After months of anticipation and a whirlwind 48 hours, Toronto’s WNBA team officially has its identity.
The franchise officially unveiled its name and logo on Thursday, going by “Tempo” when it begins competing in the women’s basketball league in 2026.
“Tempo is pace, it’s speed … what you feel when you step into the streets of this city, and in the energy of the people who call Canada home,” said team president Teresa Resch in a statement on Wednesday.”
According to the team’s press release, the brand identity was ” inspired by the rhythm of our city, our country, and the game of basketball. In play and in life, it’s not just about how fast you move, but how you control the pulse of the world around you.”
The official announcement comes less than two days after the WNBA prematurely leaked the team’s name by adding it to multiple drop-down menus on the league’s website
And while the organization had remained tight-lipped about its much-anticipated moniker — previously confirming an official announcement wasn’t planned until early 2025 — they seemingly chose to pivot once news got around of the WNBA’s slip.
Fan input was a point of emphasis through the initial brand ideation process with the team even taking suggestions from the community via nameyourteam.ca and receiving over 5,000 submissions.
MLSE chairman and CEO of Kilmer Sports Ventures Larry Tanenbaum, the group behind the Tempo’s successful ownership bid in May, along with Resch, were clear early in the process that having tying the team’s identity to all of Canada, as the lone WNBA franchise north of the border, would be important.
“We need an identity, a logo … a name that people can rally round,” Resch said in a September interview with MacLean’s.
It didn’t take long for fans to make themselves heard once news got out following the WNBA’s leak. And “rally around” may not be the best way to describe the wide variance of reactions.
Some were surprised and even disappointed by the name after the organization had previously shut down other popular options such as “Towers” or “Flurry” in its Cutting Room Floor series. At the very least, Tempo wasn’t considered a top contender by most and doesn’t appear to have any obvious ties to the league’s soon-to-be lone Canadian franchise.
Other fans quickly warmed up to the nickname, at least enough to reserve judgment until more visuals were unveiled. And in fairness, it’s not hard to see why a name like Tempo was chosen for Toronto’s WNBA franchise.
The definition of tempo is: the rate or speed of motion. In the musical sense, it’s defined as: the speed at which a passage of music is or should be played. High-paced action and playing with speed on a basketball court is a tantalizing idea, in a vacuum, even if it may not be someone’s first choice for a team name.
“Tempo reflects what fans can expect from this team, including, of course, the in-game experience at the arena,” explained Resch. “The sounds of the court, the beat of the music,the passion of the fans around you and the intensity of the players on the floor. Capturing all that energy, excitement and feeling was crucial as we chose the name for Canada’s WNBA team.”
There’s also the fact that the WNBA has always tried to push the envelope with its franchises’ monikers. For starters, names like Liberty, Mercury, Fever, Sun, Sky, Storm and Dream as non-plural entities are plenty unique. Meanwhile, the league only has two teams with any animal association, the Wings and Lynx, another deviation from traditional sports nicknames. (Sorry to those who wanted Huskies for Toronto, but that seemed like a long shot.)
In that sense, Tempo fits right into the WNBA’s atypical sphere of names. The Golden State franchise, set to join the league in 2025, was named the Valkyries. So clearly, just about anything goes.
There’s also a third section of basketball fans who are either making jokes that the team’s mascot should be a Ford Tempo, a car manufactured between 1984-94, or theorizing that tempo was actually short for “temporary” and it was merely on the league’s website as a placeholder.
Meanwhile, the logo is the letter “T” on a basketball with speed lines trailing behind, Light blue and maroon appear to be the primary colours for the Tempo’s logo.
In a post on Instagram, the team emphasizes the logo’s main focus is to symbolize motion and balance. The six lines flowing away represent “the five players on the court, and the sixth player, our fans.” They are also a nod to the six boroughs of Toronto.
“Opposite of static, the Tempo visual system leans into forward motion, representing not only the team’s desire for progress but also our collective hopes to see the game reach new heights.”
Toronto is set to begin competition in 2026 as the WNBA’s 14th franchise alongside Portland, returning to the league as the 15th team.
The Tempo will primarily play out of the 8,700-seat Coca-Cola Coliseum, also home to the AHL Marlies. Tanenbaum and Resch have mentioned the squad plans to play home games elsewhere in Canada as well to help showcase the WNBA and help grow women’s basketball.
— this post has been updated as of Dec. 5, 2024.
