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Christopher Boan has been covering sports and sports betting for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
Name the Sisterly Love Squad: Odds on Philadelphia’s WNBA Team Moniker Favor a Patriotic Theme
Philadelphia’s expansion WNBA team will debut in 2030, becoming the league’s 18th team. With no previous WNBA identity to fall back on in the land of Pennsylvania sports betting, fan and media speculation is centered on names rooted in history and freedom. Ownership has pledged to involve fans in the naming process.
With that in mind, the team at PennStakes.com compiled a list of team names that the 18th franchise in the WNBA can go with when the team takes the floor come 2030, revolving around the city’s rich history, on and off the court.
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Philadelphia WNBA Team Name Odds
Team Name | Source/Label | Odds | Implied Probability (%) |
Freedom | Speculative (Patriotic theme) | +320 | 23.8% |
Independence | Speculative (Historic reference) | +375 | 21.1% |
Liberty Belles | AI generated (Liberty Bell word play) | +425 | 19.0% |
Revolution | Speculative (Historic/empowerment) | +500 | 16.7% |
Field (any other name) | All other possibilities | +420 | 19.2% |
Early favorites such as “Freedom,” “Independence,” and “Liberty Belles” reflect the city’s revolutionary spirit and modern empowerment themes. Keep PennStakes.com bookmarked for the best PA sportsbook promo codes.
Philly Returns To Women’s Professional Basketball
Philly has never had a WNBA franchise, but the city had a club in the American Basketball League. The Philadelphia Rage competed in the now-shuttered league from 1997 to 1998. The Rage started in Richmond, but the club’s latter two seasons were played on the hallowed grounds of The Palestra on the University of Pennsylvania campus. The Rage finished 13-31 in the 1997-98 season in Philadelphia, and had started 9-5 when the league ceased operations partway into the 1998-99 season.
While the Rage weren’t very successful on the court, they did serve as the launchpad of sorts for future WNBA star and current South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley. The graduate of Philadelphia’s Dobbins Tech, who starred at Virginia in college, landed on the All-ABL First Team in 1996 and 1997. She went on to play nine seasons in the WNBA from 1999-2006.
Fast forward 27 years after the ABL’s demise, and the City of Brotherly Love is finally getting another shot at hosting a professional women’s basketball team.
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Philadelphia WNBA Expansion Franchise Possibilities
When it comes to picking out a potential team name for Philly’s first WNBA club, most of the top options revolve around the city’s connection with America’s Colonial era, with nicknames like the Philadelphia Freedom, Independence, Liberty Belles and Revolution all relating to the city’s tie-in with the Revolutionary War.
These odds are exclusive to PennStakes.com, where we review Pennsylvania sports betting apps so bettors can sign up with confidence.
The of the four candidates on our list are straightforward ties to the founding period of American history. But the fourth (the Liberty Belles) gives a tongue-in-cheek nod to one of the city’s crowning attractions, potentially opening the door for the next era of women’s professional sports in the Keystone State.
Philly’s future WNBA team will have to wait a bit longer than the other two markets that are joining the league (Cleveland in 2028 and Detroit in 2029), but the work towards fielding a competitive expansion franchise starts now.
Part of that process is making sure the team’s nickname connects with the city’s culture, fitting alongside the other basketball team owned by Josh Harris (the Philadelphia 76ers). That would help give sports fans in the city reason to welcome the club with open arms long before the 2030 WNBA season. As for 2025, bet365 PA Sportsbook lists the defending champion New York Liberty as the favorite to win the WNBA title at +130 odds as of July 1.
USA Today photo by Kirby Lee
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