The Tempo was confirmed as the 14th WNBA franchise last May. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The Toronto Tempo, Canada’s first-ever WNBA (women's basketball) franchise, has brought on board beauty brand Sephora as its inaugural commercial partner.

Sephora Canada becomes a founding partner and the official beauty partner of the Tempo, who will join the WNBA in time for the 2026 season. Its logo will be present on the team's jerseys, while there will also be campaigns such as "community programming, retail activations, social media integrations, and in-arena programming."

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The Tempo are owned by Larry Tanenbaum’s Kilmer Sports Ventures and were confirmed as the 14th WNBA franchise last May.

The new team will play the majority of its home games at Toronto’s 8,500-capacity Coca-Cola Coliseum, with the possibility for additional games to take place at the Scotiabank Arena (which is owned and operated by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment), as well as a further potential for fixtures staged across Canada.

Tanenbaum is the chair of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), a sports-focused private investment group in which Kilmer Sports also holds a 25% stake. MLSE already controls several local sports sides, most relevantly the Toronto Raptors of men’s basketball’s NBA, ice hockey’s Toronto Maple Leafs, and soccer’s Toronto FC.

The league’s 13th franchise, the Golden State Valkyries, will enter the WNBA this year.

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For Sephora (owned by French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH), meanwhile, this deal adds to another women’s basketball sponsorship deal unveiled recently, with Unrivaled, the new 3×3 league launching in the US in January.