Tampa is getting a brand-new professional women's basketball team, and the Upshot League wants local fans to help name it before the franchise even takes the court. The league announced that Tampa will be home to its newest team, with the inaugural season launching in May 2027 at the USF Yuengling Center.
The announcement, first reported by FOX 13 Tampa Bay, makes Tampa the latest addition to a league that is based in Jacksonville and wrapped its first season in August 2026. Garland Cooper, president of Upshot Tampa, said women's sports and women's basketball “have taken off in recent years” and called Tampa an obvious choice for an expansion team entering the 2027 season, according to the station's report.
Tampa joins Baltimore and Nashville as the league's newest expansion markets, part of a broader push that has already added the Baltimore Starlings at Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena and the Nashville Vibe at Vanderbilt's Memorial Gymnasium, as reported by Exclusive Access. Those two cities were revealed in September 2026, shortly before Tampa's addition rounded out the league's expansion class.
Why Tampa Bay Made the Short List
Tampa's case for a franchise leans heavily on its recent track record with marquee women's sports events. The city has hosted the NCAA Women's Final Four four times, most recently in 2025, and the Tampa Bay region has hosted the Florida High School girls' flag football state championships for three consecutive years, per the station's report. Florida was the first state to officially recognize girls' flag football as a varsity sport back in 2003, and the FHSAA championships have run at Tampa's AdventHealth Training Center for three straight years through May 2026, according to the Florida High School Athletic Association.
The region also already has a women's soccer champion to point to. Tampa Bay Sun FC, the area's inaugural professional women's soccer franchise, was welcomed by the Tampa area in 2024 and went on to win the USL Super League championship in June 2025 with a 1-0 victory over Fort Lauderdale United FC, according to the team's season recap on Wikipedia.
A League Built Outside the WNBA
The Upshot League is not affiliated with the WNBA, instead positioning itself as a separate domestic platform for players who don't land one of the WNBA's limited roster spots. Upshot players secured six WNBA developmental contracts during or after the 2026 season, the station's report notes. The league's first season included four teams — the Jacksonville Waves, Savannah Steel, Charlotte Crown and Greensboro Groove — before expanding into the Tampa Bay area alongside Baltimore and Nashville for 2027.
That inaugural season ended with the Charlotte Crown defeating the top-seeded Jacksonville Waves 81-76 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on August 29, 2026, with championship MVP Deja Kelly scoring 29 points, according to News4JAX. Hoodline previously covered the Jacksonville Waves' inaugural season, including how the Waves honored ex-hoops star Sierra McKnight amid her cancer fight.
Behind the scenes, the league has been building out its leadership. In September 2026, the Upshot League promoted six-time WNBA All-Star Taj McWilliams-Franklin to Deputy Commissioner, while active WNBA player Lexie Brown joined as the organization's first active player-investor, according to the Upshot League. The league was founded by Zawyer Sports & Entertainment CEO Andy Kaufmann, Deloitte veteran Mark Walsh and former WNBA president Donna Orender, launching play in May 2026 backed by $40 million in initial capital from more than 90 investors, including basketball legends Tamika Catchings, Cheryl Miller and Ann Meyers Drysdale, per the Jacksonville Daily Record.
Where Tampa's Games Will Be Played
Tampa's franchise will play its games at the USF Yuengling Center starting in May 2027. The 10,500-seat campus arena opened in 1980 and has received more than $43 million in capital renovations since 2000, according to Wikipedia's entry on the venue. The arena was originally known as the USF Sun Dome before securing its current naming-rights partnership in 2018, and it recently hosted the Hispanic Heritage concert featuring Gente de Zona.
The Upshot League has been candid about its growth ambitions. Co-founder Andy Kaufmann announced in May 2026 that the league aims to scale from six teams in 2027 to 10 to 12 teams by 2028, with a long-term target of 30 franchises nationwide, per Wikipedia. The league operates a 34-game regular-season schedule per team running from May through August, structuring its calendar to give rostered players domestic competition and development opportunities outside the WNBA's 144 main roster spots.
Name the Team, Fill the Seats
For now, Tampa's franchise doesn't have an official name. The team has launched a “Name the Team” campaign inviting fans to submit ideas for the franchise's official name and logo at tampaupshot.com, with the reveal set for December 1, 2026. It's a grassroots approach that mirrors the local buy-in the league is counting on to fill a 10,500-seat arena for a new summer league.
Beyond basketball and soccer, Tampa's transit system has already shown it can handle a surge of women's sports fans. During the 2025 NCAA Women's Final Four at Amalie Arena, regional transit authority HART recorded nearly 25,000 passenger trips on the TECO Line Streetcar system over the championship weekend, according to the HART Transit Blog. That kind of turnout is part of why Upshot leadership is betting the Tampa Bay area is ready for a team of its own.
