Napheesa Collier, #24 of the Minnesota Lynx, scores the game-winning basket through the recreation in opposition to the New York Liberty in Recreation 1 of the 2024 WNBA Finals at Barclays Heart in Brooklyn, New York, on Oct. 10, 2024.
Nathaniel S. Butler | Nationwide Basketball Affiliation | Getty Pictures
Basketball followers may have much more probabilities to see their favourite stars play within the Ladies’s Nationwide Basketball Affiliation within the 2025 season.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert introduced that the league will increase its common season from 40 video games to 44 video games, and its Finals sequence from 5 video games to seven video games, each starting subsequent yr. The Finals spherical can be a 2-2-1-1-1 format for dwelling video games, with the upper seed internet hosting first.
The three-game first spherical of the playoffs will alternate hosts, as a substitute of the upper seed internet hosting the primary two video games earlier than switching, prefer it did this season.
Engelbert mentioned the league has thought-about the playoff adjustments for the reason that Covid-19 pandemic, however the surge in its reputation and introduction of constitution flights for groups was the ultimate push wanted to implement the brand new playoff format.
“The league’s growth and increased demand for WNBA basketball made this the ideal time to expand the schedule, lengthen the Finals and provide fans more opportunities to see the best players in the world compete at the highest level,” Engelbert mentioned throughout a Thursday press convention.
The schedule will not be the one factor increasing in subsequent yr’s season. The Golden State Valkyries will debut in 2025 because the league’s thirteenth group. Two extra enlargement groups have been introduced, one in Toronto and one in Portland, and there are discussions within the works to lock in a metropolis for the sixteenth group, Engelbert mentioned Thursday. The Toronto and Portland groups, that are each unnamed, will begin play in 2026.
The additions come because the WNBA is quickly rising in reputation, which led to the league’s most-recent media rights deal being price $2.2 billion for 11 seasons, CNBC beforehand reported. The league’s media contract is negotiated throughout the Nationwide Basketball Affiliation’s deal.
Viewership, attendance and engagement numbers all elevated for the 2024 season, and in some circumstances set new data. The inflow of thrilling rookies akin to Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, together with established stars akin to Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson, who’re the respective 2023 and 2024 MVPs, contributed to the surge.
Because the league has grown in reputation, extra gamers have mentioned they skilled racism or on-line harassment. When Engelbert appeared on CNBC final month, she didn’t outright condemn both when requested concerning the difficulty, sparking criticism. Engelbert later clarified and condemned “hate or racism.”
The WNBA will not be the one ladies’s sports activities league rising in reputation, and media executives and traders are taking discover. Each RedBird IMI’s Jeff Zucker and Endeavor govt chairman Patrick Whitesell spoke to CNBC concerning the engaging alternatives throughout ladies’s sports activities.
This yr’s Finals are at present underway between the Minnesota Lynx and the New York Liberty. The Lynx are up 1-0 within the best-of-five sequence after successful in an time beyond regulation thriller Thursday night time.
