February 24, 2025
Locked On Women’s Basketball: Watching the Toronto Tempo and WNBA grow in Canada
"It's just so incredible to be at a place where we are, not even just in Toronto, but Canada," - Hayley McGoldrick
Today on Locked on Women’s Basketball, The Next’s two Canadian writers – Chelsea Leite and Hayley McGoldrick — talk all things WNBA, Toronto Tempo, and women’s sports in Canada.
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First, Hayley begins by talking about what it has been like trying to cover the WNBA in Canada.
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Here at The Next, in addition to the 24/7/365 written content our staff provides, we also host the daily Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast. Join us Monday through Saturday each week as we discuss all things WNBA, collegiate basketball, basketball history and much more. Listen wherever you find podcasts or watch on YouTube.
“It’s definitely difficult, because the landscape wasn’t really here,” she said. “I was one of very few (WNBA writers) in Canada. There’s obviously so many people who came before me who have been covering this league since there were 200 people watching the Liberty instead of a sold-out crowd at Barclays. You know, there’s definitely so many who came before me, but it was hard, and I think of not even being able to watch games here, it was kind of like, ‘okay, I’m like, looking at box scores. I’m trying to see what storylines are relevant when I can’t even watch these games.'”
Later, the two discuss the future of the Tempo being Canada’s first WNBA team and how women’s sports have boomed in Canada.
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“It’s just so incredible to be at a place where we are, not even just in Toronto, but Canada,” Hayley said. “… I could never imagine that we’d be at a point where this summer in Vancouver, we’re gonna have our third WNBA Canada game, which is so incredible. We’re gonna have an entire (soccer) league that’s playing out this summer, we have the PWHL.”
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