CLEVELAND — The city's incoming WNBA expansion franchise has secured its first major corporate partnership, announcing Tuesday that Progressive Insurance will serve as its jersey patch sponsor — a groundbreaking deal that marks the first time in league history a company has claimed both available spots on a team's uniform.
Progressive, headquartered in the Cleveland suburb of Mayfield Heights, Ohio, will have its logo featured on the upper left corner of the jersey, as well as a larger placement beneath the numbers on the front. WNBA teams have been permitted to sell both jersey patch positions since the league introduced the sponsorship program, which the Phoenix Mercury first adopted in 2009.
"This one was special to us," said Mari Pumarejo, Progressive's chief marketing officer. "Once we heard that the WNBA was going to bring a team to Cleveland, it was a good fit for us. And once we met Allison and the team, we just knew that our values matched and that we could have the kind of partnership where we could help support women's sports, the community and city."
Cleveland was awarded an expansion franchise on June 30, 2025, marking the WNBA's return to a city that was home to the original Cleveland Rockers — one of the league's eight charter franchises from 1997 through 2003. The new yet-to-be-named team is set to tip off its inaugural season in May 2028, operated by Dan Gilbert's Rock Entertainment Group.
The franchise has already generated significant community interest, with 9,000 season-ticket deposits placed. Business operations president Allison Howard said the organisation has used its extended runway to build a deep connection with the local fanbase.
"We started to listen to the community right away and they wanted to know more and more," Howard said. "We are definitely taking our time to make sure that we're doing it right."
The Progressive deal is the latest chapter in the company's deep ties to Cleveland sports. It has held the naming rights to the city's Major League Baseball stadium since 2008, and its CEO Tricia Griffith is also an investor in the Cleveland Astra, a women's soccer team set to debut that same year.
The team's official name is expected to be unveiled in the coming months, with a special event scheduled for Aug. 4 at Rocket Arena.
Sources
- https://apnews.com/article/cleveland-wnba-progressive-0d8699e8c22d8fdac4d1321c61d46eeb
