Imago
@torontotempo/Instagram
Imago
@torontotempo/Instagram
The WNBA is all set for expansion from this season onwards, and fans are excited! The Golden State Valkyries, the Toronto Tempo, and an unnamed team from Portland are ready to join the league. The WNBA will induct the Toronto and Portland teams a year after Golden State, but they have found ways to make the wait easier.
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The Toronto Tempo will join the W in 2026 and are all ready to play at the Coca-Cola Coliseum, but not without its fair share of effort. The Kilmer Sports Ventures-backed team was announced on May 23rd, 2024, with an expansion fee of 50 million USD being paid for it. It was voted unanimously by the WNBA Board of Governors, and 29-1 by the NBA Board of Governors.
The New York Knicks voted against a Toronto team because they were having legal troubles with the Raptors. Nevertheless, the team made the cut, and is raring to go.
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Citizens of Toronto are very excited about the new team, as the recent draft class sparked a lot of interest in the WNBA. Future prospects look very exciting, and Toronto has always had a very strong sporting culture. However, the wait is long, and fans are impatient.
To mitigate this disaster of a pairing, the Toronto Tempo decided to unveil their merch ahead of time. The Canadian team opened their merchandise store on January 14th, 9:00 AM E.T. Fans love their merch designs, but other concerns remain.
The Toronto Tempo missed the beat according to the fans
X is going crazy over this merch, but not all of the reactions are good. “TORONTO TEMPO YOU SICK F–KS WHY IS A SHIRT $74,” A fan said, calling out the ridiculously exorbitant prices. The Toronto Tempo store has pretty designs and aesthetic colors. However, on closer look, one finds the prices to be beyond fair. A simple beanie goes for more than 30$ in the store.
One fan had a good laugh about the merch in Toronto. “They taxing on Toronto tempo merch lmaoo.” We know that WNBA teams are gaining a lot of interest recently, and the Tempo has garnered a lot of it.
However, fans are finding the clothing apparel to be way out of budget for them. “Things I love: This Toronto Tempo hoodie. Things I’m not paying $115 for: This Toronto Tempo hoodie. Why is all of the decent WNBA merch so expensive?” another fan said.
Things I love: This Toronto Tempo hoodie.
Things I’m not paying $115 for: This Toronto Tempo hoodie.Why is all of the decent WNBA merch so expensive?😭 pic.twitter.com/NxmeU5ngfg
— Kim Jong Sarah (@KimJongSarah) January 14, 2025
This X user outright called the merch expensive. “Tempo merch is expensive a shirt is $75 lol.” While we don’t know what the reason behind their increased prices are, it seems like fans are on the same page for this once.
Another fan on X laughed about the price of the jackets in stock. “It’s $800 for the Toronto Tempo Letterman jacket LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”
According to the fans, nothing available on the website is worth spending this amount of money on. Jackets aren’t meant to be worth nearly a thousand dollars, and varsities shouldn’t cost hundreds as well. The Toronto Tempo really missed the beat with this merch drop. How the clothing sells remains a mystery, one which we will find out soon enough.
Written by
Edited by
Srashti Sharma