The Toronto Tempo got their first taste of the city’s basketball buzz before Marina Mabrey and Brittney Sykes even played a game there. After training camp, Mabrey, Sykes and a handful of teammates went to Scotiabank Arena on Thursday night for the Raptors’ Game 3 playoff meeting with the Cavaliers, then saw the building fill again on Sunday as Toronto rallied its crowd to consecutive wins and a tied series.
Sykes said the scene “was crazy in there,” adding that the atmosphere and energy gave her chills. Mabrey called the experience amazing and said she hoped the Tempo could build something similar when the WNBA club opens its first season. Sykes said fans kept telling the players they would bring the same kind of noise to the Tempo someday, and she answered that the club does not have that many seats but she intended to hold them to it.
The visit came during the Tempo’s first week in Toronto, when the expansion team was still settling in after camp and the city was still learning its new franchise. The Tempo are being introduced as the first international W franchise, and the early buzz has already followed the players beyond the arena. Multiple players were recognized on the road, and some heard their names shouted from across the street as they explored the city.
That instant recognition mattered because it showed Toronto’s basketball appetite is not waiting for the first tipoff on May 8. The team’s arrival has already become part of the city’s sports rhythm, with Mabrey and Sykes also meeting Raptors superfan Nav Bhatia, who posted photos of the pair trying on his championship rings. Bhatia said he has floor seats and season tickets for the Tempo’s inaugural summer, and in a long Instagram post introducing Sykes, he said he could not wait for the season opener.
The friction point is easy to see: Toronto is already loud for the Raptors, but the Tempo still have to turn that borrowed energy into their own. Bhatia can promise rings and seats, and fans can promise noise, but the real test comes when the new team has to make the city care on its own terms. For now, the players have a preview of what is possible, and Toronto has a preview of the crowd it will be asked to show up with on May 8.
