WNBA capitalizing on popularity boom with regular season, Finals expansion

A tremendous season of growth in attendance and TV ratings is prompting the WNBA to expand both its playoff format and regular season.WNBA commissioner Cathy Englebert announced that the league will switch from a best-of-five to a seven-game championship series in 2025.Each team also will play 44 games in the regular season, up from the current 40.

The league also will switch to a 1-1-1 format in the best-of-3 first round, ensuring each team at least one home game.The WNBA has used a best-of-five setup since 2005, including this year’s Finals beginning Thursday night between the Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx at Barclays Center.The semifinals will continue to be a best-of-five format, Engelbert said.She added that the addition of charter flights this season for all games will make it easier to make these changes in next year’s playoffs.Engelbert also announced that the draft lottery will take place on Nov.

1 and that the new Golden State Valkyries franchise will pick fifth in each round of the WNBA draft....