WNBA Finals: Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announces league will move to best-of-7 Finals in 2025

NEW YORK — The WNBA Finals will expand to a best-of-seven series in 2025, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced ahead of Game 1 on Thursday.

“This will give fans a championship format that they are accustomed to seeing in other sports,” Engelbert said.

The NBA, NHL and MLB all utilize a best-of-seven format. The WNBA began as a championship game in its inaugural season (1997), moved to a best-of-three the following year and began the best-of-five in 2005. The first two games are hosted by the better seed, giving a massive advantage to the home team if it takes care of business. Throughout the postseason, coaches have said the league should move toward a longer format. It now will be a 2-2-1-1-1 structure with the better seed hosting Games 1, 2, 5 and 7.

The first round will remain a best-of-three, but in a 1-1-1 format to ensure each playoff team hosts at least one game at home. The current 2-1 structure came under fire this season when the Indiana Fever, the league leader in attendance, did not host a playoff game.

“We have contemplated both of these changes since the pandemic, and we would have done it in the current year, but with the Olympic break this year it wasn’t possible,” Engelbert said. “But now that we have charters throughout the season and playoffs, it’s feasible.”

WNBA head of league operations Bethany Donaphin said in a league release the change was a “priority based on discussions with the WNBA’s team presidents, head coaches, general managers and Competition Committee.” Implementing league-wide charter flights makes it easier to switch cities more often in the playoffs.

The second round will stay best-of-five. The postseason change, in addition to the previously announced regular-season expansion from 40 to 44 games, will impact an already condensed footprint. The league typically plays from May to October, but that changes when there is international play.

“I think next year will be a good footprint,” Engelbert said. “We’ll have to look at the following year because that’s a FIBA World Cup year and then obviously we’ll be good in ’27. And ’28 will be [Los Angeles Olympics], so it’s a constant balancing of the schedule.”

Engelbert said the league can’t begin earlier because of the college season, which ends during the first weeks of April and is immediately followed by the WNBA Draft. The draft lottery will be held Nov. 17 at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN, the league also announced Thursday. Going later into the fall season overlaps with the NBA and about half of the league’s teams share arenas.

Engelbert also addressed the “troubling” hateful online speech and threats directed at players. Sun forward Alyssa Thomas spoke out about it after the team’s first-round sweep of the Indiana Fever.

“That type of conduct is not representative of WNBA’s character or fan base,” Engelbert said in her opening remarks. “As a league, we stand united in condemning racism and all forms of hate. The WNBA is one of the most inclusive and diverse professional sports leagues in the world, and we will continue to champion those values.”

Engelbert said the league will meet in the offseason with the WNBA Players Association, players and teams to “expand and enhance our efforts” in combating the issue. She said the league will utilize technology to prioritize mental health, reinforce physical security and increase monitoring. The league has already met with technology providers and believes there are some “technology solutions” to employ, she said.

“We want to meet with the players and see what they want to do around that, but there are some technology companies that we’ve been meeting with to see what we can do,” Engelbert said. “It’s just something where we have to continue to be a voice for this, a voice against this condemning it and making sure that we find every opportunity that we support our players, who have been dealing with this much longer than this year.”