Cleveland's new WNBA team rejects 'Lady Cavaliers' identity in unveiling of name, color scheme

Sirens: mythical creatures who perched along rocky shores, using their beautiful, hypnotic songs to lure unsuspecting sailors to their deaths.

Also, Cleveland’s new WNBA team.

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The expansion franchise unveiled its name, logo and colors Tuesday, officially introducing the Cleveland Sirens ahead of the team’s inaugural season in 2028.

The nautical branding is a nod to Lake Erie, but the organization had another objective in mind: making sure the new team did not look like a women’s version of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

"We don't want to be the Lady Cavaliers, and we don't want to be wine and gold," Sirens President of Business Operations Allison Howard said. "We really need to be very separate, very distinctive."

The Sirens and Cavaliers are both owned by Dan Gilbert’s Rock Entertainment Group and will share Rocket Arena. But Cleveland’s WNBA leadership made clear from the beginning that the two franchises should not share an identity.

Instead of borrowing the Cavaliers’ color scheme, the Sirens will use two shades of blue — appropriately named "Sirens Blue" and "Erie Blue." Their logo features the mythical creature beneath the team name, while the "S" in the wordmark contains a hidden "CLE."

"We love our Cavaliers, and they are such an amazing part of this organization," Howard said. "But this team can exist very much on the independent side of the Cavaliers."

Howard said the organization expects the Sirens to attract a different audience than the Cavaliers.

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"They eat different food, they drink different drinks," Howard said. "They get here earlier. They purchase merchandise differently, and they come from all over the state and even outside the state."

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Cleveland’s approach differs from several WNBA teams that share ownership with NBA counterparts. The Los Angeles Sparks mirror the Lakers’ purple and gold, while the Phoenix Mercury use the Suns’ purple and orange. The Minnesota Lynx and Timberwolves also feature similar combinations of blue and green, and the Indiana Fever share navy and gold with the Pacers, though the Fever incorporate red into their identity, too.

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The Sirens, however, are taking a path closer to the New York Liberty and Golden State Valkyries, which both separate themselves visually from their city’s NBA franchises.

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The Sirens will not be Cleveland’s first WNBA team.

The Cleveland Rockers were one of the league’s original eight franchises when the WNBA launched in 1997. Named as a tribute to the city’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Rockers played seven seasons before folding in 2003 after owner Gordon Gund was unable to find a buyer.

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Former Rockers player Janice Braxton narrated the Sirens’ introductory video, which carried the theme "Hear the Call." Braxton and several other former Rockers players also attended Tuesday’s unveiling.

The new franchise has already collected approximately 9,000 season-ticket deposits, and Howard expects that number to grow now that Cleveland fans finally know the name of their team.