Every year, a WNBA team or two loses its home arena during the playoffs: the time of year a team needs familiarity and consistency most. In 2021, the No. 5 Phoenix Mercury will play their first-round single-elimination game against the No. 8 New York Liberty on Thursday (Sept. 23) at Grand Canyon University (GCU) Arena because of what the team is calling a "scheduling conflict" at the team's home arena. But there is more to this recurring theme of disrespect.
WNBA teams
The WNBA features a logjam of talent that has pushed some of the country's best players out of the league, and expansion is the only solution. Yet, history illustrates the need to proceed with caution when growing a women's professional sports league. Of the four teams the WNBA added on this day in 2000, just two remain.
When Joe Maloof announced in November 2009 that his family would be surrendering ownership of the WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs, he claimed to be "bummed" about the decision and told reporters that the move was necessitated by the ownership group's need to focus full-throttle on the NBA's Kings.
"This is our team that won a championship," Maloof told Aileen Voisin of The Sacramento Bee. "We love the Monarchs. But all of our efforts have to be on getting the Kings back to where they once were, an...
Twenty-five years since its inaugural tipoff, the WNBA is still here: "impossible shot after impossible shot after impossible shot." In the runup to this historic season, the WNBA has provided The Hard Screen with a first look into the ways the league will pay homage to the past and WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert discusses how the 2021 season is an investment in the league's next 25.
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