With the recent rise in popularity of the Women’s NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, there has been a lot of buzz surrounding the 28th season of WNBA basketball and the future of these young stars. On April 15, 2024, we witnessed arguably the best college athlete of all time get drafted by the Indiana Fever with the first overall pick. Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark set almost every record and received almost every award imaginable in the scene of college basketball, as well as being one of the sole reasons for the boom in the popularity of women’s college basketball this spring. The WNBA’s revenue and viewership both on TV and in person are predicted to be at an all-time high this coming season due to the influx of top prospects like Clark coming into the league. Because of this, the WNBA has recently announced that their newest team, the Golden State Valkyries, will make their WNBA entrance in 2025, and in 2026, Toronto will make way for a 14th team.
Currently, WNBA sales are at a whopping high, increasing by 93% from last season according to a recent StubHub analysis. Tickets for the Indiana Fever are averaging $175, 13 times that of the 2023 season. Due to this high demand, the Fever are now streaming all but 4 of their 40 regular season games on national television, a large jump from the 22 streamed last year. Other teams are also seeing this effect with their star player draftees, such as the Chicago Sky with Angel Reese and the LA Sparks with Cameron Brink.
The 2024 WNBA regular season began on May 14, and will last until mid-September with each of the 12 teams from across the country playing a total of 40 regular season games. After the regular season is over, the top 8 teams in the league will play in a bracket-style tournament. The matchups in the first round will be a best-of-three series, while the semi-finals and finals will consist of a best-of-five game series. The higher regarded teams will maintain home-court advantage, meaning that they will start playing the first two games of the series at home and, if need be, play the deciding game five at their own stadium. In 2023, the Las Vegas Aces took advantage of their top seed and home-court advantage, winning every playoff game except for one in a historic run to win the championship.
This season is shaping up to be the most exciting season yet for the WNBA, and only time will tell how some of the biggest college stars will perform under the spotlight. With their impact on the game of college basketball being monumental, it is hoped that their effect on the WNBA may very well be the same.
