WNBA adds new, lucrative twist to fledgling in-season tournament
The WNBA announced the release of its schedule for the upcoming 2025 season, revealing that the winners of their season tournament will win a special prize.
The league’s regular season includes 44 games for each team – the most in WNBA history.
That process will include the WNBA’s season tournament – the Commissioner’s Cup – which will hand out cryptocurrency as part of the prize pool.
The winner of the tournament will receive a prize pool of $500,000. Additionally, Commissioner’s Cup sponsor Coinbase will give each player in the championship game $5,000 worth of cryptocurrency.
The regular season will be interrupted from June 1 to 17 to play the Commissioner’s Cup, while a championship game will take place on July 1.
According to the league, “all intraconference cup games count toward a team’s regular-season win-loss record.”
The WNBA revealed that Commissioner’s Cup participants will win $5,000 in cryptocurrency
Last year’s Cup was won by Minnesota over New York in a preview of the 2024 WNBA Finals
The Commissioner’s Cup was first introduced in 2020 and has been part of every season since. Last year’s champions were the Minnesota Lynx, who defeated the New York Liberty in what would be a preview of the 2024 WNBA Finals.
The league also announced the opening games for each team, with the first games of the season kicking off on May 16 at 7:30 ET. The Atlanta Dream will play the Washington Mystics, while the Minnesota Lynx will play the Dallas Wings.
The Golden State Valkyries, playing in their first season, will host the Los Angeles Sparks.
Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever will host Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky in their first game of the season on Saturday, May 17 at 1:00 PM local time.
The reigning WNBA champion New York Liberty will then host the Las Vegas Aces at 3:00 PM ET.