SOPHIE Cunningham was met with a fiery response after her comments about the WNBA expansion.
Cunningham, 28, joined the Indiana Fever this year to play alongside Caitlin Clark.
Sophie Cunningham made some controversial remarks about the WNBA’s expansion[/caption]
Cunningham plays for the Indiana Fever alongside superstar Caitlin Clark[/caption]
Her teammate’s popularity has led to the WNBA looking to grow the league and capitalize on the boom in interest.
The league confirmed this week that Cleveland will be joining in 2028.
Cleveland’s team will be the 16th in the WNBA with more additions already announced.
Detroit will be hosting a team in 2029 while Philadelphia is set to join the league in 2030.
Cunningham was asked about the decision ahead of the Indiana Fever’s clash with the Minnesota Lynx on Tuesday.
And she said, “You want to listen to your players. Where do they want to play?
“Where are they going to get excited to play and draw fans?
“Miami would have been a great one. Everyone loves Florida. Nashville is an amazing city.
“Kansas City, amazing opportunity. There’s a huge arena downtown that no one’s using.
“And I think the women’s soccer league is showing that people draw.
“You don’t want teams to totally dominate then have teams that aren’t.
“It’s a hard situation, but I don’t know how excited people are to go to Detroit or Cleveland.”
The comments drew a response from both cities mentioned.
The City of Cleveland shared a video on X of Cunningham’s teammate Caitlin Clark.
It featured Clark talking ahead of the 2024 NCAA Final Four in the city.
The post read, “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.”
Clark said in the press conference that she was excited to be in the same city where LeBron James started his NBA career.
“It’s been really cool,” Clark said.
“We went to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
“You could stay for about a week and still have more things to do.
“I’ve never been to Cleveland before it’s been awesome.”
The City of Detroit also had some words for Cunningham’s remarks.
Their post read, “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.”
