BEREA, Ohio — As the W prepares to return to The Land in 2028 with a WNBA expansion team, they can already count one Browns player as one of their biggest fans.
Cornerback Greg Newsome II has a lengthy history of supporting women’s sports, particularly women’s basketball, and was thrilled to hear the news this summer that the league is awarding Cleveland the league’s 16th franchise.
The team will begin playing in the 2028 season, nearly 25 years after the last game was played by the Cleveland Rockers.
“I’m super excited,” Newsome said after the Browns’ seventh training camp practice on Wednesday morning. “I will be at every single game. I will be there supporting. Shoutout to the WNBA. I’m super excited that they got a team back here and I know the fan base will travel. We’ll all be there and it’ll be amazing.”
Supporting women’s basketball isn’t an act for Newsome, who was only three years old when the Rockers left Cleveland in 2003.
When the Browns selected him in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft, he wore a black suit with messages emblazoned on it in red letters, including “Women Can Ball Too.”
In the Browns locker room, he’s sported WNBA jerseys as well as a sweatshirt with the league’s logo. He’s offered up thoughts on Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark and Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers, both on social media and in the Browns locker room.
He’s also been active volunteering with the Browns’ recent successful effort to get girls flag football sanctioned as an official OHSAA high school sports, attending local girls’ flag football tournaments over the years.
A big reason for his interest in women’s basketball specifically? His older sister Zakiya who played and was a guard at Division III North Park University in their hometown of Chicago.
While it’s no question Newsome would provide some front-row support for Cleveland’s WNBA team (which still needs to unveil its new branding, and hopes to do so in the coming year with “Rockers” still on the table), it remains to be seen whether he will still be a Cleveland Brown come 2028.
The corner is currently playing on his fifth-year option at the fully guaranteed amount of $13.37 million. Last year, he struggled with injuries, including missing all of training camp after undergoing surgery on an injured hamstring. This season the Browns will need him more than ever with cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. tearing his Achilles on Tuesday, ending his season.
“I’ve said it since the day I was drafted, I want to be a Brown for life,” Newsome said. “And in order to do that, I gotta hold my end of the bargain. So I gotta go back to being that player that I know can be.”
While the future may be uncertain, his support of women’s basketball is sure to be a constant.
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