You won’t find the title of Chief Hype Officer in Teresa Resch’s Impressive Basketball Resumebut that’s a big part of his current role. Resch is the president of WNBA Franchise Toronto Tempo, a position that makes her arguably the most important figure in women’s basketball in an entire country. As she helps build Tempo from the ground up — she says she’s still months away from hiring its first general manager — Resch is the franchise’s front-line voice. Last week was important for her as Toronto officially revealed its name (Tempo) and brand identity. (They had to speed things up after the leak on the WNBAthe official website of.)
Resch sat for a 30 minute podcast interview with me this week and discussed many topics that will be of interest to WNBA fans and certainly new Tempo fans. This is an edited version of the conversation.
We have just witnessed the Golden State Valkyries carry out their expansion project. You have publicly stated that you have been in contact with Golden StateThe management of , as well as the management of other WNBA teams. What did you particularly pay attention to when it came to the expansion draft and how they chose their initial roster?
You’re kind of trying to figure it all out because you can’t necessarily project what our experience will be like next year. First of all, (there will be) two teams – us and Portland.
Second, the entire dynamic structure of the league will change and will be governed by the new CBA. This will be the most epic free agent class available, impacting who is available. I am in contact with the Valkyries all the time as well as other teams in the league. It’s definitely a community. They understand that we all have to succeed for the league to succeed. Everyone is very helpful in answering questions.
There are so many different ways to approach an expansion project. Do you have talent that has value across the league that puts you in a position to get trades for the players you actually want? Are you looking for expansion draft players to be on the field for you?
Then the international space. I don’t want to say it’s the Wild West, but it’s untapped. …Also, I found it interesting that there were no exchanges. It will be interesting to see how free agency plays out and if expansion impacts team structure, not only of the Valkyries but of other teams in the league. What we do know is that next year will look like an unprecedented year in the league. We must be ready for anything.
I don’t know if it’s too early to ask you this question, but do you have a philosophy on how you want the Toronto Tempo to play?
Way too early! Way too early! A traditional team president is probably more focused on business than basketball and I may be less traditional because I spent the last 11 years in the Raptors front office.
But we don’t have a single basketball player on the team right now, unless you count me. We are speaking with GM candidates and look forward to welcoming our finalists here in the coming months. From there, they will make up the team and that’s where we can answer your question. I mean, our name is Tempo, so I think we should probably control the game a little bit.
On your whiteboard somewhere, do you have a timeline of when you want a coach to be hired?
I really want to hold my general manager accountable. I believe the relationship between your general manager and your coach is vitally important to the success of an organization. I want them to feel comfortable with this timing and make sure they understand what they need to do.
I have some ideas, but we will discuss them and I want to make sure they are empowered to make this decision.
What are the craziest team name suggestions you’ve received?
We have a podcast where we talked about all the names that were submitted. It was really important for us to be transparent in this process. We got over 10,000 submissions, over a thousand unique names, and then you start going through them.
We had a really good episode on our podcast called “The Cutting Room Floor” and I talked about the different categories and some names that didn’t suit us. It was really fun to go through this process. Those that interested me submitted a name that already existed. Like a lot of people have submitted the Raptors. We will not have the same team name as the NBA one in our same city. Why would we do this? So that was kind of interesting, even though I don’t think they’re crazy.
Being in Canada, there were a lot of questions about the weather and the winter, but we play in the summer. Toronto is one of the most beautiful places in the world this time of year. Not only in Toronto, but across the country, in Vancouver, Alberta, it’s beautiful. The Canadian Rockies are magnificent. Halifax, on the East Coast in the Maritimes, is one of the best places in the world. So why are we talking about blizzards? It was a fun exercise to be a part of and more than anything, it was really fun to bring our fans along.
Have any professional sports teams with Tempo as a nickname stood out to you? This will be unique to your franchise.
Yes. We wanted to be unique. We wanted to stand out from all the other teams, whether in Toronto or around the world. What we liked about the name is that it’s almost like a new category that we’ve opened up.
It’s a name that really speaks to the sport and the game we play. Very often, a name refers to the city or the market, but it does not actually refer to the sport.
Some people like this name. Some people hate it. How aware are you of the social media reaction to the name?
You are certainly interested in knowing how it is received. Do we think everything will be positive? No, I think if everyone liked it, we probably did something wrong. I think the reaction means people care. It means people are paying attention. It means people are engaged. I feel really good about it.
You can go through a very dark place on social media, but there was also a lot of positivity around it. I think we need to give it time. Once you can connect with the game in progress, with a team, players and coaches, it feels different. Once you can wear goods, the feeling is different. There are all these other things that are going to happen over the next year and over the life of this team that will really help shape the Toronto Tempo.
Where are the subscriptions located?
We are now a little over 7,000 in terms of deposits from subscription place holders. We will consider rolling it out in the middle of next year. So in the spring and summer, we will have the ability to convert those season ticket deposits. Then things will go on sale for singles once the calendar is released. The schedule was released on December 2 this season, so we expect the same schedule next year.
What are you thinking about in terms of media coverage?
We position ourselves as Team Canada. We focus on Canadian media. But what we also know is that one in four WNBA fans in Canada are new Canadians, meaning they have a whole network of people and community support that isn’t found abroad. within the borders of Canada.
We truly believe we have the opportunity to elevate the league and the WNBA to global status. We carry this burden and accept it as an opportunity. We think that’s one of the reasons we received an expansion team and we truly believe that our story extends well beyond the borders of this country.
When it comes to our media relations, the one thing we’ve tried to do specifically with the name and logo process is be really transparent. Fans expect a lot from sports teams these days because the news cycle is 24 hours. Very often, it is the talents themselves, the athletes, who lead this action. It’s not just about getting information through teams. This goes through the athletes individually.
If you think about content and the things fans gravitate towards, it’s often not even about gameplay. There will be plenty of super fans who will never watch a full game, but that doesn’t mean they are any less engaged. We need to be able to find channels and ways to talk to them and make sure they know and understand our plan and feel like they’re part of it too.
How many games per season do you think it would be realistic to play in other Canadian cities like Vancouver and Montreal?
It’s a WNBA decision, but I think we’ll be able to influence them somewhat based on how our fans present themselves and what that looks like.
I think we also need to maintain a competitive balance. These are our home games, but we will be away. There are travel concerns, but the charters which have now been established help a lot. You’ll have to feel it. It will be very telling once we get on the field and what impact it will have on the season. We will rely on the league to ensure that there is no competitive advantage or disadvantage for the opponents we face as well. I know the demand will be there.
It’s going to be amazing in these markets and I can’t wait for them to experience the WNBA in a regular season game.
This article was originally published in Athletics.
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