising the WNBA team could be a sibling team of the Raptors.
Toronto Tempo won the day.
“It was quite the process. I never gone through anything like it before,” Resch said. “A name and logo for a team, that’s going to live on for years – hundreds of years, just look at the Maple Leafs. And what also lives on is the story of how it came to be. We wanted ours to be a story of different people influencing it.”
The WNBA awarded Toronto the franchise in May. It will be the league’s 14th team, following the entry of the Golden State Valkyries in 2025.
The Tempo will make its debut in WNBA’s 2026 season. Its primary home will be Coca-Cola Coliseum at Exhibition Place.
Resch has forged relationships with the leaders of the Professional Women’s Hockey League, whose Toronto Sceptres will share the venue with the Tempo. Her PWHL contacts were among the first to text Resch congratulations on the name.
“I’m a season-seat holder, so it was fun to be in that building watching the PWHL playoffs last year,” Resch said. “I remember taking a video of it and thinking, ‘I can’t wait for this place to be filled with basketball fans’.”