Toronto Tempo unveil ‘women-first’ facilities at $38m arena ahead of inaugural WNBA season

The Toronto Tempo have just pulled back the curtain on their brand-new locker rooms ahead of their WNBA debut.

In May 2024, the WNBA announced its expansion into Canada, awarding Toronto an expansion team, the league’s first outside the United States.

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The Tempo, owned by Kilmer Sports Ventures, will begin play in the 2026 season and alongside Portland Fire will become the league’s newest franchises.

They will play their home games at Coca-Cola Coliseum, and the venue has undergone some much-needed modernization in preparation for the team’s arrival..

The Coliseum has stood since 1921, originally as a livestock arena for the Canadian National Exhibition and the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.

It underwent extensive renovations in 2003, when it became home to various hockey franchises, and has now been modernised once again to meet WNBA standards.

One of the biggest upgrades needed to accommodate the Tempo was the locker‑room facilities, which the team unveiled on social media.

“Where luxury meets function,” The Tempo posted on X, including multiple photos of their new room.

“Our game day locker room and player lounge welcome our athletes with intentional state of the art details, designed by a largely female consultant team – by women, for women.

“This space features full-length mirrors, porcelain marble features, custom lockers, a fully equipped fitness room, and a flex room designed to transform between a nursing room, salon and other player-support uses.

“The Tempo speed lines are embedded throughout the design, with colour used to activate high-performance zones like the fitness room, while dark, monochromatic elements evoke a clear mindset as transitional spaces, intentionally designed to feel calm in moments of focus.”

The brand-new locker rooms were developed in collaboration with EllisDon, Kilmer Infrastructure, and Brisbin Brook Beynon Architects.

“From day one, it was essential for us to create a facility that truly supports our players – not just as athletes, but as people,” said theTempo’s general manager Monica Wright Rogers, via the team’s website.

“These locker rooms were designed to give them everything they need to prepare, recover, and perform at their highest level, so they can be the best versions of themselves every single day.”

Toronto gearing up for inaugural WNBA season with multiple signings

The brand new locker rooms will make their debut on May 8, when the Tempo host the Washington Mystics.

The team continues to gear up for their inaugural season with multiple signings, including Brittney Sykes.

Sykes averaged 14.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, and four assists per game last season between Washington and the Seattle Storm.

The 32-year-old has career averages of 12.3 points, four rebounds, and 2.9 assists over 279 career games.

She was named to the league’s All-Defensive first team in 2021, and the second team in 2020 and 2022.

The Tempo also announced the signings of Marina Mabrey and Julie Allemand, who were taken in the first round of the expansion draft last week.

All eyes continue to be on WNBA Free Agency, after the league finally reached agreement with the players over a landmark CBA to go with a gamechanging broadcast deal.

And on Monday night in New York it will be the turn of the NCAA stars to take center stage at the WNBA Draft.

As it stands Toronto have four selection across the three rounds, picking sixth overall in the first round, before a pair of second round picks at 22 and 26 with their final pick coming with at 36.

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