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The NBA has tried a lot of new things over the past few years.
In 2020, the NBA introduced a play-in game for teams about to make the playoffs to try to qualify. Last season, the league held its inaugural In-Season tournament, a separate tournament from the playoffs held during the regular season.
Many assumed that the NBA borrowed the format from European soccer leagues, but the WNBA has had its own in-season tournament, the Commissioner’s Cup, since 2021.
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The tournament has been somewhat successful for the league as it has established a relationship with Amazon since the championship game airs exclusively on Prime Video. The league announced that ratings for the 2023 championship game doubled compared to the previous year, and given the increase in viewership for the WNBA this season, that should continue for this year’s championship game on June 25.
The league also provided an incentive for its players to play, with teams competing for a prize pool of $500,000, a huge sum in a league that… It struggled to provide its players with fair contracts.
The format of the WNBA’s Commissioner’s Cup is different from the NBA’s regular season championship, but it certainly helped the NBA see the incorporation of its own regular season championship after seeing the success of a league championship in which it owns more than 50%.
But inspiration from the WNBA isn’t enough for the NBA to prioritize the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup championship game over its own NBA draft.
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The WNBA Commissioner’s Cup tournament will be moved to another city
The New York Liberty host the Minnesota Lynx in the Commissioner’s Cup on June 25 with a chance to win the championship for the second straight season.
But the Liberty will not host the Lynx at Barclays Center, their home stadium located in Brooklyn, New York. Instead, the Commissioner’s Cup will be played at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, which is about 20 miles from Barclays Center.
The reason for the move is that the NBA Draft, which is also hosted at Barclays Center, is scheduled to be held on June 26-27.
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“While we wish we could have brought this game to our fans in our home arena, we are grateful to UBS Arena for hosting us and providing a world-class venue in New York,” Liberty CEO Kia Clark said in a press release.
However, the WNBA may be more to blame for this scheduling glitch than the NBA.
According to Front Office Sports, Liberty warned the WNBA in December of a scheduling conflict as the NBA had already set its draft date. The NBA has held the NBA Draft at Barclays Center since 2013, without the 2020 draft, which was affected by the pandemic.
The report stated that Liberty felt as if the NBA had “rescinded the warning.”
When the warning was initially issued in December, there was no guarantee that the match would be held in New York. When the Liberty won last year, they defeated the Las Vegas Aces on the road.
But the fight for the place was still predictable given that Liberty are one of the best teams in the league. A strong start to the season saw the Liberty take home Center Court in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship game with a win over the Washington Mystics on June 9.
However, regardless of who should take the blame for the scheduling conflict, the forced move is a rough look for all parties involved as the WNBA continues to fight for justice.
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