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City of Detroit claps back at Sophie Cunningham after WNBA expansion dig

Chandler Vesselsby:Chandler Vessels•07/02/25•

ChandlerVessels

sophie cunningham detroit
Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The city of Detroit fired back at Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham for her comments Tuesday about it being selected for WNBA expansion. Cunningham said in an interview prior to that evening’s WNBA Commissioner Cup final that she didn’t know “how excited (players) are to be going to Detroit or (Cleveland).”

That led to the official X account for the city of Detroit drumming up a response. It cited the success of the previous WNBA franchise, the Detroit Shock, which won three championships in its existence from 1998-2009. It also called Detroit a “sports city,” noting the success of its other professional teams.

“The last time we were home to a WNBA team (Detroit Shock) we ranked top five in attendance for five straight seasons, No. 1 in attendance for three straight seasons and set a single-game attendance record of 22,076 fans at Game 3 of the 2003 WNBA Finals,” the post read. “Additionally more than 775,000 people were excited to come to Detroit for the 2024 NFL draft. Detroit is a sports town. We’re sure we’ll see the same excitement for the WNBA returning.”

The Detroit Shock were highly successful during their time as a franchise, and there was plenty of fan interest. They led the league in attendance for three straight seasons from 2006-08.

However, the team dropped to fifth in attendance and lost $2 million during its final season in 2009, according to the Detroit Free-Press. After owner Bill Davidson died, his wife, Karen, sold the team and the new owners relocated it to Tulsa. The franchise stayed in Tulsa through 2015 before relocating again, and is currently the Dallas Wings.

Detroit is also home to NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL teams. It has the fifth-most championships among the four major sports with 22 total.

Sophie Cunningham’s point was less about the city of Detroit supporting the team and more about whether players would want to live there. She argued that there were more desirable destinations, at least from her point of view.

“You want to listen to your players, too,” she said. “Where do they want to play? Where are they going to get excited to play and draw fans? I do think that Miami would have been a great one. Everyone loves Florida. Nashville is an amazing city. Kansas City, amazing opportunity. There’s a huge arena downtown that no one’s using. I think the women’s soccer league is showing that people draw.

“So I’m not so sure what the thought process is there. But at the end of the day, you also want to make sure that you’re not expanding our league too fast. …So I just think it’s kind of a hard decision-making situation. But man, I don’t know how excited people are to be going to Detroit or (Cleveland).”