The WNBA is expanding to 18 teams over the next five years, with Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia all set to join the league by 2030.

Cleveland will begin play in 2028, Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia the season after, assuming they get approval from the NBA and WNBA Board of Governors. Toronto and Portland will enter the league next year.

“The demand for women’s basketball has never been higher, and we are thrilled to welcome Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia to the WNBA family,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. “This historic expansion is a powerful reflection of our league’s extraordinary momentum, the depth of talent across the game, and the surging demand for investment in women’s professional basketball.”

All three new teams announced Monday have NBA ownership groups. Each paid a $250 million expansion fee, which is about five times as much as Golden State dished out for a team a few years ago. All three teams will also be investing more money through building practice facilities and other such amenities.

“It’s such a natural fit that when you already have this basketball-related infrastructure, these strategies, cultures that you find to be successful, combinations of personnel that you find to be successful,” said Nic Barlage, CEO of Rock Entertainment Group and the Cavaliers. “Extending that into the WNBA, is just a natural next progression, especially if you have a desire to grow like we do.”

Both Cleveland and Detroit had WNBA teams in the past and Philadelphia was the home for an ABL team.

Detroit sports stars Grant Hill, Chris Webber and Jared Goff will have minority ownership stakes in the team.

The Cleveland and Detroit ownership groups said the Rockers and Shock — the names of the previous teams — would be considered but they’d do their due diligence before deciding on what the franchises will be called.

The Detroit and Cleveland teams will play at the NBA arenas that currently exist, while Philadelphia is planning on a new building that will be completed hopefully by 2030.

Adding these three teams will give the league more natural rivalries with another team on the East Coast and Detroit and Cleveland near each other.

“I think there’s some great historical rivalries in the NBA among these cities and, I think that will carry over to the WNBA,” Detroit Pistons vice president Arn Tellem said. “I would love nothing more to have a rivalry like we do in the NBA with Cleveland and Indiana, Philadelphia and New York and all these great cities and, and I think we will.”

Other cities that bid on teams that didn’t get them include St. Louis; Kansas City, Mo.; Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tenn.; Houston; Miami; Denver; and Charlotte, N.C.

All the metrics, such as attendance, television ratings and sponsorships, have been on the rise the last few seasons.

All-Star Captains

Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier will captain the WNBA All-Star Game on July 19 in Indianapolis the league announced Sunday.

Clark received 1,293,526 votes from fans while Collier had about 100,000 fewer.

The Indiana Fever star, who is sidelined with a groin strain, is averaging 18.2 points and a career-high 8.9 assists per game. She also led the fan voting last season, her rookie year, but the All-Star format was the U.S. Olympic team playing against a select group of WNBA stars so no captains were chosen.

Collier leads the league in scoring at a career-best 24.5 points and is fourth in rebounding at 8.4 a game.

The Fever and Lynx will play each other today in the Commissioner’s Cup final.

The 10 starters were selected from across the WNBA without regard to conference affiliation. Current players and a media panel joined fans in selecting the All-Star starters.

Clark and Collier will draft their fellow starters from a group that was to be revealed on Monday.