The governing board of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) has responded to an uptick in demand for the tournament with a structural revamp.
Under the new format, the WNBA will move on from its pre-existing best-of-five structure to a best-of-seven one for the finals. The regular season will also increase from 40 fixtures to 44 fixtures, with the league welcoming an additional team, the Golden State Valkyries, its 13th franchise.
Regarding the playoffs, the best-of-three first round will feature a 1-1-1 setup, with the higher seed hosting the first and third games and its opponent the second game. Previously the higher seeded team hosted games one and two, with the opponent hosting game three.
Bethany Donaphin, WNBA Head of League Operations, explained that the league has initiated the change to the WNBA playoffs to ‘guarantee a home game for both teams in a series, which was a priority based on discussions with the WNBA’s team presidents, head coaches, general managers and the Competition Committee.
WNBA Commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, added: “We are seeing an incredible demand for WNBA basketball, as reflected in the number of cities pursuing expansion franchises, fans attending games and engaging with our social and digital platforms in record fashion, and game broadcasts and streams being consumed like never before.
“The incredible demand for WNBA basketball makes this the ideal time to increase the regular season to 44 games per team and expand the WNBA Finals presented by YouTube TV to a best-of-seven series.
“These changes will create more opportunities to watch the best players in the world compete at the highest level and give our fans a championship series format that they are accustomed to seeing in other sports.”
The structural changes mark the latest major push by the WNBA to capitalise on growing viewership and audience engagement. Women’s basketball is by far the most popular women’s team sport in the US, with the WNBA’s Chicago Sky, Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty the most searched women’s sports clubs last year.
Though women’s tennis and golf are also very popular, with athletes from these spaces – particularly tennis – having a larger online following than WNBA athletes, the league’s growth has not gone unnoticed.
According to The Athletic earlier this year, the WNBA is set to see a huge boost to its media rights revenue via a new broadcast deal worth £2.2bn. The league has also been signing new commercial deals with the likes of Delta Air Lines and DraftKings, the US’ second-largest online bookmaker by market share.
This commercial growth has of course prompted the league to look at ways to expand, including the addition of new teams – the aforementioned Valkyries, with additional franchises planned in Portland, Oregon (USA), and Toronto (Canada) – and the structural changes to its finals.
The WNBA seems to be taking a leaf out of association football/soccer’s book when it comes to increasing the number of fixtures. This is a tactic several prominent international soccer tournaments have been adopting lately, with the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup the two most well-known examples.
The league may want to monitor these developments closely, however. The increase in fixtures has not gone down well with some football players, however, who have expressed concerns about the potential physical and mental stress of competing so regularly.
