Nashville Wants a WNBA Team and Plans to Name It After Pat Summitt

University of Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt watches her team practice for the women's NCAA college basketball tournament in Bowling Green, Ky., on March 21, 2009. Ed Reinke/AP Photo

A group of Tennessee sports and music leaders aim to bring the WNBA to Nashville and name the team in honor of the late Volunteers Hall of Fame head coach Pat Summitt.

Nashville’s bid went public Jan. 30, led by former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, who is also chairman of the NHL’s Nashville Predators. Haslam and his wife, Crissy, have numerous other big names involved in the WNBA bid: NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning, three-time WNBA champion Candace Parker, and country stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

“Crissy and I are very pleased to lead this effort,” Haslam said in a statement on Thursday. “We recognize the emergence of professional sports for women across the globe, at the same time observing the void in our state.”

The WNBA’s popularity erupted last year with Caitlin Clark joining the league after a historic career at the University of Iowa, where she captured the nation’s attention and became the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer. Long before Clark, Summitt grew women’s basketball in the United States during her dominant coaching tenure with the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers from 1974 to 2012.

Summitt won eight national titles and made the Final Four 18 times amid a 1,098–208 record. Parker played for Summitt from 2004 to 2008 before a stellar WNBA career that included three titles between 2008 and 2023.

“Tennessee is the DNA of everything women’s basketball stands for,” Parker said in the statement. “I’m excited to be a part of the group working to bring a WNBA team to the state and honor Coach Summitt’s legacy.”

Manning, who played at the University of Tennessee from 1994 to 1997, developed an interest in women’s basketball from his connection with Summitt, according to the statement. He wouldn’t be the first former NFL star to get involved in the WNBA. Former NFL great Tom Brady took on minority ownership in the Las Vegas Aces in 2023.

The WNBA currently has 13 teams, which includes the new Golden State Valkyries.

Besides the Valkyries, the league has another two expansion teams coming in 2026 in Toronto and Portland, Oregon. Portland previously had the Fire from 2000 to 2002.

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in April 2024 that she wants to get the number of teams up to 16 in the coming years. The Nashville group is aiming for 2028 and would use Bridgestone Arena to house the Tennessee Summitt.

“We’re talking to a lot of different cities,” Engelbert said before the 2024 draft. “I think I’ve thrown out names before. It’s complex because you need arena and practice facility and player housing and … committed-long term ownership groups.”

Engelbert named Nashville among the cities she said the league had been in contact with. Other cities or areas she mentioned included Denver, Philadelphia, and south Florida.

Cleveland has put in a bid for a 16th WNBA team in November 2024. The city had a WNBA team, the Rockers, from 1997 to 2003.

“Nashville is a great sports city, and the state of Tennessee is no stranger to great women’s basketball,” Mayor Freddie O’Connell said in the statement. “The Haslams have stepped up to make a competitive bid for a WNBA franchise. A professional women’s sports team is the missing piece of Nashville’s landscape, and I’m thrilled with the possibility of adding to our great sports environment.”

Having major professional sports teams is relatively new to Tennessee. It started in 1997 when the NFL’s Houston Oilers relocated to Nashville to become the Tennessee Titans. Nashville added the Predators in 1998, and the NBA’s Vancouver Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2001.

“We believe a WNBA team, based in Nashville, could serve as a beacon for girls and women, young and old, across Tennessee, while also creating more opportunities for sports fans as our community continues to grow,” Haslam said in the statement.

“In building this new franchise, we will take inspiration from the Nashville Predators and its ‘community-first’ approach to running the business. This WNBA team will establish itself as a mainstay in Nashville and communities throughout the state of Tennessee.”