As new GM Monica Wright Rogers is introduced, Toronto Tempo lean on luxury of time
'It was evident that she was the right fit,' says president Teresa Resch
The Toronto Tempo's team of 12 now, officially, includes a general manager.
Monica Wright Rogers was introduced as the WNBA expansion team's basketball operations leader in a press conference on Thursday in Toronto.
As the expansion squad moves through its lengthy checklist ahead of its 2026 debut, Wright Rogers joins president Teresa Resch, chief marketing officer Whitney Bell and a few other executives in building out the team.
Still missing: a head coach, players, scouts, ticket sales, additional partnerships and much more.
What the Tempo do have, however, is the luxury of time.
"I want to do a lot of listening and learning." Wright Rogers said. "I think that this is such a unique sports city and I want to be thoughtful in how we operate in our inaugural season. I really want to tap in with some of the other teams' leaders and understand from them what's been successful, what hasn't in this city. And so that's probably top of my to-do list."
Resch said she began the GM hiring process around September and cast a wide net — both to ensure she was making the right decision and to get to know the WNBA herself after many years as a Raptors executive.
Her candidate list was eventually whittled down to about 20 to 25 people and further cut to six before three finalists were brought to Toronto for "more intense" meetings.
In the end, it was Wright Rogers who emerged from what Resch called the interview "wringer."
"She came up here and really represented herself well. You could tell she's really authentic and genuine, had a great plan, was very focused on the purpose and the process, which was great to hear," Resch told CBC Sports.
"So going back and then talking to everybody and hearing the impressions, it was evident that she was the right fit."
Resch added that she would "absolutely" be involved in basketball operations alongside Wright Rogers.
WATCH | Fans primed to welcome women's pro basketball to Toronto:
Plenty to do
There's still an entry draft and entire season that will occur without the Tempo before players can officially come aboard.
"From my own experience, building a team takes time. You want to make sure you make good choices and you get the right talent so I wanted to give our GM a good runway and I think that we've done that and we'll work together to build out this team," Resch said.
Wright Rogers, 36, joins the Tempo after two seasons as an assistant general manager with the Phoenix Mercury. The seven-year WNBA veteran was drafted second overall in 2010 by the Minnesota Lynx after a successful college career at Virginia and went on to win two WNBA titles.
After her playing career ended, Wright Rogers joined the college coaching ranks — a gig that took her on scouting trips through Toronto — before moving onto the WNBA league office and, eventually, the Mercury.
Now, she'll be tasked with building a basketball team from scratch — starting with a head coaching hire she hopes to have completed by the fall and before the expansion draft.
"What we look like on court will be a combination of myself and what our head coach believes in. But you'll see an up-tempo game," Wright Rogers said with a smirk.
"You'll see great quality basketball played by great quality players. And definitely watching the [2025 WNBA expansion team Golden State Valkyries] has given us a great idea of what to expect."
But the Valkyries can only offer so much guidance as the Tempo dive into the deep unknown.
Expansion draft could look different
Since Toronto will enter the league alongside another team in Portland, its expansion draft could look very different from Golden State's.
Resch said the league has yet to indicate what the process may look like.
"I think I would say that the Valkyries' expansion draft we can't really use as example for us. … Of course we paid really close attention and hopefully we can glean some things, but we also have to be really prepared that it's gonna be very, very different," she said.
Meanwhile, the collective bargaining agreement between the players and league will expire at the end of the year.
With a new $2.4-billion US media deal set to kick in for 2026, players — like Canada's Kia Nurse, who signed a one-year deal with the Chicago Sky — have timed their contracts to reach free agency next winter. Wright Rogers noted that 21 all stars will hit the open market.
"We don't have rules around which we were going to operate, right?" Resch said. "So we can plan. Identifying talent is no different. It's just a matter of how we construct rosters and the rules in which we will be playing are unknown and that's hard."
One element that will not change for the Tempo is the requirement to pitch their team and city to players.
Wright Rogers recalled seeing full gyms during her scouting trips to Toronto high schools — a potential sign of the city's commitment to women's basketball.
"Free agency is a big deal in our league because we're a very star-driven league. And being able to have hands-on experience in telling a story of a team and giving free agents an opportunity to choose you, I think that's absolutely applicable to this current role," Wright Rogers said.
Now having made the move to Toronto herself, Wright Rogers can offer a first-hand experience.
"Players want to be in a situation where they feel the support, they can be competitive and win. You can get all of those here. They'll have the top fan base, they'll have support. The business side is so robust that they'll feel support on all sides," she said.
"And so I think it was a no-brainer for me. It'll be a no-brainer for a player to want to play in a market like this."
With more than one year until opening day but plenty left to do, it's a pitch Wright Rogers must get used to making.
