[115] Along with this deal, came the first-ever rights fees to be paid to a women's professional sports league. The league projected losses through the 2010 season to be around $400 million.[72]. For most players, the 2020 maximum salary was $185,000; players who met specified criteria for league service had a maximum of $215,000. For the remaining top four picks, a selection process similar to the NBA Draft Lottery is conducted for the four teams that did not qualify for the playoffs. These teams include the Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty, the Indiana Pacers and Fever, the Los Angeles Lakers and Sparks, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx, the Phoenix Suns and Mercury, and the Washington Wizards and Mystics. One of the activist players' main focuses is the inequality between men's and women's sports. The 221 pattern in the WNBA Finals has been in place since 2005. The new influx of young talent into the league gave many teams something to be excited about. As a league, the 2010 average of 80.35 points per game was the best, far surpassing the 69.2 average in the league's inaugural season. Phoenix averaged a league-record 88.97 points per game in 2007; teams could not keep up with the new style of play, and the Mercury were propelled into first place in the Western Conference. [42] Since 2021, Google has been the official sponsor. It is during this time that voting begins for individual awards. At the end of the 2000 season, the Houston Comets won their fourth championship, capturing every title since the league's inception. The 2018 and 2019 seasons each set the lowest average attendance in WNBA history (6,769 and 6,535). The game received a little over 1million viewers. The jerseys officially debuted during the 2019 WNBA draft. After 2000, Cooper retired from the league, and the Comets' dynasty came to an end. The newest WNBA award, first presented in 2019, is the season-long version of the WNBA Community Assist Award, presented to a player for especially meritorious community service.[a].
This is not a problem under the four-quarters because the. The East held a .681 winning percentage over the West, its highest ever. By playing in the one game Lieberman broke a record that she had set in 1997 when she was the league's oldest player at 39. [17][18] The Indiana Fever defeated the New York Liberty 7155 in front of over 19,000 fans. By the end of the 2011 regular season, nine of the twelve teams in the league had increased attendance over their 2010 averages.[22]. [3], On the heels of a much-publicized gold medal run by the 1996 USA Basketball Women's National Team at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, the WNBA began its first season on June 21, 1997 to little fanfare. Also named are the All-WNBA Teams, the All-Defensive Teams, and the All-Rookie Team; each consists of five players. Training camps allow the coaching staff to prepare the players for the regular season and determine the 12-woman roster with which they will begin the regular season. Penny Toler scored the league's first point.[5][6]. [78] When team owner Senator Kelly Loeffler criticized the league's support for Black Lives Matter, her team wore black T-shirts with the slogan "VOTE WARNOCK", endorsing her election opponent Raphael Warnock, an African-American pastor who defeated Loeffler. Teams hold training camps in May. In 2008, 50-year-old Nancy Lieberman became the oldest player to play in a WNBA game. Five WNBA teams have direct NBA counterparts and normally play in the same arena: Indiana Fever, Los Angeles Sparks, Minnesota Lynx, New York Liberty, and Phoenix Mercury. Two other teams are located within 150 miles of WNBA teams (the Delaware Blue Coats and Fort Wayne Mad Ants being near the Mystics and Fever, respectively). The finals are also played in a 221 home-court pattern. [107] Similarly in 2019, the Washington Mystics moved from the 20,356-seat Capital One Arena to the 4,111-seat St. Elizabeths East Entertainment and Sports Arena. In 2007, the WNBA and ESPN came to an 8-year television agreement. The team was just 923 in 2002. The 2011 NBA lockout began on July 1, 2011. Quarters are 10 minutes in duration instead of 12.
Again, Leslie dominated opponents throughout the Playoffs, leading the Sparks to a perfect 60 record through all three rounds, beating the New York Liberty in the 2002 Finals. ", "Article V, Sections 7 and 8: Minimum Player Salary, Maximum Player Salary", "WNBA players and coaches voice issues with hard salary cap, expansion as talented players across league get cut", "Sky head coach James Wade points out grim reality as WNBA roster moves begin to cut deep", "Don't be misled by the WNBA's top 10 jersey list", "Make this the season we end discriminatory sports coverage", "WNBA President Lisa Borders Steps Down to Become First-Ever President and CEO of Time's Up", "WNBA tabs CEO Engelbert as 1st commissioner", "With 20th season ahead, league sees attendance, ratings drop", "WNBA: Dip in attendance lowest in league history", "WNBA Turnstile Tracker: Attendance Down At End Of Regular Season", "WNBA attendance up 1 percent and increased viewership", "2015 WNBA season sees lowest fan attendance in league history", "WNBA's 20th season sees highest attendance in five years", "WNBA Scores Highest Attendance In Six Years During Record-Breaking Season", "WNBA agrees to a new TV deal with ESPN/ABC", "ESPN Signs Six-Year Extension With WNBA That Is Worth $12M Per Year", "WNBA and CBS Sports Agree To Multi-Year Television Partnership", "WNBA attendance, TV numbers increase again", "WNBA.com to Webcast More than 200 Games During 2009 WNBA Season", "WNBA Captures Fans, Ends Regular Season With Record Growth", "WNBA expects at least six teams to post profit", "More Ratings: Paralympics, World Cup of Hockey, WNBA on ESPN Sports Media Watch", "Audience Analysis: WNBA Regular-Season Viewership Hits New Low For ESPN/ESPN2", "ESPN Tips off WNBA Postseason with First Round Doubleheader Tonight", "More ratings: WNBA, Racing, Hard Knocks and more", "Former U-Conn. star Maya Moore laments the current state of the WNBA", "WNBA Targets Broader National Reach with CBS Sports Deal", "WNBA and CBS Sports Agree to Multi-Year Television Partnership", "Salary Cap for 200405 Is $43.87 million", WNBA statistics at Basketball-Reference.com, NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Women%27s_National_Basketball_Association&oldid=1099498832, Women's basketball leagues in the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2015, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. The WNBA centered its marketing campaign, dubbed "We Got Next", around stars Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie, and Sheryl Swoopes. The Shock faced reigning champion Sacramento Monarchs in a five-game series. The final playoff round, a best-of-five series between the two semifinal winners, is known as the WNBA Finals and is held annually, currently scheduled for October. On May 23, 2000, the Houston Comets became the first WNBA team to be invited to the White House Rose Garden. Under head coach Van Chancellor, the team posted a 9824 record through their first four seasons (163 in the Playoffs). It saw increases on its mobile page views by 26 percent along with a major increase in its social media space; Instagram grew by 51 percent this past year. Following the expiration of the LifeLock deal, the Mercury secured a new uniform sponsorship deal with Casino Arizona and Talking Stick Resort on February 3, 2014. After taking over a struggling franchise in 2002, former Detroit Pistons forward Bill Laimbeer had high hopes for the Detroit Shock in 2003. The Russian club for which she was playing at the time, UMMC Ekaterinburg, offered her a bonus well over the league's maximum player salary to sit out that season. The Shock shared the Tulsa market with the Tulsa 66ers until the latter team was relocated to become the Oklahoma City Blue in 2014, while the Mercury were about 100 miles from the Northern Arizona Suns before the Suns moved to Detroit. WNBA League Pass is available as part of the WNBA App, the free mobile application available on the iPhone, iPad and Android devices and costs US$16.99 for the season. In 2004, The Game at Radio City was held in a place of a traditional All-Star Game. [84] The deal would allow the Boost Mobile logo to be placed on eleven of the 12 teams' jerseys (excluding San Antonio) in addition to branding on the courts and in arenas. Arenas listed below reflect those in the league's current 2022 season. [81], On June 1, 2009, the Phoenix Mercury was the first team in WNBA history to announce a marquee sponsorship. The WNBA has been criticized for paying female players less than their NBA counterparts, although this is attributed to the much greater revenues of the NBA. The agreement ran from 2009 to 2016 and was worth millions of dollars. While most of this increase went to star players, all players benefited to some degree, and both sides were interested mainly in limiting, if not eliminating, overseas play by the league's top players. Also, each player has her own hotel room for road games. After missing out on the Finals in 2004 and 2005, the Shock bounced back in 2006 behind newly acquired Katie Smith, along with six remaining members from their 2003 Finals run (Cash, Ford, Holland-Corn, Nolan, Powell, and Riley). In the off-season, a set of rule changes was approved that made the WNBA more like the NBA.[14]. Due to continuing renovations to Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the Fever will play their first five 2022 home games at Gainbridge, move to Indiana Farmers Coliseum for the next nine home games, and close the season at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The league did experience some success on the digital forefront. Lisa Leslie was the longest-tenured player from the 1997 draft class; she spent her entire career (19972009) with the Los Angeles Sparks. A study by two researchers at the, This page was last edited on 21 July 2022, at 03:11. Each team plays three in-conference teams 4 times and the remaining in-conference teams three times (18 games). [93][94][95] In a story on the ramifications of Stewart's injury, Mechelle Voepel of ESPN had this to say about the lead-in to the injury:[95].mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}. WNBA champion: $11,356; Runner-up: $5,678; Most Valuable Player: $15,450; All-WNBA First Team member: $10,300; and All-Star Game participant: $2,575. The oldest player to have participated in a full season is Bird, who completed the 2021 season less than two months before turning 41. The creation of the WNBA was officially approved by the NBA Board of Governors on April 24, 1996,[1] and announced at a press conference with Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie, and Sheryl Swoopes in attendance. Never before had an agreement promised rights fees to a women's professional league. The team secured a partnership with LifeLock to brand their jerseys and warm-ups. The championship series was a battle of contrasting styles as the Mercury (number one league offense, 92.82 points per game) had to face the Indiana Fever (number three league defense, 73.55 points per game). Additionally, a minimum of 11 postseason games will be broadcast on any of the three stations. [77] Shortly after the George Floyd protests began, the league and union decided in 2020 to put Black Lives Matter and Say Her Name slogans on warmup gear and opening weekend uniforms. [32] Also as part of the campaign, the league unveiled The W25, consisting of 25 players determined to be the league's greatest and most influential, as chosen by a panel made up of media and pioneering women's players. Citizens of Atlanta were able to vote for their choices for the new team's nickname and colors. In 2010, an exhibition game (Stars at the Sun) was held. The 2020 games were postponed till 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, rendering the break unnecessary. [133] This became the impetus for the multi-year partnership in which CBS Sports Network would broadcast live WNBA games beginning with the 2019 season. Soon after, the WNBA announced that the Sting would not operate for 2007. The final Cup games were to be played in July, with the top team in the Cup standings from each conference advancing to a one-off Cup final in August.[29]. Players like Candace Parker of the Sparks, Maya Moore of the Lynx, DeWanna Bonner of the Mercury, Angel McCoughtry of the Dream, Sylvia Fowles of the Sky, Tina Charles of the Sun, and Liz Cambage of the Shock brought a new level of excitement to the game, adding talent to the teams of young veterans such as Diana Taurasi, Seimone Augustus and Cappie Pondexter. This led to two teams moving: Utah moved to San Antonio, and Orlando moved to Connecticut and became the first WNBA team to be owned by a third party instead of an NBA franchise. The WNBA Draft is held annually every spring.
The Lynx have the most appearances in the championship with six, all occurring in the seven years from 2011 to 2017. [40] Through the 2017 season, the San Antonio Spurs and Stars were also paired, but that relationship ended in October 2017 when the Stars were bought by MGM Resorts International and moved to Las Vegas.[41]. After the 2010 season, President Orender announced she would be resigning from her position as of December 31. In 2013, this was increased to $14.99. [131] In addition, WNBA games have much poorer visibility, attendance, and ratings than NCAA games. By 2013 (the sixth year under this agreement), the cap for an entire team was $900,000. The Cup final, officially termed the Commissioner's Cup Championship Game, involves the conference leaders in the Cup standings; its first edition was held on August 12 as the league's first game after the Olympic break, and was streamed via Amazon Prime Video. NBC showed games from 1997 to 2002 as part of their NBA on NBC coverage before the league transferred the rights to ABC/ESPN. The Minnesota Lynx, which began that week with barely over $12,000 of cap room, cut six players, including the 2020 Rookie of the Year Crystal Dangerfield, their 2021 first-round pick Rennia Davis, and both of their 2022 draft picks. Most games (except broadcasts on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2, which are available on ESPN3) are available via this system. In 1999, the league held its first-ever All-Star Game, where the best players of the Eastern Conference played against the best players of the Western Conference. Each team would receive around $1million per year. The draft is three rounds long, with each of the 12 teams in the league (trades aside) getting three picks each. This came to a head during the 2019 offseason when the, The three-point line is 22ft 1.75in (6.75m) from the center of the basket, with a distance of 22ft (6.71m) at the corners. The top contender in the 2001 season was the Los Angeles Sparks. Many of the league's top players in the 2021 season were not among those with "ready to ship" jerseys. In 2008, WNBA games averaged just 413,000 viewers, compared to 1.46million viewers on ESPN and over 2.2million on ABC for NBA games. The WNBA did not announce detailed voting results. Many teams have experienced drops in their attendance; (San Antonio Stars: 37.4%, Washington Mystics: 7.9%, Tulsa Shock: 7.2%)[106] these losses have caused the attendance of the WNBA to drop. [23][24] The improved health of the league was on display after the season, when the Los Angeles Sparks' ownership group folded; it took the league only a few weeks to line up Guggenheim Partners to purchase the team, and the franchise also garnered interest from the ownership of the Golden State Warriors. As in the NBA, each team hosts and visits every other team at least once every season. As of 2013 the defensive three-second rule and anti-flopping guidelines were introduced. [15] On the occasion of the tenth anniversary, the WNBA released its All-Decade Team, comprising the ten WNBA players to have contributed, through on-court play and off-court activities, the most to women's basketball during the league's existence. Since the 2006 WNBA season:[68], The 2007 WNBA season brought changes that included:[69]. The 2020 season was planned to be the first for the Commissioner's Cup, an in-season tournament. [19] A dispersal draft took place on December 8, 2008, and with the first pick, Sancho Lyttle was taken by the Atlanta Dream. Previously, in 2008, a new six-year collective bargaining agreement was agreed upon between the players and the league. [71], Due to the lack of viewership, the WNBA has not been profitable in past years. The 2010 season saw a tight race in the East, with three teams being tied for first place on the final day of the regular season. The league has begun to do better financially in recent years. The retirement of legends Katie Smith, Tina Thompson, Ticha Penicheiro, and Sheryl Swoopes coupled with the arrival of highly touted rookies and new rule changes effectively marked the end of an era for the WNBA and the ushering of another. She signed a seven-day contract with the Detroit Shock and played one game, tallying two assists and two turnovers in nine minutes of action. The 2006 All-Star Game was the first game to feature custom uniforms that match the decade anniversary logo. The 2011 season began with strong publicity helped by the rising young stars of the league and the NBA lockout. President Laurel Richie stated that after the 2015 season ends, they will create an expansion committee and begin evaluating if and how the WNBA should go about expanding their reach. The winners of each first-round series advance to the semifinals, with the bracket not being reseeded. In the 2022 playoff format, all first-round series use a 21 home-court pattern, which allows the higher seed the opportunity to win the series without having to visit the lower seed.[42]. The Shock won game five on their home floor. While the Liberty had averaged over 9,000 fans in 2017, James Dolan, then the team's owner, noted that roughly half of the team's attendance in that season came from complimentary tickets. [9] The 1999 season began with a collective bargaining agreement between players and the league,[10] marking the first collective bargaining agreement to be signed in the history of women's professional sports. The regular season is played from May to September, with the All Star game being played midway through the season in July (except in Olympic years) and the WNBA Finals at the end of September until the beginning of October. All listed winners are from the 2021 season. Attendance per game stayed consistent at around 7,520 per game. Griner, Delle Donne, and Diggins have thus been labeled "The Three To See", but with the draft also came standouts such as Tayler Hill, Layshia Clarendon and Alex Bentley. While the Atlanta Dream shared State Farm Arena with the Hawks from the Dream's inception in 2008 to 2016 and again in 2019, the Hawks never held any ownership stake in the WNBA team. [48] Vandersloot also has the top five seasons in assists per game, with 8.1 in 2017, 8.6 in 2018 and 2021, 9.1 in 2019, and 10.0 in 2020. [78], In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the WNBA led American professional sports teams in promoting the COVID-19 vaccine. Ratings still remain poor in comparison to NBA games.
The Basketball Executive of the Year Award is presented to the team executive most instrumental in his or her team's success in that season. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the tournament to be scrapped for the time being; the tournament instead launched in 2021 under the originally announced format. All Cup games within each conference were played before the league took its Olympic break after July 11. In 2006, the league became the first team-oriented women's professional sports league to exist for ten consecutive seasons. During the 2008 regular season, the first-ever outdoor professional basketball game in North America was played at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City. Some teams offer games on local radio, while all teams have some games broadcast on local television stations: From 2010 to 2011, the regular-season broadcast drew 270,000 viewers a growth of 5 percent from 2010's numbers. The new television deal runs from 2009 to 2016. Averaging 93.2 points per game in the Finals series, the Mercury beat Detroit on their home floor in front of 22,076 fans in game five to claim their first-ever WNBA title. The Shock finished second in the Eastern Conference and knocked off first-seeded Connecticut in the second round of the Playoffs. The Most Valuable Player Award is given to the player deemed the most valuable for her team that season. The minimum league salary in 2020 was $57,000 for players with less than three years of experience, and $68,000 otherwise. Raiders, who have the same market). For other uses, see, Top-level sport leagues in the United States, Houston domination and league expansion (19972000), The L.A. Sparks; new league ownership and contraction (20012002), Bill Laimbeer leaves his mark (20032006), Bringing "Paul Ball" to the WNBA (20072009), New CBA and Commissioner's Cup plans (2020), 'Count It' campaign celebrating 25th anniversary (2021), Salaries, rosters, and collective bargaining. During the season, fans vote for the players they would like to see start the game. [79] In April the league and union's Social Justice Council made a PSA, Our Health is Worth a Shot, that aired during the WNBA draft. Players had until June 25 to let their teams know whether they planned to participate. [70] In 2007, teams were estimated to be losing $1.5million to $2million a year. The members of the WNBA's All-Decade Team were chosen in 2006 on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the WNBA from amongst 30 nominees compiled by fans, media, coach, and player voting. "Votes" are listed as first-place votes, although the winners for all WNBA awards apart from the statistically based Peak Performer Awards are determined by points earned rather than first-place votes. For draft purposes, "American" includes those born in the U.S., as well as those who have enrolled in a U.S. college or university, regardless of their citizenship. After each team played its 10 Cup games, the top team in each conference's Cup standings would advance to the Commissioner's Cup Final, a single match held in August. Over 30 players have scored at least 3,000 points in their WNBA careers. The now-defunct Charlotte Sting, Miami Sol, Portland Fire, Cleveland Rockers, Orlando Miracle, Houston Comets and Sacramento Monarchs were also sister teams of the Hornets, Heat, Trail Blazers, Cavaliers, Magic, Rockets and Kings, respectively. Of these teams, only the Sparks have completely separate ownership. Taurasi accepted, largely because she had not had an offseason since playing college basketball more than a decade earlier. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association (NBA), and league play started in 1997. [52] The Rookie of the Year Award is awarded to the most outstanding first-year player. The originally planned schedule, with the first home game and first road game of each team against each of its fellow conference members doubling as Cup games, was maintained. The Defensive Player of the Year Award is awarded to the league's best defender. It is currently composed of twelve teams.
Previously only one free throw was awarded as well as possession. The Women's National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) threatened to strike in 2003 if a new deal was not worked out between players and the league. . The minimum salary for rookies was $35,190. The Houston Comets, Minnesota Lynx, and Seattle Storm hold the distinction of having won the most championships with four titles each. In one notable example, the 2019 Naismith Trophy winner Megan Gustafson did not make an opening-day roster in 2019, and had only played in parts of the 20192021 seasons before being cut in the 2022 preseason. The game is part of a weekend-long event, held in a selected WNBA city each year.