WNBA’s first international team in Toronto is finding fans all across Canada in Tempo’s first season

TORONTO (AP) — The WNBA’s decision to make Toronto the home of its first international team is going well.

Tempo fans can be found across Canada. The expansion team could break the WNBA single-game attendance record next week. Not in Toronto, however, but almost 350 miles east in Montreal.

On the opening leg of their Cross Canada Series, the Tempo are playing two games at Montreal’s Bell Centre, which holds 22,114 for basketball. A capacity crowd could top the WNBA playoff attendance record of 22,076.

In August, the series heads west for two games in Vancouver.

“We’ve put the work in and we’re continuing to get better every game, so I think the support is going to continue,” said Tempo guard Marina Mabrey. “It’s very inspiring to see this kind of hype and energy around it in Canada. It kind of motivates you to do better every single night.”

The Tempo have two home games before playing Dallas July 10 in Montreal. They have been giving fans much to be excited about. Toronto is one game under .500 with a 9=10 record thanks in part to the scoring of Mabrey, who is having an All-Star caliber season averaging 21.2 points a game, third-best third in the WNBA.

Mabrey made headlines when she matched the WNBA scoring record with a 53-point performance in a June 25 win over Los Angeles. With the trip to Quebec coming up, she’s looking forward to scoring more points and making fresh fans in a brand new city.

“I haven’t been to Montreal, so I’m excited to see who shows up for that and for us,” Mabrey said.

Guard Kia Nurse is the lone Canadian on the Toronto roster and she expects a great turnout for the team that features players from eight different countries and is led by an Australian coach — two-time WNBA champion Sandy Brondello..

Nurse’s unofficial duties with the Tempo have included using her local knowledge to help her teammates adjust to their Canadian home.

“Early in the season, there were a lot of conversations around the most simple things,” Nurse said. “I’ve tried to help them with anything that’s different, even from the beginning when we got here, they were looking for CVS. I’m like, you want Shoppers Drug Mart. What are the grocery stores? Okay, this one is near your house.”

Now that the Tempo have the basics figured out, Nurse said she’s seen her teammates learning something else, too.

“I think what everybody’s really starting to understand is how unique it is to play in a Canadian city and be the only Canadian team in the entire country, the same way the Raptors and Blue Jays are,” Nurse said. “We’re not on national television all the time in the US, but we are on national television every single game here in Canada, and that makes a difference, being able to reach people and get more love and excitement about women’s basketball. When we go to Montreal and when we go to Vancouver, the fans will fill out arenas.”

Brondello, who was a WNBA All-Star as a player, said she has received messages of support from Canadian basketball fans far beyond Toronto.

“We are Canada’s team, and we actually do feel it,” Brondello said. “One of the reasons I took this job is because it was a new challenge in a whole new country, and we had this unique opportunity to grow the game even bigger here.

“The WNBA is a real movement at the moment, the last few years,” Brondello said. “I’ve been part of this for 27 of the 30 years, so I’ve seen the evolution from when I played in the early, early days to how it is now, and there’s a sense of pride to see that. Women’s sport is so much more talked about than just a decade ago, five years ago. It’s our time now, and Canada gets to see that.”

As much as Mabrey is inspired by the prospect of a record crowd in Montreal, she also sees a bigger picture for her sport.

“Honestly, this is for all of women’s basketball,” Mabrey said. ’There’s so many players who have sacrificed time, money, themselves for us to be in this position now. It’s only right that when we get a fan base like that, that they’ve been working so many years for, that we go and we do it right and we put on a show, both teams.”

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Ian Harrison, The Associated Press