WNBA FINALS EXPANSION ANNOUNCED

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At Athletes for Freedom, we celebrate the incredible achievements of women in all fields, including sports, where they continue to make groundbreaking strides. In a major leap forward for women’s basketball, the WNBA has announced that starting in 2025, the Finals will expand to a best-of-seven series for the first time ever.

This is a huge moment, sig­nal­ing that wom­en’s bas­ket­ball is match­ing the com­pet­i­tive spir­it and vis­i­bil­i­ty long asso­ci­at­ed with men’s sports, and it’s hap­pen­ing where it mat­ters most — on the Finals stage.

The series will fol­low a 2−2−1−1−1 for­mat, with the high­er-seed­ed team host­ing Games 1, 2, 5, and 7, while the low­er-seed­ed team will host Games 3, 4, and 6. This new for­mat reflects the WNBA’s grow­ing stature and the increas­ing demand for women’s bas­ket­ball.

But that’s not all. The WNBA is also expand­ing its reg­u­lar sea­son from 40 to 44 games in response to the over­whelm­ing excite­ment from fans. This coin­cides with the debut of a new team, the Gold­en State Valkyries, join­ing the league. Com­mis­sion­er Cathy Engel­bert made it clear: “We are wit­ness­ing an incred­i­ble demand for WNBA bas­ket­ball, with more cities want­i­ng expan­sion teams, fans fill­ing are­nas, and record engage­ment across social and dig­i­tal plat­forms. Now is the per­fect time to length­en the sea­son and give our fans a Finals series that mir­rors the high-stakes for­mat seen in oth­er sports.”

In anoth­er impor­tant shift, the for­mat for the best-of-three first round of the play­offs will change as well. Pre­vi­ous­ly, the high­er seed host­ed Games 1 and 2, but now, under a 1−1−1 struc­ture, both teams will have the chance to host a home game, ensur­ing that both fan­bas­es get a chance to see their team com­pete in per­son.

Much of the league’s surge in pop­u­lar­i­ty can be attrib­uted to ris­ing stars like Caitlin Clark, whose per­for­mance has cap­ti­vat­ed fans world­wide. This surge has helped secure a major media rights deal worth $2.2 bil­lion over 11 years with ESPN, NBC, and Ama­zon. This means that start­ing soon, the WNBA semi­fi­nals and Finals will rotate between Dis­ney, NBC, and Prime Video, bring­ing women’s bas­ket­ball to even more screens across the globe.

This evo­lu­tion is proof that women’s sports are ris­ing to new heights, and we’re proud to stand behind the women mak­ing his­to­ry.