Woj: Knicks Were Only NBA Team to Vote Against Toronto's WNBA Expansion Franchise

The New York Knicks were the only party to vote against expanding the WNBA to Toronto, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Wojnarowski reported the vote was unanimous among the 13 WNBA team governors and all but one team governor from the NBA was a yes.

Larry Tanenbaum, the chairman for Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, is a leading figure behind the expansion franchise. The NBA's Toronto Raptors are among the sports franchises under the MLSE umbrella.

The Knicks and Raptors continue to be locked in litigation centered around allegations assistant video coordinator Ikechukwu Azotam funneled proprietary information to Toronto prior to accepting a job with the team. The Raptors have denied the claims and hinted at a possible countersuit.

Granted, this isn't the first time the Knicks have gone on the record in opposition to WNBA expansion. Wojnarowski reported last November that team governor James Dolan had voted against putting a team in San Francisco.

Dolan's track record as a WNBA franchise owner precedes him as well.

The Madison Square Garden Company announced in November 2017 it intended to sell the New York Liberty. That coincided with a move out of Madison Square Garden to Westchester County Center, a much smaller venue that was both far outside of New York City and simply not suited for high-level professional basketball.

The Liberty finally changed hands in 2019, with Joe and Clara Tsai taking over.

As team governor of the Knicks, Dolan nonetheless gets to continue to have a say over WNBA business. The NBA's 30 franchises and WNBA's 13 teams each have a 42 percent ownership stake in the league. The remaining 16 percent is split among the investors who contributed $75 million during a capital raise in February 2022.