Cavs Fans Get Closer to Year-Round Basketball With Cleveland Sirens WNBA Announcement

In 2028, the WNBA will have a new team added into the league playing Cleveland. This morning the official team name was revealed.

Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb addresses attendees of a Cleveland WNBA event celebrating the return of professional women’s basketball to Ohio, Sept. 16, 2025, at Rocket Arena, in Cleveland. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

In 2025, it was announced that Cleveland would once again be hosts of a WNBA franchise. Cleveland were the hosts of one of the original WNBA teams, the Cleveland Rockers from 1997-2003.

This means Rocket Arena will be the host of year round professional basketball as the WNBA plays during the offseason of the NBA.

Now after just over a year, Rock Entertainment Group and Dan Gilbert have made the official team name reveal this morning. There was a recent April Fools joke online about the team name that had people talking, but this time it's official.

The Cleveland Sirens will be the name of the 16th WNBA franchise.

When the WNBA was looking for cities to host new teams, they wanted owners who would be involved, dedicated fans, and a community that embraces women's sports. They determined Cleveland was one of the best places to go.

Why Cleveland?

Dan Gilbert and the Cavaliers ownership group have been updating and upgrading Rocket Arena for a few years now and recently won some NBA selected awards for some of their new ideas.

Rock Entertainment and Gilbert spent $250 million to bring the 16th WNBA team to Cleveland. That is the highest ever paid for a WNBA franchise along with Detroit and Philadelphia who are also getting new teams in the coming years.

The Portland Thorns, the newest WNBA team, only cost $125 million, so Cleveland paid double to make this happen, showing their love for women’s sports and need for WNBA basketball in Cleveland once again.

WNBA also favors ownership groups with existing NBA ties as well. The Cavaliers also having an entirely new practice facility coming in 2027 which allows the Sirens to take over the Clevleland Clinics Facility.

What We Know So Far

Not many details have been announced yet about the team besides their name. Rosters won't be determined until the 2028 offseason, but you can still sign up for priority tickets right now on the official Cleveland Sirens website.

9,000 tickets have already been reserved while still being nearly almost 2 years out from their inaugural season.

An early big sponsor agreement was made with Progressive Insurance which will take the sponsor patches on the jersey.

Within the team reveal, the Sirens announced a $28,000 grant to the FORWARD Girls Leadership Academy.

The only staff announced so far is that Allison Howard is the team's President of Basketball Operations. Howard worked the last year as the Cavaliers Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer working on brand partnerships and ticket operations, allowing her to learn more as she was taking on a bigger role for the Sirens.

This is just the start of some big moves to bring professional women's sports to Ohio. At this current time there is only one women's professional team in indoor volleyball, the Columbus Fury.

Along with the Sirens in 2028, Columbus will have a NWSL team and Cleveland will introduce a lower league soccer team as well.