The first drop of Toronto Tempo gear available on the team's online store includes clothing and hats as well as candles, leather goods and basketball planters.Supplied
Since the WNBA awarded Toronto an expansion team back in May, there’s one question that team president Teresa Resch has heard from people more than any other: “When can we get the merch?”
Resch won’t have to put people off any longer. On Tuesday, the official Toronto Tempo online store opens for business, selling team merchandise – the latest in a flurry of recent business milestones for Canada’s first WNBA franchise as it gears up to make its debut in 2026.
One month ago, fans learned what the club’s name would be. Now supporters can purchase team products. The first-ever drop of Tempo goods includes everything from clothing to hats and candles, leather goods to basketball planters.
Pieces feature the Tempo’s recently released branding and team colours, light blue and burgundy. More than a dozen licensees are involved in the launch, including New Era, Nike and Roots. Several are female-founded brands, such as Round21 and the Give and Grow.
“It’s cool to finally have something tangible, for our fans to be able to wear and say, ‘I support the Toronto Tempo and I cannot wait to go to a game,’” Resch said. “Not everybody knows about the WNBA or the Tempo, so we can’t wait for our fans to wear these things and get the questions, like ‘What’s that logo?’ so they can spread the word about this team.”
The Tempo’s official team jerseys aren’t among this haul of products. Those will be available closer to tipoff.
The new WNBA team originally planned to reveal its team name, branding and merchandise all at the same time, but that plan changed when the name Tempo leaked out online early last month. So the expansion team decided to officially announce its name and logo more than a month early, but didn’t have its merchandise ready to sell until now.
“In sports, nothing really goes as planned, and we were able to pivot really quickly,” said Whitney Bell, the Tempo’s chief marketing officer. “It was not the way we anticipated it, but we did a good job coming together. I think it was 33 hours from the time the name leaked to when we did our launch.”
Pieces feature the Tempo’s branding and colours: light blue and burgundy. More than a dozen licensees are involved in the launch, including New Era, Nike and Roots and several are female-founded brands.Supplied
The Tempo, owned and operated by Kilmer Sports Ventures, now has seven employees, with two more scheduled to start later Tuesday morning. The club has drawn some experienced business minds, including Bell, who calls this her “dream job.”
Bell played for Nova Scotia’s provincial basketball team growing up, then went on to a business career, in marketing and sales roles at companies such as Kraft and Unilever. She managed the Dove and Axe brands and led strategic partnerships with the Toronto Raptors, the NBA and the Montreal Canadiens. She also worked for Lyft and tech startup Clutch. Now she brings all those experiences to work for a team.
“I was 11 when the WNBA launched, and I remember watching games on Saturdays, so now for Canada to have a team, I was thrilled,” Bell said. “I had a recruiter reach out about this role, and I thought, ‘Yes, this is exactly what I want to be doing.’”
Another key hire by the Tempo is Lisa Ferkul, as chief revenue officer. Ferkul had most recently been the chief commercial officer for Golf Canada after spending more than a decade at Bank of Nova Scotia leading its sponsorship business in Canada.
The Tempo staff are hard at work already inking sponsors. Last week, the club announced Sephora Canada as a founding partner of the Tempo and its official beauty partner.
Sephora’s logo will adorn the team’s jersey when the Tempo begin play. Their partnership will also be featured in retail outlets, social media and in-arena programming.
The Tempo is planning community engagement events in the near future, aiming to maintain interest before the 2026 launch.
In the next few months, the team intends to announce a general manager, who will start building out the Tempo’s basketball operations.