The Cleveland WNBA team has a name—the same one as another women’s sports franchise. But it doesn’t appear there will be any issues with the two teams coexisting.
The Cleveland WNBA franchise, which will debut in 2028, announced at an event Tuesday that it will be named the Sirens. The name is a call to Lake Erie, which sits in the northern part of the city. The team also revealed its team colors called “Sirens Blue” and “Erie Blue.”
“We knew that this team needed to be tied to our greatest asset: Lake Erie,” team president Allison Howard said Tuesday. The team is owned by Rock Entertainment Group, which also manages the NBA’s Cavaliers.
Howard said the organization spent more than a year studying the best fit name and branding for the team, which included focus groups.
But Cleveland is not the first women’s pro team to take the Sirens moniker. In 2023, the New York Sirens were part of the inaugural four teams of the PWHL—a league owned by Mark Walter, who also owns the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.
However, a source close to the situation told FOS that there will be no trademark issues between the two sides, and the WNBA franchise held conversations with the PWHL team. The PWHL declined to comment on the matter, while the New York Sirens did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It is not uncommon for sports teams in different leagues to share a name. For example, the San Francisco MLB team and the New York football team are both named the Giants. But according to trademark law expert Alexandra Jane Roberts, the key question about trademark issues here is whether the new team “will create a likelihood of consumer confusion.”
But in this case, given that the city, logos, and most importantly, sports are different, she believes there’s little reason to have an issue—especially if the teams had had discussions or an agreement beforehand.
IP attorney Josh Gerben tells FOS there may have been a bigger issue had the Sirens taken a name from a more prominent team, but the startup nature of both organizations likely factored into them being able to coexist.
“If the Cleveland Sirens decided to call themselves the Cleveland Yankees or Cleveland Phillies, I think they might have had a problem with those teams,” Gerben said.
The Cleveland Sirens filed a trademark claim on May 15, 2026, that went live Monday. The filing was made by CLE Travel Sports, LLC, not the Rock Entertainment Group. But a source tells FOS that CLE Travel Sports is associated with the Sirens organization. Some organizations have chosen to use separate entities to file trademarks to avoid leaks.
The Sirens announcement also means that Cleveland chose against returning to the Rockers name that it used from 1997 to 2003, when it was one of the WNBA’s founding teams. The name was a tribute to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame located in the city’s downtown area.
However, the WNBA is facing opposition for the rights to the Cleveland Rockers trademark. The Women’s Basketball League, another professional league that is yet to launch, applied to trademark the name in 2023. The team filed an opposition against the WNBA, claiming the league has not used the name since 2003.
“It argues that the WNBA abandoned the trademark and that the WBL has priority,” Roberts said.
The issue is the opposite of what’s happening in Houston, where the Comets have already announced that it will use the name next season when it moves from Connecticut despite trademark issues. Delaware-based organization TSTM Holdings filed a trademark that is being opposed by the WNBA.
“The WNBA claims the applicant is the junior user and its use will create a likelihood of confusion because people continue to associate the mark with the original team and because the WNBA did not abandon its rights,” Roberts said.
When the WNBA’s Sirens debut in 2028, they will play at the Rocket Arena, the same home as the Cavaliers. The venue fits close to 19,500 fans, which would be the largest capacity in the WNBA.
WNBA expansion franchises in Philadelphia and Detroit will debut in 2029 and 2030, respectively, bringing the league’s total to 18 teams. The league is increasing the total number of its regular-season games from 44 to 50 next year and is expected to go up to 52 games by 2029 as a result of the expansion teams.
