VANCOUVER — Brittney Sykes is expecting the crowd inside Rogers Arena on Friday to be “stupid.” She was playing for the Seattle Storm last year when they faced the Atlanta Dream in Vancouver for the WNBA’s first regular-season game outside of the United States and saw firsthand how excited fans were to see professional women’s basketball up close. Now that they have a Canadian team to cheer for, the Toronto Tempo guard is expecting the madness to reach another level. “I just think it’s great for the fans to be able to come and see multiple of their favourite players in one spot,” Sykes said after Friday’s shootaround. “They get the cheer, they get to boo, whatever, so be it. However, they want to do it. They come out, they drive, they fly, and they come across the state boundaries to come and see us play and support us. So that love right there is unconditional. And we appreciate it.” The Tempo are playing two games in Vancouver, starting with a tilt against fellow expansion side the Portland Fire on Friday. The team will then host the Las Vegas Aces, the reigning WNBA champions, on Sunday. On Saturday, the Tempo will host a fan festival with a 3x3 tournament, player appearances and more. The trip shows how much the league has grown in recent years, Sykes said. “It’s just experiencing the type of fandom that we’re getting, the type of buy-in that we’re getting, the type of expansion that we’re getting — I wouldn’t have thought we had a team in Canada, and now we do,” she said. “I just want us to keep putting out a really great product for these little girls and every little kid … just to believe that they can make it to the next level.” Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello has been part of the WNBA for 27 of its 30 seasons as either a player or a coach. Bringing an expansion team to Canada has had its challenges, she said, but seeing the league’s evolution has been great. “Our league has grown so much,” she said. “We had expansions early, and it wasn’t the right time. This was the right time. I think the sponsorship and the eyes that we have on us is amazing, and the visibility. And any time that you can go to a new city, it’s an opportunity, isn’t it? So we’re a global game, but Canada is making this sport even bigger and better.” The Vancouver visit comes after Toronto played a pair of games at Montreal’s Bell Centre in July. The first, a 108-95 loss to the Dallas Wings, drew a crowd of 20,996, setting an attendance record for a WNBA regular-season game. Visiting different parts of the country is simply part of the Tempo’s identity, Brondello said. “We’re Canada’s team, aren’t we? And I think that’s important,” she said. “We’re trying to build more fans and show them what the Tempo is about and make these players household names … Hopefully we can get more new fans, and not just for the Tempo, for the WNBA.” This report by Gemma Karstens-Smith of The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 21, 2026.
