{"id":105262,"date":"2025-07-30T16:37:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T16:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/105262\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T16:37:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T16:37:11","slug":"cleveland-wnba-expansion-team-already-has-a-fan-in-browns-greg-newsome-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/105262\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleveland WNBA expansion team already has a fan in Browns\u2019 Greg Newsome II"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"3EBO7EP3RJF3PLP5GFP6MDQ2UY\">BEREA, Ohio \u2014 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"VD5IJCGI7BGDXBEQ5FVB4V7Q2M\">Cornerback Greg Newsome II has a lengthy history of supporting women\u2019s sports, particularly women\u2019s basketball, and was thrilled to hear the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cleveland.com\/sports\/2025\/06\/wnba-is-returning-to-cleveland-with-an-expansion-franchise-for-the-2028-season.html#:~:text=Buckeyes%20schedule-,WNBA%20is%20returning%20to%20Cleveland%20with%20an%20expansion%20franchise%20for,W%20that%20we%20know%20today.%E2%80%9D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.cleveland.com\/sports\/2025\/06\/wnba-is-returning-to-cleveland-with-an-expansion-franchise-for-the-2028-season.html#:~:text=Buckeyes%20schedule-,WNBA%20is%20returning%20to%20Cleveland%20with%20an%20expansion%20franchise%20for,W%20that%20we%20know%20today.%E2%80%9D\"> news this summer that the league is awarding Cleveland the league\u2019s 16th franchise<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"PWGQFXLWYVFTZOM6QP3MWBQ2VI\">The team will begin playing in the 2028 season, nearly 25 years after the last game was played by the Cleveland Rockers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"SYMMMRZ62VBWTJDEF7FQDV7MAY\">\u201cI\u2019m super excited,\u201d Newsome said after the Browns\u2019 seventh training camp practice on Wednesday morning. \u201cI will be at every single game. I will be there supporting. Shoutout to the WNBA. I\u2019m super excited that they got a team back here and I know the fan base will travel. We\u2019ll all be there and it\u2019ll be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"32JRQO6MTZBYZEADW6CUEADFF4\">Supporting women\u2019s basketball isn\u2019t an act for Newsome, who was only three years old when the Rockers left Cleveland in 2003. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"VUON3UYBLJBYHKXZBN5XUSVW2U\">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 \u201cWomen Can Ball Too.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"J6IR67LM5JE6NHIUDQSN5BLPYU\">In the Browns locker room, he\u2019s sported WNBA jerseys as well as a sweatshirt with the league\u2019s logo. He\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"NHUD5GHFXRD6JBU3U4GEPZG2BY\">He\u2019s also been active volunteering with the Browns\u2019 recent successful effort to get girls flag football sanctioned as an official OHSAA high school sports, attending local girls\u2019 flag football tournaments over the years. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"BRFIG4FGIFBEZAYFO6FUHGEO2U\">A big reason for his interest in women\u2019s basketball specifically? His older sister Zakiya who played and was a guard at Division III North Park University in their hometown of Chicago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"66VDJBXBLZA5RM7GRR3WY3DVME\">While it\u2019s no question Newsome would provide some front-row support for Cleveland\u2019s WNBA team (which still needs to unveil its new branding, and hopes to do so in the coming year with \u201cRockers\u201d still on the table), it remains to be seen whether he will still be a Cleveland Brown come 2028.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"IXCWFDFESBFXNISNRACISX4CNA\">The corner is currently playing on his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cleveland.com\/browns\/2024\/04\/browns-exercise-greg-newsome-iis-5th-year-option-worth-a-guaranteed-13377-million-for-2025.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.cleveland.com\/browns\/2024\/04\/browns-exercise-greg-newsome-iis-5th-year-option-worth-a-guaranteed-13377-million-for-2025.html\">fifth-year option<\/a> 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. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cleveland.com\/browns\/2025\/07\/martin-emerson-jr-will-undergo-season-ending-surgery-soon-to-repair-his-ruptured-achilles-mri-and-browns-confirm-quick-hits.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.cleveland.com\/browns\/2025\/07\/martin-emerson-jr-will-undergo-season-ending-surgery-soon-to-repair-his-ruptured-achilles-mri-and-browns-confirm-quick-hits.html\">tearing his Achilles on Tuesday, ending his season<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"OUHZX4T5YVD7VDJI2TNLDT2KMY\">\u201cI\u2019ve said it since the day I was drafted, I want to be a Brown for life,\u201d Newsome said. \u201cAnd 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.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"R7YVPYT4YVCWFCAXLZW4DHBLFU\">While the future may be uncertain, his support of women\u2019s basketball is sure to be a constant. <\/p>\n<p><b>Football Insider newsletter free trial:<\/b> Take a minute and <a href=\"https:\/\/link.cleveland.com\/join\/6fe\/newsletter-football-insider-sign-up-emailform\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sign up for a free trial<\/a> of our Football Insider newsletter, featuring exclusive content from cleveland.com&#8217;s Browns reporters.<\/p>\n<p>If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.advancelocal.com\/advancelocalUserAgreement\/user-agreement.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.advancelocal.com\/advancelocalUserAgreement\/privacy-policy.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEREA, Ohio \u2014 As the W prepares to return to The Land in 2028 with a WNBA expansion&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":105263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[67758,62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-105262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-cleveland-browns-training-camp-2025","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us","13":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114943167342008394","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}