TORONTO — White T-shirts printed with “Opening Night” lay waiting across 8,210 seats at Coca-Cola Coliseum. The anticipation from the last two years hung in the air. Excitement levels were palpable as the building sat ready for the influx of fans and energy that was soon to come for the Toronto Tempo.
For the first time in history, professional women’s basketball had become a reality in Canada.
The Tempo played their inaugural game on Friday night, a 68-65 loss to the Washington Mystics that came down to the final minute.
Fans, eager to find their seats, were easily distracted by the first WNBA team floor ever constructed outside of the United States. The Bordeaux-colored Tempo logo at center court represented more than just the location of a historic tip-off; it was emblematic of the many women’s sports icons and supporters who’d advocated for years to bring this game to Canadians.
The energy across the coliseum met the moment. A collage of homemade and newly obtained Tempo merch filled the stands as the sold-out crowd filtered in. The size of the occasion required a moment to take in, but as wide eyes recognized Canadian guard Kia Nurse and saw first-round draft pick Kiki Rice in person for the first time, it all finally started to feel real.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert was in the building, and she anticipated an emotional reaction as she thought ahead of the game about what it would mean to take in the first international franchise’s first game.
“It’s a little emotional today for me,” she told reporters. “I’ve gone to Toronto plenty of times in my prior life, but as the WNBA commissioner, I was here right as the pandemic hit. I think it was February 2020 because we were actually going to announce we were doing a preseason game here that year. Obviously, the world blew up in the pandemic.
“So it’s kind of emotional to be here for the tip of the first Toronto Tempo game. It’s a great sign and signal, not just for Toronto and Canada, but globally and internationally.”
Pregame ceremonies began 45 minutes before tipoff, as Engelbert, team owners, Toronto mayor Olivia Chow and some community partners met at center court for photos. One of the most moving moments of the night came as the first-ever Tempo squad was announced. The welcome cheers for Nurse continued to echo through the rafters long after she was shown on the jumbotron.
The seven-year WNBA veteran and the Tempo’s lone Canadian also took the microphone to thank the fans and kick off the milestone.
“Make this the hardest arena to come play in, all season long,” she said. Her audience certainly responded.
Toronto took a different approach to the anthem compared with many other WNBA teams. Instead of leaving the court for the anthem, the players stayed and wrapped their arms around each other, with Nurse singing along.
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Tempo center Temi Fagbenle lined up against Mystics center Shakira Austin for the opening tip. Although it resulted in a quick basket for the Mystics, the outcome was still miraculously Canadian, as the first player to score on Toronto’s court was Quebec native Cassandre Prosper.
Brittney Sykes made Tempo history moments later when an imperfect shot she took from a step inside the 3-point line rattled around before falling through the net and igniting the crowd. “Slim,” as she’s known in the basketball world, had appeared on Tempo social media accounts ahead of the game saying she wanted to drain those first points, and her wish came true.
The fans were amped when Sykes’ shot fell, and they remained that way through all four frames.
“It was a great moment. Sad that we didn’t win the game, didn’t close it out, but the fans were fantastic,” Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello told reporters postgame.
Torontonians showed up with such vigor that it became a topic of conversation for the Mystics postgame as well.
“It was lit. I was excited to play here,” Austin told reporters. “The environment was loud, very loud. They really cheered for their hometown. So it was good to see. … Can’t wait to play here again and see how we can compete. I think it was a good competition.”
One of the biggest crowd moments came in the fourth quarter, when Canadian soccer legend Christine Sinclair — who was in attendance — was featured on the big screen. Fans erupted in deafening cheers that rendered all other conversations at the arena impossible. The reaction was yet another reminder of the respect and appetite for women’s sports — whether on the court, ice or field — in this country.
Former Toronto Raptors executive and principal Tempo owner Masai Ujiri was also in attendance on Friday. As one of the city’s biggest basketball figures and women’s sports advocates, Ujiri also elicited huge respect from the fans. He’s been involved from the start in establishing the Tempo and began vocalizing his support for a WNBA franchise in the city while serving as the Raptors’ president of basketball operations from 2016 to 2025. So Friday wasn’t something he would miss, even on a quick turnaround after a trip to Dallas, where he was introduced as the Dallas Mavericks’ president, on Wednesday.
Lilly Singh is another member of the Tempo ownership group who traveled to make the game. Bearing the official title of chief hype officer, Singh took her duties literally when she got behind the mic midway through the game and tried to bring even more energy to the stadium.
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Not everything about the Tempo’s showing was hype, though.
Just about two weeks of practice time — less for the international players who joined after training camp began — translated into many issues to work out.
Offence was the first obvious struggle. Most of the Tempo’s scoring came from two players: Marina Mabrey, who had a game-high 27 points, and Sykes, who dropped 14. Nerves certainly were a factor for the young group, but so was the lack of time and chemistry with each other. It’s something the team has been vocal about working on throughout training camp, but implicit trust among teammates can rarely be established in such a tight time frame.
“Everyone should be a leader when they’re out there,” Brondello said. “The more we talk, the more trust that we have. Slim is one of the veteran players on this team, and that’s a responsibility. Marina as well. Nyara [Sabally]‘s young, but she still has a voice. …
“It’s going to be hard, but we have to embrace hard. We have to be uncomfortable before we can get comfortable, and we need the veterans to help.”
For the game, Toronto totaled eight assists, an incredibly small number given the type of offensive basketball Brondello is hoping to play. Its success this season will hinge heavily on its ability to improve this stat and play as a team.
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Mabrey saw many opportunities for shooting improvement, too.
“I’m taking stepback 30-footers, and Slim’s taking layups with a lot of people trying to block [them],” she said. “While it’s great to make those sometimes if we need that at the end of the clock, I don’t know if in the middle of the offense, that’s really what we want. So we want to clean that up and get better shots for us. And also, if you look at the shot chart, we do want other people to shoot, too.”
More than anything, these things simply require time and commitment to solve. It’s clear that the Tempo want to find ways to win and are expecting success this season. And when that wasn’t the case on opening night, they were gutted. Mabrey led the postgame huddle at center court as she helped her teammates process the close loss. And at their postgame press conference, Brondello, Mabrey and Sabally all looked down and unimpressed with their efforts.
It’s not the way they wanted to end such a historic night, but it bodes well for the level of effort and competitiveness that fans can expect for the rest of the season. After all, Friday was just one of 44 games.
Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the group that owns the Washington Mystics, holds a minority stake in The IX Basketball. The IX Basketball’s editorial operations are entirely independent of Monumental and all other business partners.