Rapper Eminem is part of the effort to bring a WNBA expansion team to Detroit, according to someone familiar with the process, joining a bid group that includes some of the city’s most prominent sports owners, executives and athletes.
The Detroit native is part of a group that has been led by Tom Gores and the Detroit Pistons, said the person, who was granted anonymity because the details are private. Others in the group include owners of the Red Wings, Tigers and Lions, marking a city-wide effort to bring a women’s basketball team back to Michigan’s largest city.
The WNBA is in the middle of expansion talks, originally expected to select one city, that many now expect could cover three new teams. That’s on top of new franchises in San Francisco, Toronto and Portland that are joining the league in the coming seasons. Owners for all three of those new teams—and many of the bidders in this current round—are backed by NBA owners.
It’s unclear what the Detroit group has offered to pay, but many other groups are discussing expansion fees—cash, not costs committed to the teams—well into the nine figures, sources said. Reps for Eminem and the Pistons didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
WNBA team owners hold about 42% of the league—that’s separate from the equity also held by the NBA or a consortium of investors in a 2022 capital raise. Expansion will only dilute the 42% held by league owners, Sportico reported earlier this week.
Bids for this ongoing round of expansion were due at the end of January, and the process drew interest from groups both inside the NBA and beyond. More than 10 cities submitted formal bids in advance of the deadline, The Athletic reported in early February, including groups in Austin, Charlotte, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, Nashville and Philadelphia.
The Detroit WNBA franchise would play at Little Caesars Arena, the $863 million home of the Pistons and Red Wings. The potential ownership group includes Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp, Red Wings/Tigers owner Denise Ilitch and Arn Tellem, a longtime sports agent who is now a Pistons executive. The group also includes former NBA players Grant Hill and Chris Webber, Lions quarterback Jared Goff, General Motors CEO Mary Barra, sports investor Roger Ehrenberg and Steve Jbara, the founder of the G League team in Grand Rapids.
Detroit had a WNBA team from the late 1990s through 2009, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver recently told the Pistons’ website that Detroit “needs to get a WNBA team again.”
“I actually think it’s really just a question of when the Shock comes back,” he said. “Over time, there’s going to be a lot of expansion in the WNBA. That’s a first-class group led by Tom [Gores].”
Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, grew up in Detroit, and his ties to the city have become a large part of his celebrity. That includes his fandom of local teams. He has been a prominent figure these past few seasons at Lions games, for example.
WNBA valuations have jumped dramatically in recent years. The average franchise is now worth about $96 million, according to Sportico’s most recent numbers, led by the Las Vegas Aces at $140 million.
