Napheesa Collier, #24 of the Minnesota Lynx, scores the game-winning basket in the course of the sport in opposition to the New York Liberty in Sport 1 of the 2024 WNBA Finals at Barclays Middle in Brooklyn, New York, on Oct. 10, 2024.
Nathaniel S. Butler | Nationwide Basketball Affiliation | Getty Pictures
Basketball followers can have much more possibilities 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 might be a 2-2-1-1-1 format for residence 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 stated the league has thought-about the playoff modifications 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 stated throughout a Thursday press convention.
The schedule is just not the one factor increasing in subsequent yr’s season. The Golden State Valkyries will debut in 2025 because the league’s thirteenth crew. 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 crew, Engelbert stated Thursday. The Toronto and Portland groups, that are each unnamed, will begin play in 2026.
The additions come because the WNBA is quickly growing in reputation, which led to the league’s most-recent media rights deal being value $2.2 billion for 11 seasons, CNBC beforehand reported. The league’s media contract is negotiated inside the Nationwide Basketball Affiliation’s deal.
Viewership, attendance and engagement numbers all elevated for the 2024 season, and in some circumstances set new information. The inflow of thrilling rookies corresponding to Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, together with established stars corresponding 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 stated they skilled racism or on-line harassment. When Engelbert appeared on CNBC final month, she didn’t outright condemn both when requested in regards to the difficulty, sparking criticism. Engelbert later clarified and condemned “hate or racism.”
The WNBA is just not the one girls’s sports activities league rising in reputation, and media executives and buyers are taking discover. Each RedBird IMI’s Jeff Zucker and Endeavor govt chairman Patrick Whitesell spoke to CNBC in regards to the engaging alternatives throughout girls’s sports activities.
This yr’s Finals are presently 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 extra time thriller Thursday evening.
