Philadelphia remains the only one of the country’s six largest cities without a women’s professional sports franchise, but “that drought may soon end,” according to John George of the PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL. Philadelphia hasn't fielded a women’s team in a major pro sport in more than a decade. But former NFLer Connor Barwin, former USWNT player Heather Mitts and comedian Wanda Sykes have “all been linked to current efforts to bring women’s professional sports teams to Philadelphia.” Sykes is “leading a group interested in bringing a WNBA team to Philadelphia.” Though, the city’s prospects could “hinge on the Sixers’ efforts to end their tenancy at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia and build a new home.” George wrote getting a women’s pro soccer team “could be more realistic in the short-term.” The NWSL is intent on expanding from 14 to 16 teams in 2026. Barwin confirmed that he is “part of a group interested in bringing a NWSL expansion team to Philadelphia, but declined to comment on the status of that effort.” The USL is planning to launch what it is calling the USL Super League, a new pro women’s league with eight teams, in August. Mitts is a Managing Dir of Philly Women’s Pro Soccer, a group working to assemble investors to eventually bring a USL Super League team to Philadelphia. MLS club Philadelphia Union President Tim McDermott said that the Union’s leadership “started conversations with the NWSL about an expansion team about four years ago.” McDermott: “Then COVID hit. ... We’ve been back at it over the last 18 months looking at it again. I’m hopeful that there’s a way for us at the Philadelphia Union to be involved in bringing a team to the area” (PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/27).
