NEW YORK (AP) — The WNBA will increase its Finals next yr to a best-of-seven format, the league introduced Thursday.
The league at the moment has a best-of-five semifinals and finals in its playoffs with a best-of-three first spherical.
“This will give our fans a championship series format that they are accustomed to seeing in other sports,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert mentioned earlier than Game 1 of the Finals.
Engelbert mentioned the higher seeded groups will host the primary, second, fifth and seventh video games. The league additionally will be altering the opening spherical to give the decrease seeded staff at the very least one dwelling sport. The greater seeded staff will host Game 1, and three if it's a necessity. Currently the primary spherical has the primary two video games on the higher seeded staff. All 4 of the primary spherical series had been sweeps this yr.
The commissioner mentioned that with the league utilizing constitution flights all season, together with the playoffs, it makes it simpler to journey forwards and backwards between cities.
Engelbert additionally mentioned the league's draft lottery will be held on Nov. 17 and that the enlargement Golden State Valkyries staff could have the No. 5 choose.
Engelbert additionally addressed the rising number of assaults that gamers have handled on social media, saying that there is not any place for it and that the league will work with the gamers' union to determine what they will do collectively to assist fight it. Engelbert talked about expertise and assist for psychological well being.
The league was coming off an unbelievable common season when it comes to attendance and viewership. The league mentioned 2,353,735 followers attended video games, probably the most in 22 years and the groups mixed for 154 sellouts — up from 45 final season.
The WNBA averaged 9,807 followers per sport in 2024, a hefty enhance from final season’s 6,615 per sport. The league additionally mentioned a report 22 regular-season telecasts averaged at the very least 1 million viewers.
The influence of rookie Clark was a giant motive for the elevated curiosity within the league. The Fever set a single-season dwelling attendance report of 340,715 followers, breaking the mark of 250,565 set by the New York Liberty in 2001.
“Culmination in most transformational year in WNBA’s history,” Engelbert said. “Put it in perspective with a few stats that bring insight into what happened. WNBA outpaced the industry in live games in 2024. Fans watched 30% more on average of each WNBA game in the regular season. games reached 54 million viewers in regular season.”
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