Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we can't stop thinking about Game one of the WNBA Finals. Last night. That shit was bananas, b ananas. On today's show, we'll talk about the game, then we'll chat with Golden State Valkyries President Jess Smith and WNBA Toronto President Teresa Resh about building a team from scratch, logos, colors, name and all, plus a mother's revenge and a call to action. It's
all coming up right after this welcome back slices. Before we dive in, we just want to say that we're sending love to all of those affected by Hurricane Milton. Here's what you need to know today in the WNBA, Game one was an absolute ride. The New York Liberty came out fast in front of a Rock and Barclays crowd, building as much as an eighteen point lead in the second quarter, but they went cold in the third and
the Links got hot, pulling within two points. New York pulled away again, getting their lead back up to fifteen with about five minutes to play in the game, but the Links battled back again, down three. With the clock winding down, Courtney Williams hit a three and got the foul for Minnesota, draining the free throat for the four point play and the lead, Minnesota's first lead of the game with five point five seconds to play. But that
wasn't it. The Links played lockdown d on multiple attempts from the liberty, but Brianna Stewart took a fowl with no time remaining and got sent to the line where Stewie made the first and missed the second. That's right, we got ot slices and the extra period was just as wild. It came down to a Brianna Stewart driving layup with time running out, surrounded by Minnesota bodies, and
the touch wasn't there too hard, No bucket. Links get the improbable win ninety three and steal Game one from the Libs on their home court in front of a stunned crowd that included Jason Sadeikas, Spike Lee, Gail King and Moore. Twenty three for Courtney Williams, twenty two for Kayla McBride and twenty one for Nafisa Collier in the Minnesota win, twenty four and ten for John qwell Jones, eighteen and nine for Brianna Stewart, and nineteen points for
Sabrina and Escu in the Liberties losing effort. Game two is Sunday at three pm on ABC. Do not miss it Before game one. WNBA Commissioner Katy Engelbert broke some news announcing that starting next season, the WNBA Finals will be a best of seven format. It'll be a two two, one one one format, meaning the higher seed team will host games one, two, five, and seven. Also, the first round best of three series will shift from a two to one format to alternating games one, one one, giving
each team at least one home playoff game. Engelbert also announced that next year's regular season will ex span from forty to forty four regular season games. Some player news out of the day too. Duana Bonner, in her exit interview with The Connecticut Sun, said for the first time explicitly she does not plan to retire in twenty twenty five and fully intends to play in the WNBA next season.
More WNBA news. Former Las Vegas Aces assistant coach Natalie Nicasse has been named the first head coach of the Golden State Valkyries. The forty one year old LA native has plenty of coaching experience to draw on. She's been Becky Hammond's assistant for the past three seasons with the Aces, but also spent eleven seasons on staff with the mnba's Los Angeles Clippers as a video coordinator, assistant coach of the franchise's G League affiliate, and as a player development coach.
As a hooper, she walked down at UCLA and was a team captain there for three years, then spent two seasons playing in the National Women's Basketball League, a pro league that existed from ninety seven to two thousand and seven. We'll talk more about her hiring with Jess Smith in
just a few minutes. In volleyball news. On World Mental Health Day yesterday, the Pro Volleyball Federal announced that it's teaming up with on Rise, a mental health care service specializing in work with current and retired athletes, to provide care and support to each athlete on every team roster. These services will be offered at no cost to the players.
More World Mental Health Day news broke over in the NWSL, the Players Association announced its establishing the Ohm Arvind Gift, meant to honor the life and legacy of soccer journalist In women's soccer advocate Om Arvin, who died by suicide in May of this year. Ohm dedicated himself to growing the women's game through his coverage and analysis, including but not limited to spearheading dedicated in depth coverage of Real
Madrid Feminina on espionations, managing Madrid site. As part of Ohm's final wishes, a GoFundMe was created to raise funds for the NWSLPA. That GoFundMe has raised over twenty five thousand dollars, which has been allocated to the support the Player's National Emergency Trust to provide mental health support for nwsl players. The new gift in his name will encompass any future contributions made to the NWSLPA for mental health support.
In a statement, NWSLPA Executive Director at Meghan Burke said, quote with the om Arvind Gift, the NWSLPA seeks to honor Ohm's life, legacy and the vision he had for a better world. We are deeply moved by the gift he has left us and we believe it will save lives. End quote. We've got nwsl game action tonight as well. Fresh off winning the nwsl Shield, the Orlando Pride is on the road to face the Portland Thorns. Also this weekend a bunch of games with playoff implications. Here's a
quick refresher on where everyone sits heading into the weekend. Orlando, Washington, Gotham, Kansas City, and North Carolina have already wrapped up five of the eight playoff spots. The Houston Dash are the only team already out of the running, meaning eight teams are technically still in contention for just three spots. The Chicago Red Stars can clinch a spot in the postseason with a win this weekend against Gotham, or if a
few other things go their way. A few teams are also at risk of being eliminated from playoff contention this weekend. The Seattle Rain, Utah Royals, Angel City, and San Diego could all be mathematically eliminated depending on how things play out. As always, the scenarios are pretty complex, so we'll link to art Queen and data viz Whiz Alison Gale's research in the show notes, along with the full game schedule. In college hoops, sophomore USC guard Juju Watkins keeps bringing
in the business. She has officially signed with Gatorade, making her only the third college hooper dependent nil deal with the brand. The other two are Yukon's Pagebeckers and former Iowah Hawke Caitlin Clark. Add this to the multi year extension she just signed with Nike, and it's clear that Juju's got next, Actually no scratch that her time is right now. They even gave her the Gatorade sweat treatment. You could check out that post in our episode notes
more in college sports. On Thursday, the NCAA released findings from a study done in partnership with the data science companies Signify Group, analyzing the social media accounts of over three thousand student athletes, about five hundred coaches, two hundred event officials, and one hundred and sixty five teams. Their findings, the abuse, harassment, and threats of violence that college athletes face on social media reaches a high during March Madness.
Eight out of ten ABUSI posts sent to college athletes on social media we're sent during the NCAA tournament. Further, women's basketball players are targeted three times more than their male counterparts. The NCAA made a point of noting that the study only covered public facing threats, and Signified Group executives believe harassment is likely worse in private messages and dms. Now, maybe this doesn't come as a huge surprise, but that's
kind of the problem. We expect these young athletes to just take the online bullying in stride, keep up with their academic responsibilities, and perform to the best of their abilities in the sport they choose. But these kids are humans, and that status quo has to change. In news news, Yahoo Sports and The Athletic announced yesterday that they're teaming up to bring a women's sports hub to the Yahoo
Sports website and app. The hub will provide written, audio, and video content produced by both entities, and it'll be free and available globally, no subscription required. All right, celisis it's time for another What the fact we've heard this a million times pitched to us as a positive? The US women's national team jersey sold out in twenty four hours. Caitlin clear Mark's All Star jersey sold out in fifteen minutes.
An immediate game sellout is great news. An immediate merch sellout means you left money on the table and didn't account for demand, and also that you're contributing months or even years later to a statistic that someone can hold up to say there isn't much money in women's sports merch or the sales are significantly less than the men's or other context freebs that weakens the business case for
women's sports. So here's what the fact. According to research done this year by Klarna and the sports innovation lab called Repper, revealing the unmet demand for women's sports merchandise, more than sixty percent of fans who searched for and intended to buy women's sports merchandise didn't make a purchase
because it wasn't in stock. Thirty two percent of women's sports fans can't find a retailer that carries merchandise related to their favorite teams and athletes, and seventy nine percent of respondents reported that they would purchase more women's sports merch if there were more options available to them, twenty eight percent reporting that they couldn't find a style that
they liked. The report estimated that women's sports merchandise is a four billion dollar annual opportunity and it's falling short. And here's another fact. Did you know that eighty four percent of sports fans are into women's sports, but they only get fifteen percent of the media coverage That doesn't add up. As a founding partner of Iheartwomen's Sports, elf Beauty is serious about changing the game and igniting conversations that will reshape the future of sports. Join the movement
now at Elfbauty dot com. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we talk expansion with two WNBA team presidents. Stick around. It's time for another edition of group chat, where we take the t from the text and put it on the airwaves. She's the president of the WNBA expansion team tipping off in twenty twenty five the Golden State Valkyries, formerly head of revenue and head of corporate Partnerships for Angel City FC of
the NWSL. She also spent five years working in men's Major League Soccer and six years with the Oakland A's a twenty twenty three Sports Business Journal forty under forty honoree and a member of the twenty twenty three Leaders in Sport Under forty class. We made a human pyramid in the Vice President of the United States of America's house. It's Jess Smith. What's up, Jess, Hi?
I mean the last piece was the most memorable part of all of that.
Important part of your resume. Joining her. She's the president of the WNBA expansion team tipping off in twenty twenty six, the yet to be named Toronto team, Formerly vice president of basketball operations for the Toronto Raptors. She also spent four years at the NBA office. We eat a basketball team's worth a sushi together in Toronto and we send each other Rex for extra long pants. It's Teresa Rush. What's up, Teresa?
Oh, great to be here.
I aged out of all those awards that just won, so maybe maybe my profile will be in the Golden years.
No other time, but yeah, great to have.
More fifty under fifty, sixty under sixty. We all got so much time to get shit done before we get to anything. Jess, thank you so much for timing big important breaking news just before your arrival on our show. We are recording this Thursday afternoon, and you just announced that the Las Vegas Aces assistant coach Natalie Nicassi has been higher as the head coach of the Valkyries. So take us through it. Tell us about the decision.
A huge, huge day for us here. It's Ohemma's first move as our general manager, and you know it was quite a process for her, But Natalie comes with not only incredible expertise, but really leans into the culture that we're focused on building, where we want to be the best, but we want to be great people and we want to bring people into that and do great things. So she's going to be a powerhouse. We're so fortunate to have her in Valkyrie Violet. Moving forward, Sorry, Asis Valkyrie Violet.
Oh Scott, it's just rolling off the tongue already. Okay, We're going to get into that because I'm so excited to talk about how you build a brand logo and colors and name and mascot and all of it. But I want to do a quick though on the WNBA Finals first, because we're recording this just before the tip off of Game one. We'll go big picture, Teresa, who you got and.
Why I got the Liberty. I think they're al for revenge. I think they're playing really well. New York City is on fire. Ellie's my favorite mascot. I'm all in on the Libs.
Even though I.
Grew up I grew up in Minnesota. Minnesota always wants wants a winner, is always looking for a winner. But I'm going with the Liberty.
Ellie is also my favorite mascot, although tied with Benny the Bowl for very different reasons. Jess, who you got and why?
Yeah?
Unbelievable finals and playoffs, you know, to date with the talent that's coming out. But I also have the liberty. I think there's a consistency that they're playing with right now. In Teresa's point, they have something to prove and there's a lot of emotion behind that, and the way that they're showing up for each other is a pretty pretty special squad. So I've got them in the finals, but I think it's I think it's going to be a tit for tat, full game finals, full five games.
Completely agreat. I also love calling women's sports anything tit for tat. It has a totally different meaning. Also, I'm hoping that we're not like when they show those like full boards of like Fox Sports or ESPN, people who all pick the same team and ultimately jinx them. So if so, sorry libs, Uh sorry, because I got the libs too. Okay, once that final shot of that series has been taken, once the champions are crowned, you got next, Jess,
which means all eyes will be on the Valkyries. You already have over eighteen thousand season ticket deposits secured despite having zero players on your roster and just today announcing your coach. So let's start there. What an incredible accomplishment. How have you pulled that off?
A lot of it. It's a testament to the Bay, this ownership group and the intention about how we're building the team. You know, it's really important that you come out from day one and share what this is going to be and what people will be a part of, and listen to them and how to build it alongside of them, to give them exactly what they're looking for.
And we did just that, you know, right down to the name where twenty five percent of people actually wrote into the chronicle after they said at the announcement day, you know, what should the team be named? They wrote in Valkyries. You know, we listened to them. That's what they wanted us to be, That's what they wanted us to build around, and we continue to do that. But it really is a testament to understanding the base power
and ability to lead. You know, this is a region that people often look to to see what comes next, whether it's technology, innovation or just how we treat people and progress the world forward and building with women's basketball, and with that in mind, you know, it's just been an incredible opportunity, but we're very grateful for it. But we are going to create incredible experiences to make sure that we're matching the excitement that's being given to us.
Yeah, I mean, you created something that has such a brand already, which is wild. There are teams that have existed for years and you don't really know who they are, what they stand for in the Valkyries, so clearly already have this identity. Take us back to day one on the job. What is the first place that you start in creating a new team. And I'm not talking as much like business wise, but more creative wise.
No, creative wise, it's you know, the name had been selected by the time I started, but then how we were going to define that was a big moment. You know, a lot of the conversation was should we be blue and gold. Often when you see a women's team with a sports ownership group that already has an existing men's team, they have a similar color way, and we were really adamant that that was not going to be us. For good reason. When you see blue and gold and Golden State,
you're going to think of the Warriors. They've earned every piece of that legacy. We want the ability to build our own legacy. And also, we've talked about in sports business now for the last number of years, this audience is a unique audience. Now all of them will be Warriors fans, and you want to make sure that you're building a product that invites everybody to have a seat
at the table. Well, of course we want Warriors fans too, and so when we thought about the colorway, the WBA has done a great job of this with the orange ho titty. We wanted to own something that was ours, so whether it had our logo on it or not, that when you saw it you thought of the Valkyries, and not only thought of the Valkyries, but thought of who we are from a value perspective and what that means.
You know.
I think what's really special about what all of us are doing, including this show, is that we know that there's power in listenership, viewership, buying merchandise, buying tickets, and like, what this feels like is so much more than sport. It's really part of our culture and our identity, and so building a brand that allowed our fans, you know, to make sure that they can embody that as well.
And I love that and it's so true. First of all, I love the violet, not just because it looks really good on me. You set me a shirt and I was like, oh, this might be my color, but also because, much like Angel City, that sort of reclaimed pink in a way that had been something to mock. This is a color that you don't see in professional sports really the same way racing Louisville has a touch of it, but this is really your dominant color. Real quick. You
did help launch angel City as well. What's been the biggest difference in starting a team from scratch in the WNBA versus NWSL.
Yeah, it's such a different time. Even four years later, it often feels like dog years to me, like one day is one month's time, and so launching Angel City feels like ten years ago to me in the best ways of just the amount of work we poured into that organization. But really what I took from the it's different in some ways, but what I think is similar is the opportunity to really lean in and be unapologetically yourself. And build something that's really unique, and I think that's
incredibly important. You're going to see a lot more of it in women's sports.
I love it. Teresa. You're sitting where Jess was less than a year ago, a blank page in front of you, and not really just a city, but a whole country to represent with your name and your brand. The Toronto WNBA team is Toronto, but like a whole bunch of Canadians, I mean, watch them from all over. Where did the process start for you?
Funny, I didn't even realize just that when you arrived and took the job, like Valkyrie's has already chosen, Like, I feel so honored that I get to actually impact that. So where we started was, I mean a similar place. Like we wanted to hear from Canadians and we thought it was really really important that they had a voice in it. So we set up a website, We set up a text number and said tell us what you want. And it was really really interesting to see the submissions.
We had over ninety eight different countries actually interact with website, which really surprised me. We got over a thousand unique names, and then from there we just started calling them out right, Like, there was a lot of a lot of names in there. That Valkyrie actually was very popular, and like I'm not sure if they paid attention, Raptors was really popular. Like there's a lot that came up.
With the hders at the end, right, Raptors, Well.
Yep, that was part of it. Yeah, there's a lot of genderized names in there too. But what was interesting is, yeah, there's a lot of names that are taken, right, there's trademark and IP and all those those crazy things, But there is still an unbelievable universe that hasn't even been touched yet, and we are really excited to play in that universe.
So we're not quite there. We don't have our name and.
Colors yet selected, but we've actually taken a lot of insight and direction from Canadians and also from what other teams have done. Like we take a lot of cues from the Valkyries, and we talked to Jess a lot. We take a lot of cues from the NWSL PWHL. We're learning a lot. We're looking around in the marketplace. So we can't wait to have Brandon Dendy. Like the fact that right now my name says Teresa rash WNBA
Toronto is kind of boring. I can't wait to actually have a name to put at the end there and really plant our flag. But it's fun to also see like oh, Emma being hired and Nally being in hired, and like, you know, I kind of hate that just keeps stealing all the people on my short list. But it's good because that means that this league is only
going to be elevated. And what the Valkyries are doing is setting the bar that we are going to try to raise, that Portland's going to try to raise, and the next team is going to try to raise, and I think in general, we're just so excited to be part of this movement.
It's really cool how you've been sort of transparent and collaborative, right You've you've asked people for their suggestions, and then you've also put up on the w NBA Toronto Instagram rejected suggestions by category nature and Animals. Can you name one of the weirdest suggestions you got?
Oh my gosh, there's a lot. Honestly, it was very common. Toronto is obsessed with raccoons.
Oh my god, I love raccoons.
It showed up so many different times, like not only that, but like trash panda, like all the kinds of things.
And likely want to be associated with a pest.
First of all, have some respect.
I wouldn't say that.
Was the most unique, but you know, my dad keeps telling me we should be called the solar flares with like neon colors. So every time he's like, a solar flare is still.
In the running. I don't have the heart to tell him it's been.
But I guess if he listens, No, he listens, I told him to listen, he'll he'll know now that it's not quite there anymore. But it's been really interesting, Like it's been really fun as well to be transparent in the process, Like the cutting room floor has been really fun.
To talk about. And the thing is is a lot of those are great names. It just doesn't work for us.
It doesn't work for us to make sense this sport or this marketplace. But there's a lot of great names. And yeah, our Instagram page talks about it. We also have a podcast bringing Home the w just like you have a podcast that talks about it. Really excited to have doctor Edwards come on board. He's just a legend in design. He works out a pencil out of Detroit and he's a consultant on the project with us, and
his insights were incredible. On this cool journey, we're going to talk to some athletes about what it means to wear the different jerseys, how it impacts their experience in different cities. So just like the whole three six c of what brand identity means has been really fun to super fun.
I think we're super aware now of how much that branding can affect the exposure, the awareness, the interest all that. I want to say, I love raccoons and trash pandas, and also not choosing solar flares is a good choice. But if you have Neon, especially like the Brat Neon green slash yellow, I will buy all of your ear. That is my favorite color right now. I guess because I'm a basic pitch, but I want to say I
was rocking it. Jess can account for this. I was rocking a Neon green Onesie jumpsuit in Sydney well before Charlie XCX.
So you were think you set the scene.
I set the scene, that's for sure, Jess. We were just talking colors, names, vibes. Take us through that process it sounds fun and so overwhelming. So you arrive and it's valkyries. What else did you get to kind of put your stamp on.
Yeah, so it's valkyries. But very quickly when we create the brief of wanting that unique color, we realize how difficult that is. There's actually only so many colors that exist in the color way that we get a chance to work on a lot of boring production details about how that can get done and how to match the color and different types of fabrics and those types of things. So you actually don't have that many to choose from,
even though you think you would. And then you have to kind of do as elimination, right, So some of it's like, okay, the b area, every team has chosen different color waves already, you have to eliminate those. Then you have to look at what the WMA is doing, which has obviously done a great job in a variety of different markets, having some beautiful branding already too, and
then find this space to work in. I mean, for us, the color fits so perfectly with the modern depiction of the valkyrie as well, and you know has such history in women's empowerment. It really just fell into place in a great way, and we wanted it to feel like it's very icy, right. It's a very specific type of valkyrie violet. It's not a deep purple by any means. That's why we're so specific about how we talk about it.
But there were some great conversations back and forth of why this color versus that blew and gold over and over again. But when we landed it, we all felt incredibly strong about it. But I mean, I can't tell you the number of iterations of the shade of the color for the fonts and exactly how it would work together that way, and how the lines lined up like the you know, the logo itself, if it's thirteen lines
or the thirteenth team coming in it's wings. It's it's dual in every way, but every single detail it's a bridge exactly right, which is a big piece about us making sure that we're connectors both locally and you know, just as a brand in totality. But the thickness of the lines, the indentse I mean, Teresa, you're probably in the mix of.
Thick of that right now. I literally just came from a call with Nike about color swatches and how the colors show up on different types of fabric and like high, medium, low, super low, no risk, Like what does all that mean? Like all the details you never think about when you're just love.
It throwing out a color like yeah, I like black and white.
I I tend to be pretty understanding with teams when they make decisions because I'm like, I actually don't know everything that went behind that. So unless you're totally moronic and offensive, I'm going to assume there's a reason why extra wire it's not the exact thing I want. I'm wondering now, just now that you've done all this, if you know the Pantone color code for Valkyrie violet.
I do, but I'm mistaking it right now. We have some plans around the color. You know, they can come out because of that ownership opportunity. But yes, we do have a Pantone color Teresa.
The w NBA Toronto team owned and operated by Kilmer Sports Ventors. Larry Tannenbaum, the chairman of Kilmer, is also chairman of the NBA Board of Governors, chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Raptors. How much of a connection is there between the Raptors and your squad.
So we are partners in this and the fact that we get to play in their arena. So we're going to play in Coca Cola Coliseum, which is owned and operated by Maple Leave Sports and Entertainment. We plan to play some games across Canada, so Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edton,
like all the different all the different cities. We are gonna The Raptors and MLSC are separate entity from Kilmer Sports Ventures and WNB Toronto, so we're not under the same ownership umbrella like the Valkyries and Golden State Warriors are, but we share a sport, we share a city, and we are definitely going to work together and partners who grow the game of basketball across this country.
I love it. So your kind of cousins, whereas Jess, your brother sister. So tell us about the connection between the work you're doing and the Golden State Warriors, the kind of support you're getting.
For sure, and just to share. It's such a pivotal moment for this league to have Toronto representing the entire
country of Canada. Like that type of growth and the opportunity to represent women's sports in that landscape, which has had such incredible history, is huge, So very excited that collectively we get a chance to witness that and then to have that a part of our league for us, you know, Golden State is really what the connection is where we play, how our athletes show up, and we want to really define the Golden State way and what
that means. And so, while were there are separate entities, how are we working together to do things like ensuring the interchangeability of jerseys between young boys and girls where it's not just if you're a girl, you're avelch or you're a boy or a warrior. How are we supporting the idolization of all genders through the opportunity to work together in things like our academy systems, in building safe places to play and the branding that goes into that as well.
Well.
Also, you have stolen a number of employees from the Golden State Warriors since you started over there, so it feels like there's a real give and take and then take some more and then take again.
I mean, who's keeping track. Let's just say that, yes, a decent amount of my leadership team, but in honor of them, like truly, and the Warriors have been a leader in so many things globally for quite some time.
And as I came in looking to build a leadership team, we had some incredible internal and external candidates with every single role, and I will say just the staff that we put together and the ones that have had, you know, the work with the Valkyries, which happens to be Kimberly Veal, who's our senior vice president of Marketing Communications, Katie Jones, who's our new head of Partnerships, and then Maria Veldezweza who's our VP of Ticketing and Events SVP of Ticketing
and Events. They bring ten twenty years of just legacy experiencing and opening Chase Center, building this business, you know, and comfortability in this region right, Like this is a really specific region in the try that we have with our community is so pure with this ownership group, and so that added extension of their experience. But now their excitement to build something of their own legacy with the
Valkyries has been great. But yes, please stop telling CEAR leadership to like start counting, because they've just like consistently happened and like, oh no, it's just another one. It's totally fine, but very fortunate.
I love it. It's so smart though, It's really so smart. Not only do they have this new challenge, but they're bringing so much literal experience from the exact space that you're in, which makes such a difference. Teresa, What exactly does the job of team president entail? At least as long as you've been at it up in Toronto?
I mean, I'm just jealous hearing about all the people that Jess has working for her. We're a mighty team of four right now in Toronto, so I can't wait to get some more staff to help us out and be part of this team. But team president, I mean in a complete startup organization. It's literally level setting every single aspect of this organization, whether it's on the court, business off the court, setting culture, making hires. It's literally
starting from scratch. And I could be more excited every day I wake up, and not that I even have it to do list, it's just what's going to hit me today, And we are choosing the most exciting, which means the most difficult pathway in order to bring this team to life. We could just play all our games in one arena, but no, we want to play across this country. We could have just gone in a room and picked a design agency and chosen our name and color and logo, but no, we want Canada to be
part of it. But like, that's exciting. That's how you build culture, That's how you build something that people feel part of. And I'm really excited to be able to share that, be transparent and get people to join us on this, on this ride, on this movement. And I don't know, maybe they maybe they can also see themselves as team president someday because they're gonna they're gonna have a little peak behind a curtain and actually know what it's all about.
Yeah.
I also love the idea of you playing across Canada because now that I've visited Vancouver and Toronto twice in the last year, I'm like, just kitchen to get to more places in Canada. So perfect excuse slot on over to a WNBA game up there. And I love the idea of bringing all of Canada with you. It's smart business wise, and it's also just really cool and keep things interesting. Jess, does that sound like the job you've
been tasked with so far? Fewer to do lists as opposed to what just hit you in the face and has to be dealt with immediately.
Yeah, it's everything, and there's an actual timeline, right, there's no like, Okay, we can push launch off by thirty days. No, opening night is opening night. So you need to have everything ready by that moment in time. And to the expectations of you know, Teresa and I share really intentional owners that expect greatness. You know that we're delivering against too, and so that's a big piece. You know, I'm fortunate to have a leader like Ohama side by side with
me and her having that responsibility. She reports directly into Joe on the player side, so that I get to focus directly on the business side.
And interesting to the time during which you're arriving and during which Toronto will arrive to Teresa, the expectations are much high than even five years ago for any new women's professional sports team. There isn't a lot of time that you will be given to mess things up, to have things not be ready, to not have good facilities, to not have smart ownership. Like, the expectations are different now.
It is a different world, and that's great and wonderful, but you better hit the ground running, because those eighteen thousand who already have their deposits are going to expect a certain experience day one, and that's exciting and that holds you to a certain standard. Speaking of jess expansion draft coming up in December, this is when it stops being about playing with colors and starts being about what's our record going to be and what's our team going
to look like? First of all, are you one hundred percent clear on the rules, how it works, who's available. There's a lot of fine print here.
A lot of fine print. I will not be digesting that. Ohemma can can walk you through every piece of the puzzle. I more so I'm like, hey, how's it going. What's going to happen? So it's exciting for any league and expansion because just a lot happens, Right, There's always shake ups, there's always thoughts here. You know that's going into free
agencies in college draft. I think you know the league in total, you know, I think there's just going to be a lot of exciting things to watch in this offseason.
Yeah, you keep mentioning. Ohima, formerly the assistant GM for the New York Liberty, so comes in with experience and from a very well run team. So that's very helpful to you to have someone who's been in this space in the w UH to make some of those decisions. Jess, have you decided who your biggest rival is going to be? Yet?
I mean everybody, right, we want we want a fresh take to literally hate every single team in the WNBA. I have joke, but listen, like, we want to win and we want to be great, so we want everyone to succeed, and yet we still want to be the best. I don't think that's, you know, a unique mindset when you're looking at the world of sports. But I have
a feeling that there will be some natural rivalries. But whether you have the La Bay Area natural rival that comes in for the state of California or certainly you know him is coming from New York, So once we're on the court, there's going to be an extra added
weight to that. Natalie is coming from the Vegas so there's going to be an extra added way to that as she goes head to head with that who's a mentor you know and friend of hers, you know, first time on the court as at head coach, and I'm sure we'll have some game moments like every franchise and every franchise dies, where something's not going to go as planned and we will all decide for the for the rest of our lives. We hate said franchise curse. That's why sports are fun.
Yeah, I would also posit. As soon as Toronto arrives, it's the battle of the expansion team, so you guys will be rivals as well. Teresa, you got your eyes set on starting any beefs with any particular team.
I think that the competition will be fierce, and I think we're all going to make each other better.
That is that a It's not the answer I was looking for. Maybe we'll start a beef between Chicago and Toronto, sister cities. People are always comparing us. We're both wonderful places, but we could start fighting about about who's better.
Give you the Battle of the Great Lakes, right.
That's right there? You go. Okay, before we go, Jess, I need you to give Teresa the most pertinent piece of advice that you think she needs right now at this point in her journey.
Don't forget to drink water. I like half joke, but I go hours sometimes I'm like, why am I so thirsty. It's like, oh, because you haven't sit up in eight hours, like get up half a gless of water. But just enjoy it. I think for me, you know, building Angel City is such a unique opportunity because building the brand from day one, when there were five of us in the middle of a pandemic inside of our house, is being like, we're going to do this and then do
the end. You know, It's there's no greater feeling than that first opening night looking around at something that didn't exist and seeing the support and what it means to our society, cultures, countries, et cetera. Is just unbelievable. So every day and everything that's hard, just enjoy it because
this piece ends up being your favorite part. And I'm so grateful that I now know that because in Angel City, I was just very stressed all the time, And now when I'm very stressed all the time, I'm like, oh, but that's because it's fun. So just enjoy it as you can.
I love that it is such a beautiful responsibility to have to usher in a brand new era for a whole city or country, and to be representative of all the fans that are going to come and gather and support the thing that you're creating. Gosh, I would love to be in the room with you guys as you're doing it. It sounds so fun. Okay, Teresa, we'll see you back here as soon as you're ready to announce to break the news right here on this show and nowhere else.
I'll be here. Don't worry, tune in.
Not an answer again, You're getting good at that, mister President. Not an answer. Thank you so much, ladies for being on here. We can't wait to start watching the Valkyries if we can't wait for all the news out of Toronto. So thanks for taking some time.
Thanks Sarah, oh, I appreciate you having us.
Thanks so much to Jess and Teresa for joining us. We got to pay the bills when we come back. A pivotal play of the day. Welcome back, Orange Slices. You know we love that you're listening, but we want you to get in the game every day too. So here's our good game play of the day. First, keep sending in those evesdropping stories that Alex asked for yesterday. We love to hear about unexpected sources, talk and women's sports. But we got another play and it's a big one today, slices.
We are exactly twenty five days away from election day, so you need to read up on Project twenty twenty five, the extremist blueprint for the next Republican President, written by the Heritage Foundation and one hundred and forty former Trump staffers. It's necessary to understand how a win for Donald Trump in this election would mean the implementation of the terrifying
policies outlined in Project twenty twenty five. Those include reclassifying tens of thousands of federal civil service workers as political appointees in order to replace them with people that are loyal to the president, infusing government and society with conservative Christian values, reducing environmental and climate change regulations, abolishing the Department of Education, cutting Medicare and Medicaid, and rejecting abortionist
healthcare and reducing access to contraception. The removal of quote gender equality language from government websites, criminalizing pornography, removing legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,
and terminating DEI programs and affirmative action. Project twenty twenty five is particularly focused on enforcing a vision of the family that relies unfixed, narrowly defined gender rules and undermining protections that allow women and LGBTQ plus IA people to
thrive outside of a male dominated, heterosexual family. If you're an undecided voter, if you no undecided voters, or if you have friends and family planning to vote for Donald Trump, please have conversations with them about Project twenty twenty five and its implications for our civil rights and liberties. And if you really want to get involved, you could share one terrifying policy suggestion from Project twenty twenty five each
day for the next twenty five days. Make sure the people around you and in your circles really understand what's going on here. We always love to hear from you, slice hit us up on email, Good game at Wondermedia network dot com, or leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two o four fifty seventy. By the way, shout out to producers mis Alex for holding down the fort while I was out yesterday. Mama bears back and it looks like the Cubs did not trash the place
while I was out yesterday. So good game producers, and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review, y'all. It's easy. Speaking of mama bears, let's rate the voters of Fat Bear Week, rating five out of five feelings of vengeance and satisfaction. Review Graser, a proud mama bear, has won Fat Bear Week for the second straight year. Alaska's cat My National Park and Preserve runs the contest every year.
Fans picked the bear that they think best exemplifies winter preparedness via the fat that they got over the summer. Graser defeated Chunk, the most dominant bear on the Brooks River. And get this, the bear that killed her cub after it slipped over the waterfall fishing for salmon. Graser fought Chunk in an effort to save her cub, but it later died. This is some real reverse line king shit.
The people have spoken and Graser, the mama bear won. Now, it won't bring back her baby, but she deserved the honor for her bravery and middle paw finger to you, Chunk. Now it's your turn. Great and Review have great weekend slices. Talk to you Monday. Good Game, Jess, Good Game, Teresa fe merch sellouts. Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network. Our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Emily Rudder, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and Lindsay Cradowell. Production assistant from Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain