CLEVELAND — Cleveland's yet-to-be-named WNBA expansion franchise has secured a landmark sponsorship deal before playing a single game. Progressive Insurance has purchased both available jersey patch spots on the team's uniforms, marking the first time in WNBA history that a single sponsor has occupied two placement positions on one team's kit.
The agreement covers the upper left corner patch as well as the larger spot beneath the numbers on the front of the jersey. Since the WNBA began allowing jersey sponsorships in 2009 — when the Phoenix Mercury became the league's first team to sell patch inventory — no franchise had ever sold both positions to the same brand.
"We have a smaller partnership with Chicago that we announced a couple months ago, but 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."
The Cleveland expansion franchise, owned by Dan Gilbert's Rock Entertainment Group, was awarded on June 30, 2025, and is set to begin play in May 2028. The city previously hosted the Cleveland Rockers, an original WNBA franchise that operated from 1997 to 2003 before folding.
Progressive, headquartered in suburban Mayfield Heights, Ohio, already has deep ties to Cleveland sports: the company has held naming rights to the city's Major League Baseball stadium since 2008. Progressive CEO Tricia Griffith is also an investor in the Cleveland Astra, a women's soccer team expected to launch in 2028.
The franchise reported 9,000 season-ticket deposits over the past year, signaling strong local demand. The team's official name is expected to be unveiled within the next two months, and Rock Entertainment Group has teased "a special event" scheduled for August 4 at Rocket Arena.
"We were going to fully stand up the team until closer to about two years out, but we started to listen to the community right away," said Allison Howard, president of business operations for the Cleveland WNBA franchise. "We are definitely taking our time to make sure that we're doing it right."
Sources
- https://apnews.com/article/cleveland-wnba-progressive-0d8699e8c22d8fdac4d1321c61d46eeb
