WNBA to expand Finals to 7-game series next season

 

[October 11, 2024]  By DOUG FEINBERG

NEW YORK (AP) — The WNBA will expand its Finals next year to a best-of-seven format, the league announced Thursday.

The league currently has a best-of-five semifinals and finals in its playoffs with a best-of-three first round.

“This will give our fans a championship series format that they are accustomed to seeing in other sports,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said before Game 1 of the Finals.

Engelbert said the better seeded teams will host the first, second, fifth and seventh games. The league also will be changing the opening round to give the lower seeded team at least one home game. The higher seeded team will host Game 1, and 3 if it's necessary. Currently the first round has the first two games at the better seeded team. All four of the first round series were sweeps this year.

The commissioner said that with the league using charter flights all season, including the playoffs, it makes it easier to travel back and forth between cities.

Engelbert also said the league's draft lottery will be held on Nov. 17 and that the expansion Golden State Valkyries team will have the No. 5 pick.

Engelbert also addressed the rising number of attacks that players have dealt with on social media, saying that there's no place for it and that the league will work with the players' union to figure out what they can do together to help combat it. Engelbert mentioned technology and help for mental health.

“It just is something where we have to continue to be a voice for this, a voice against it, condemning it, and making sure that we find every opportunity to support our players, who have been dealing with this for much longer than this year,” Engelbert said.

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert speaks at a news conference before Game 1 of basketball's WNBA Finals between the Connecticut Sun and the Washington Mystics, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019, in Washington. The WNBA will expand its Finals next year to a best-of-7 format the league announced on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

The league was coming off an incredible regular season in terms of attendance and viewership. The league said 2,353,735 fans attended games, the most in 22 years and the teams combined for 154 sellouts — up from 45 last season.

The WNBA averaged 9,807 fans per game in 2024, a hefty increase from last season’s 6,615 per game. The league also said a record 22 regular-season telecasts averaged at least 1 million viewers.

The impact of rookie Clark was a big reason for the increased interest in the league. The Fever set a single-season home attendance record of 340,715 fans, 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."

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