On a mild Tuesday evening in the west end of Toronto, the WNBA's Tempo welcomed fans into their home for the first time to kick off its inaugural season with an event called Before the Bounce.
Before the Bounce offered fans a first look at the inaugural court design, a panel featuring the team's president, head coach and general manager, and a performance by the team’s dance crew, the Toronto Tempo Rhythm, among other activities at Coca-Cola Coliseum on April 14.
The court, made with one hundred per cent maple wood, features the team logo at half court painted in the team’s signature colours, Borealis Blue and Tempo Bordeaux.
The hardwood also has Toronto’s signature speedlines, representing the six boroughs of the city and the sixth player in the league, the fans. It also spotlights the team’s founding partners, Sephora and CIBC courtside and its partners Instacart and Tampax on the basketball nets.
But the court unveiling wasn’t the only highlight of the evening.
The excitement was palpable as thousands of fans roared when Kia Nurse appeared on the jumbotron, who looked elated by the warm welcome. Nurse signed with the Tempo earlier in the day as the first Canadian for the team on a one-year deal with an undisclosed salary.
Raptors Superfan Nav Bhatia and Tempo principal owner (and former Raptors president) Masai Ujiri were also in attendance at the event.
In addition to the Tempo showcasing its new hardwood and the surprise appearances, the organization also introduced its dance troupe and held a “fireside chat” with team president Teresa Resch, head coach Sandy Brondello and general manager Monica Wright Rogers.
If it wasn’t already clear from the first steps of building its franchise – the long process of the groundwork and assembling its roster – the ladies cut right to the chase about wanting to feel the excitement of what’s to come for the team.
Brondello who was ecstatic at the fact that they finally have players, praising the work of the team's GM to get to this point.
“I like the team we put together, Monica has worked extremely hard, she probably needs to sleep for a month,” she said.
Brondello also praised her coaching staff and said that she believes that the team they’ve put together is “the best of the best.”
Brondello, 57, was hired as the head coach of the Toronto Tempo shortly after the 2025 playoffs following three decorated seasons with the New York Liberty. Originally from Mackay, Aus., she’s also coached the Australian women's national team for almost a decade.
As for the components to compile the full roster, Wright-Rogers also spoke a similar message when she said, “we took what the city gave us.”
“One thing I feel like is consistent with all the players is we see competitive nature, we see toughness, we see them wanting to be better,” she said.
“As we look down the roster, I just think you’ll see players that want this, that want to be good, that want to win and that’s all we can ask for,” Wright-Rogers said.
She was named to the position in February 2025, after being an assistant manager to the Phoenix Mercury for two seasons. Also, a former WNBA champion, Wright Rogers joins Brondello as the first GM-head coach duo in the league to also be former players.
When speaking about the culture of the organization, Resch stressed the importance of the Tempo's core values.
“When we first started this organization, we had our core values – our core values of growth integrity and joy – and it’s something we tried to bring to work every single day,” Resch said.
“And I see all the people running this thing today bringing those traits, and we cannot wait for the players to come and evolve that culture in a way that can truly represent everybody here,” she said.
Resch joined the league's second expansion team as team president in March 2024 after spending just over a decade in the Raptors front office. In that time she became one of first female executives in the Raptors' front office and eventually switched roles in 2017 to become the Vice President of Basketball Operations.
When will the Tempo get started?
The Toronto Tempo will make history once again in the same venue in its inaugural pre-season game. The Tempo will take on the Connecticut Sun on April 29 at 7 p.m. before travelling to Minneapolis to face the Minnesota Lynx on May 1.
But before then, Brondello said there is still work to be done.
“Obviously the goal is always to win a championship, but I like to focus on the process,” she said. “It’s what we do every day - we come to work, we handle the highs and lows, we stay consistent - and we make sure that we buy into being the very best we can day in, day out.”
“And if we can do that, we could be a pretty good team and we’ll continue to build on that,” she said.
