Women's Fastbreak On SI

Cleveland Pulls Caitlin Clark Receipt Over Sophie Cunningham's WNBA Expansion Shade

Several new WNBA expansion cities have responded to Fever star Sophie Cunningham's viral criticism on Tuesday.
Grant Young|
Jun 19, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) talks to media members before the game against the Golden State Valkyries at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Jun 19, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) talks to media members before the game against the Golden State Valkyries at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

On July 1, Indiana Fever standout Sophie Cunningham questioned the WNBA's decision to place three new expansion franchises in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia from 2028-2030.

"I also think that you want to listen to your players, too. Where do they want to play? Where are they gonna get excited to play and draw fans?" Cunningham said, per an X post from Yahoo Sports.

"I'm not so sure what the thought process is there, but at the end of the day, you want to make sure that you're not expanding our league too fast. I think that that's also another thing. It's kind of a hard decision-making situation. But man, I don’t know how excited people are to be going to Detroit or [Cleveland]," Cunningham concluded.

These comments are prompting many polarizing reactions from the community. And the city of Cleveland responded with an X video of Cunningham's star teammate Caitlin Clark saying, "I had never been to Cleveland before, it has been awesome. If lowkey feels like just a bigger version of my hometown of Des Moines, Iowa... we're happy to be in Cleveland," when speaking with the media at the 2024 NCAA Final Four, which took place in Cleveland.

"Sophie, your teammate doesn’t seem to think Cleveland is too bad!

"We’re proud to have been chosen to host a WNBA team and any player who comes here will feel that legendary passion Cleveland sports fans show our teams!" the City of Cleveland's X post wrote.

The City of Detroit also responded to what Cunningham said, writing on X, "The last time we were home to a WNBA team (Detroit Shock) we ranked top five in attendance for five straight seasons, No. 1 in attendance for three straight seasons and set a single-game attendance record of 22,076 fans at Game 3 of the 2003 WNBA Finals.

"Additionally more than 775,000 people were excited to come to Detroit for the 2024 NFL draft. Detroit is a sports town. We’re sure we’ll see the same excitement for the WNBA returning."

Cunningham's comments are clearly rubbing these newly-awarded expansion cities the wrong way.

Recommended Reading:

Published
Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

Share on XFollow GrvntYoung
Home/News