Is Utah ready for a new WNBA team? Holly Rowe doesn’t think so

The WNBA is in talks of expanding, but ESPN’s Holly Rowe, a Utah native, doesn’t think Utah is ready for a team — at least not yet.

“I don’t know if our market is going to support a WNBA team just because I’m frustrated with how we’ve supported the Utah women and BYU women — they’re good, too,” she said Friday during her Parry D. Sorensen Distinguished Lecture. “We’re just not getting the attendance, so I’m not sure we’re ready to bring the WNBA back. I wish we could. They’re looking to expand. They’re going to expand to 16 teams by 2028.”

Prior to this month’s 2024 WNBA draft, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert told reporters that she was “confident” the league would add its 14th team by 2026 and its 16th by 2028, as the Deseret News previously reported. The league’s 13th team, in the San Francisco Bay area, will begin play in 2025.

Why did the Utah Starzz leave?

Utah was once home to one of the eight original WNBA teams, the Utah Starzz. After six seasons, the team was sold and relocated to San Antonio. In 2017, the team was sold again and moved to Las Vegas, becoming the Las Vegas Aces.

“Maybe we can adopt the Aces for now and work towards that in the future. That would be really cool to have the W back,” she said.

One of the reasons the Starzz had to leave Utah was because of poor attendance. Former owner Larry H. Miller claimed the team lost over $1 million every year, the Deseret News reported in 2003.

Rowe thinks Utahns need to show that attendance wouldn’t be an issue if the WNBA returned.

“We do not support Utah women’s basketball well enough,” she said. “We need to have that lower bowl filled for every game. I’ve seen South Carolina do it. Iowa got 18,000 people a game at their games every game for the last four years. We have to do better supporting our women in this state.”

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Will Ryan Smith bring the WNBA back to Utah?

Utah’s professional sports market is growing with a new NHL team making its Utah debut next season and the Utah Royals making their return to the state this year after a three-year hiatus.

Jazz owner Ryan Smith is the owner of both of those new teams.

At the groundbreaking for the Royals’ new training facility in October, Smith was asked about the possibility of bringing the WNBA back to Utah.

“We’ve got a pretty full plate right now, I’ll be honest,” he said. “But I know Cathy (Engelbert) extremely well, and we talk a lot. And what she’s doing with the WNBA and Dwyane (Wade) actually just jumping into (the) Chicago team where he’s from, it’s exciting.”

That answer doesn’t sound good for Utah’s chances in the near future, but maybe if fans follow Rowe’s advice, a WNBA team will prove a worthwhile investment down the road.