Naphesa Collier, No. 24 of Minnesota Lynx, scores the game of winning the game during the match against New York Liberty in game 1 of the WNBA 2024 Finals at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on October 10, 2024.
Nathaniel S. Batrler National Basketball Association | Getty Images
Basketball fans will have more opportunities to see their favorite stars playing in the Women's National Basketball Union in the 2025 season.
WNBA Cathy Engelbert announced that the league will expand its regular season from 40 games to 44 games, and its finals from five games to seven games, starting next year. The final round will be 2-2-1-1-1 for household matches, with the first workbook hosting first.
The first round of three matches of the qualifiers will replace the hosts, instead of the upper seeds that host the first two games before switching, as you did this season.
Engelbert said that the league considered the changes in the qualifiers since the Covid-19 pandemic, but the increase in its popularity and the introduction of the rented flights of the teams was the final batch necessary to implement the new qualifying coordination.
“The growth of the league and increased demand for WNBA basketball make this the perfect time to expand the schedule, lengthen the Finals and provide fans with more opportunities to watch the best players in the world at the highest level,” Engelbert said during a press conference on Thursday. .
The schedule isn't the only thing expanding in next year's season. The Golden State Valkyries will debut in 2025 as the 13th team in the league. On Thursday, Angelbert said that two other teams were announced to expand, one in Toronto and one in Portland, and there are discussions in the locking work in the city of the sixteenth team. The Toronto and Portland teams, which were not named, will begin play in 2026.
The additions come at a time when the popularity of WNBA is increasing, which led to a value of more than $ 2.2 billion to the rights of the media in the league. The media contract of the league is negotiated within the National Basketball Union deal.
The number of viewers, attendance and participation for the 2024 season increased, and in some cases it achieved new records. The influx of sexy juniors such as Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese contributed to the association with well -known stars such as Breanna Stewart and A'Ja Wilson, 2023 and 2024 MVPS, in the mutation.
With the increasing popularity of the league, more players said they were subjected to racism or online harassment. When Illustbert appeared on CNBC last month, it was not explicitly when it was asked about this issue, which has been criticized. Engelbert later clarified and condemned “hatred or racism.”
WNBA is not the only women's sports league that is increasingly popular, and executives in the media and investors have noticed this. Ridberd Emmy from Jeff Zucker and CEO of Endeavor Patrick and Aitils spoke to CNBC about tempting opportunities through women's sport.
This year's finals are currently taking place between the Minnesota Lynx and the New York Liberty. The Lynx took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series after winning an overtime thriller Thursday night.
