Women's National Basketball Association

The Women's National Basketball Association or WNBA is an organization governing a professional basketball league for women in the United States. Formed in 1996 as a counterpart to the NBA, the league started play in 1997.

History

We Got Next

Officially approved by the NBA Board of Governors on April 24, 1996, the creation of the WNBA was first announced at a press conference with Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes in attendance. While not the first major women's professional basketball league in the United States (a distinction held by the defunct WBL), the WNBA is the only league to receive full backing of the NBA, the world's most competitive professional basketball league.

Related Topics:
April 24 - 1996 - Rebecca Lobo - Lisa Leslie - Sheryl Swoopes - WBL

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On the heels of a much-publicized gold medal run by the USA Women's Basketball team at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, the WNBA started its first season in June 1997 to much fanfare. The league started its first season with eight teams; the first WNBA game featured the New York Liberty facing the Los Angeles Sparks in Los Angeles. The game was televised nationally in the United States on the NBC television network. At the start of the 1997 season, the WNBA had television deals in place with NBC, ESPN and the Lifetime Television Network. Penny Toler was the first woman to score a point in the league.

Related Topics:
1996 Summer Olympic Games - 1997 - New York Liberty - Los Angeles Sparks - Los Angeles - NBC - ESPN - Lifetime Television - Penny Toler

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The WNBA centered its marketing campaign, dubbed "We Got Next", around stars Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes. In the league's first season, Leslie's team underperformed and Swoopes sat out the season due to her pregnancy, the league's true star emerged in 1997 WNBA MVP Cynthia Cooper, who led her Houston Comets team to victory over the New York Liberty in the first WNBA Championship game.

Related Topics:
Rebecca Lobo - Lisa Leslie - Sheryl Swoopes - MVP - Cynthia Cooper - Houston Comets - WNBA Championship game

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1999 season

The 1999 season was a milestone season for the WNBA in a variety of ways. The league's chief competition, the ABL, folded the year before and after the NBA lockout resulted in an abbreviated NBA season, the WNBA started to come into its own. Four teams had been added since the 1997 season, bringing the number of teams in the league up to 12. The drafting of University of Tennessee star Chamique Holdsclaw before the season signaled a new youth movement in a league that had traditionally been comprised of international/college veterans.

Related Topics:
ABL - University of Tennessee - Chamique Holdsclaw

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This season was also a historic one for the WNBA. Attendance at games for certain teams such as the New York Liberty had reached all-time highs. Before the season started, a collective bargaining agreement between players and the league was signed - the first collective bargaining agreement to be signed in the history of women's professional sports.

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Growing pains

By the 2000 season, the WNBA had doubled in size. Two more teams had been added in 1998, two more in 1999 and four more in 2000. Up to this point, the teams and league were collectively owned by the NBA. After the 2002 season the NBA sold the WNBA teams either to their NBA counterparts in the same city or to a third party. This led to two teams moving and two teams folding before the 2003 season began. The Cleveland Rockers folded after the 2003 season.

Related Topics:
2000 - 1998 - 2002 - 2003 - Cleveland Rockers

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In addition to the restructuring of teams, players would also cause changes in the league. In 2002, the WNBA players association threatened to strike the next season if a new deal was not worked out between players and the league. The result was a delay in the start of the 2003 preseason.

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The 2004 season proved to be the most competitive in league history, with almost all the teams in the league vying for playoff spots. Following this, on October 21, 2004, Val Ackerman, the first WNBA president, announced her resignation, effective February 1, 2005, citing the desire to spend more time with her family. Ackerman later became president of USA Basketball.

Related Topics:
October 21 - 2004 - Val Ackerman - February 1 - 2005 - USA Basketball

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On February 15, 2005, NBA Commissioner David Stern announced that Donna Orender, who had been serving as the Senior Vice President of the PGA Tour and once played for several teams in the now-defunct Women's Basketball League (WBL), would be named as Ackerman's successor, effective April 2005.

Related Topics:
February 15 - NBA - David Stern - Donna Orender - PGA Tour - Women's Basketball League

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The WNBA awarded its first expansion franchise in several years, WNBA Chicago (later named the Chicago Sky) in February 2005.

Related Topics:
Chicago Sky - February - 2005

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