Dan Gilbert
Metro Detroiter Dan Gilbert, who owns the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, is likely to get a new WNBA franchise in Cleveland, the Sports Business Journal reports:
The WNBA is preparing to award Cleveland its 16th franchise, multiple sources have told SBJ, with an approximate bid worth a league record $250M.
The sources put Cleveland’s expansion chances as high as 90% -- with an announcement expected no later than March -- and said the WNBA has re-thought its original plan of adding just one team and could award one or two more franchises to bring its league total to 18 clubs. The presumed leaders for the second and third teams are Philadelphia, Houston, Nashville, Detroit and Miami, with the league reiterating tonight that nothing is finalized.
Detroit still has a possibility of landing a franchise.
“The WNBA has received formal bids from many interested ownership groups in various markets and we are currently in the process of evaluating these proposals,” a WNBA spokesperson said in a statement.
