LONGMONT, Colo. — Twelve teams will try to fill vacancies April 10 in the WNBA Draft, where the players will then be competing for only 144 total active roster spots this upcoming season.
It's clear that expansion is necessary and one young visionary believes Denver should be high on the wish list.
"First, I came up with the name and I thought of the Rush," fifth grade student Maya Loughlin said. "It could be like fast or the gold rush or the silver rush."
Loughlin has the future of the WNBA in her hands.
"For the court, I thought to do purple with silver and gold and white lettering," she said, as she showed off her future plans.
Loughlin attends an elementary school in Longmont, where she used her art inquiry project to depict her own WNBA team, the Centennial State Rush.
The team's colors are gold and purple, have a moose for a mascot and wear three different jersey sets -- all designed by Loughlin. In her mind, she wondered why a team wasn't already playing in the basketball hotbed of Denver?
"Basketball is getting really popular and I think that girls should have an opportunity to play it professionally," she said.
Expansion for the WNBA is still about two years away, with one to two teams being considered. While Loughlin hopes Denver is on the list, Las Vegas general manager Natalie Williams says the league looks closely at market stability.
"I think the biggest thing is just getting the markets up and running and making sure they have the ability to be stable over many, many years to come," Williams said. "We don't want a franchise to come up and only be able to sustain itself for a few years."
And what does Williams think about Loughlin's proposal?
"I love her passion and you want kids like that because they're the ones that are going to create the future," she said. "I think that we're looking at an amazing young woman who is going to be a future president of not only the WNBA or a WNBA team, but I'm excited for her and I'm looking forward to her future."
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said back in September that one-two teams could be on the list for expansion, with the Bay Area, Philadelphia, Toronto, and Nashville leading the pack, but nearly 100 cities could be considered and evaluated by 2025.
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