Why Bill and Crissy Haslam, Candace Parker and others put in WNBA bid for Nashville team

Posted by author January 30, 2025 Sports

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An ownership group including Bill and Crissy Haslam, Candace Parker, and Faith Hill and Tim McGraw has submitted a bid for a WNBA expansion team in Nashville.
The team would be named the Tennessee Summitt in honor of the legendary Lady Vols coach.
The ownership group is privately financing the bid and plans to play games at Bridgestone Arena.
A decision on the winning bid is expected in five to six months.

“And now, the starting lineup for your Tennessee Summitt . . . “

That’s a sentence Bill and Crissy Haslam, Candace Parker, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw and Peyton Manning are hoping to hear at Bridgestone Arena sometime in 2028.

Bill Haslam — who will take over as majority owner of the Nashville Predators on July 1 — and Parker, a former Tennessee Lady Vols star, and country music power couple Hill and McGraw are part of an ownership group that put in a bid Thursday to bring a WNBA expansion team to Nashville.

“This is going to be Tennessee’s team,” Crissy Haslam told The Tennessean. “There’s going to be families with daughters who play basketball, but there are going to be people who don’t even know yet that they are going to love this sport.”

If the group wins the bid, the Summitt — named in honor of legendary Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt — would become the first professional women’s team in the state of Tennessee and the 16th franchise in the WNBA.

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

Bill Haslam said he called Nashville mayor Freddie O’Connell last summer with the idea of bringing a team to town.

“I said, ‘Listen, here’s what we’re thinking about,’ ” Haslam said. “His first response was . . . ‘I’ve got two daughters. I think that’d be really cool.’ “

What are the odds Nashville gets a WNBA expansion team?

There’s no scientific formula to determine the answer, but WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert told The Tennessean in April 2024 that Nashville “certainly” is a candidate for expansion, along with cities such as Cleveland, Houston, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri.

“I was very impressed with the young vibrancy and the music culture, because as the WNBA, we sit kind of at the intersection of sports, culture, women, diversity, inclusion, etc.,” she said.

Nashville’s potential WNBA expansion franchise already has a name and a home, but what are some hurdles that would need to be cleared?

How much does a WNBA franchise cost?

Haslam, of course, did not divulge what his ownership group’s bid would be.

Recent history suggests it would have to be more than $100 million.

The Golden State Valkyries — owned by Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, who own the Golden State Warriors — paid $50 million in 2023, according to Sportico, and will begin play this season.

More recently, Kilmer Sports Ventures — owned by Larry Tanenbaum, who is chairman of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment — paid $115 million to get the Toronto Tempo.

RAJ Sports, owned by Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal, paid $125 million for the as-yet unnamed WNBA franchise in Portland, Oregon.

The Toronto and Portland teams are scheduled to begin play in 2026.

Where will the money come from?

Not taxpayers, Haslam said, adding that the endeavor would be privately financed. He also said he expects more people to join the investment group.

“Crissy and I would be willing to own 100% of it,” Bill Haslam said. “With different people you can add to it, I think it can add to the bid. This is going to be a very competitive process.

“This is not contingent upon the city doing anything for us.”

Why the name Tennessee Summitt?

Bill Haslam was a sophomore at Webb School of Knoxville when Pat Summitt took over as the coach of the Lady Vols in 1974. He was the mayor of Knoxville by the time Summitt won her eighth and final national championship in 2008. He was the governor of Tennessee when she retired in April 2012.

“It’s kind of fun to give a personal tribute to somebody I’m both a fan of and was a friend of mine,” Haslam said. “You think Pat Summitt and you think excellence in everything, from the court to how (her players) handled themselves off the court, and what they’ve gone to do since then.”

Summitt, who was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2011, died on June 28, 2016. She was 64.

Why bring a WNBA franchise to Nashville?

The growing popularity of the league, for starters. With players such as Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, the WNBA saw attendance rise 43% from 2023 to 2024, when those two joined the league.

Secondly, the city is equipped with an arena, a growing population and a history of supporting pro franchises and big events.

Last but not least, the Haslams said the franchise would be a good investment and a good addition to the city’s sports landscape.

Where would the Nashville WNBA franchise play?

Bridgestone Arena would be the primary home, but Bill Haslam said he’d love to find a way to play some games in Knoxville, Memphis and perhaps even in Clarksville, where Summitt was born and spent part of her childhood.

The team would have its own practice facility.

When will we find out if a WNBA team is coming to Nashville?

There’s no strict deadline, but based on the recent past, Haslam said he expects to know in “five to six months.”

The initial list of bidders will be pared down to a group of finalists. After interviews and city visits, a winning bidder will be announced.

Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at pskrbina@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina. Follow his work here.