• Loading stock data...
Thursday, August 14, 2025
Stephen A. Smith vs Clay Travis at Tuned In on September 16 in NYC. Don’t miss it. Buy tickets now!

WNBA Finals Feature a Tale of Two Differing Success Stories

  • The New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx face off in the WNBA Finals starting Thursday.
  • The Lynx are one of the W’s winningest franchises, while the Liberty ownership invested millions in the team’s rebuild.
Jun 25, 2024; Belmont Park, New York, USA; Minnesota Lynx guard Courtney Williams (10) shoots over New York Liberty guard Courtney Vandersloot (22) in the first quarter of the Commissioner’s Cup Championship game at UBS Arena.
Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

The WNBA Finals tip off Thursday night between the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx—two organizations that have reached the mountaintop in different ways.

Liberty’s Rise Fueled by Investment

The top-seeded Liberty, the only one of the W’s original eight teams that is active but without a title, have capitalized on the New York market and investments from owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, who bought the team in 2019.

In a league where funding has been scarce for some teams, the Liberty’s new billionaire owners invested in new facilities, lucked into Sabrina Ionescu in the 2020 draft, and recruited the likes of Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, and Courtney Vandersloot. The organization even violated the league’s charter flight rules and was penalized half a million dollars in 2022.

The Tsais had the deep pockets to pay the fine, and they did, while showing how far they were willing to go to invest in the team.

“From the earliest days, what I remember is that no one wanted to buy the team,” Wu Tsai told CNN. “The first feeling out there was we thought that the fundamentals were actually very good … of course New York and the tri-state area is this country’s largest media market.”

The Liberty have built a juggernaut on the court. They finished with a league-best 32–8 record in the regular season and are nearly 3-to-1 favorites to win the title.

Off the court, the team also thrived, securing the second-highest attendance this season, behind the Indiana Fever, with an average of 12,729 fans, a 64% increase over last year. They also have perhaps the most popular non–Caitlin Clark or Angel Reese figure in the league this season: their mascot, Ellie the Elephant.

Lynx’ Legacy Built on Loyalty

On the other side, the Lynx play in one of the league’s smallest markets and have a murky ownership situation given the ongoing dispute for the Lynx and NBA’s Timberwolves between longtime owner Glen Taylor and prospective buyers Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore.

But the Lynx have built a culture of winning—which includes four championships between 2011 and 2017 and playoff appearances in all but one season since that first title. The success helped them build a loyal fan base that has mostly been in the upper half of the league in attendance since 2011.

The one time the Lynx missed the playoffs was in 2022, when star forward Napheesa Collier missed all but four games after taking parental leave. Collier informed the Lynx immediately after she found out she was pregnant—and the two sides agreed to let their best player take time off.

The decision mirrors what happened with Lynx great Maya Moore. The 2014 MVP sat out the 2019 season as she dedicated her time to work on freeing her now-husband from prison. Moore was 29 at the time, and never returned to action, retired in 2023, and had her jersey retired by the team in August.

The Lynx’ player-friendly decisions come as the Las Vegas Aces deal with a lawsuit filed in August by Los Angeles Sparks forward Dearica Hamby, who alleged the Aces discriminated against her when she informed them of her pregnancy. Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon has denied any mistreatment of Hamby.

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

Feb 14, 2025; Oakland, California, USA; Denver Nuggets mascot Rocky the Mountain Lion gestures in front of Terrell Owens (81) of Team Rice during the celebrity game ahead of the 2025 NBA All Star Game at Oakland Arena.

Former Nuggets Mascot Sues Team for Wrongful Termination

Drake Solomon says he returned from hip surgery to a “hostile work environment.”
Michgan football
exclusive

Fox Unlikely to Let ESPN Use Big Ten Games for College Football..

The network doesn’t want to cannibalize its own rights, sources say.

Atlanta Dream Surge to Top As WNBA’s Lone Independent Power

The Dream moved to No. 2 in the WNBA standings on Wednesday.
Jul 19, 2025; New Orleans, Louisiana, UNITED STATES; Dan Ige (red gloves) fights against Patricio Pitbull (blue gloves) during UFC 318 at Smoothie King Center.

Why Paramount Deliberately Overpaid for UFC Media Rights

Analysts and experts agree the deal is a huge win for UFC.

Featured Today

Bridgewater American 12U Little League player Micah Poulter holds a District 7 pin during a send-off rally to the New England regional tournament in Bristol, Connecticut, from Legion Field on Friday, August 2, 2024.

Inside the Little League World Series Pin Trade

The rare little collectibles fuel a frenzy in Williamsport each summer.
Schultz of Israel-Premier Tech
August 12, 2025

Rice Krispies Treats Are Upending the Billion-Dollar Athlete-Fuel Wars

The world’s most elite athletes are eating like first graders.
Dec 14, 2019; Philadelphia, PA, USA; President Donald Trump wave during the second quarter of the game between the Navy Midshipmen and the Army Black Knights at Lincoln Financial Field
August 9, 2025

‘Political Gold’: Trump Putting His Stamp on College Sports 

Trump has embraced executive action on hot-button college sports issues.
August 3, 2025

Inked Under Anesthesia: Athletes Getting $50,000 Tattoos

High-end studios, elite artist teams, and hours under anesthesia.
Sep 22, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; View of the logo on a grandstand during the 2016 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club.

PGA Tour Finale Revamp Brings Career Earnings Back in Play

From 2019 to 2024, winnings were only considered FedEx Cup bonus money.
August 12, 2025

Fever-Sky Viewership Dips As Clark, Reese Absences Take Toll

It was the eighth game between the two teams since last year.
August 13, 2025

Venus Williams Granted US Open Wild-Card Singles Entry

The seven-time Grand Slam winner is 45 years old.
Sponsored

‘Run With the Competition’: Ultra Trail Runner Lotti Brinks Is Back With..

Ultrarunner Lotti Brinks is ready to make her first Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix podium in her HOKA Mafate 5s.
August 12, 2025

Dana White Says Increasing UFC Pay on Table After $7.7B Paramount Deal

The fighting promotion is doubling its media-rights revenue.
Nov 16, 2024; New York, NY, USA; President-elect Donald Trump speaks with Dana White (left) during UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden.
exclusive
August 11, 2025

Dana White on UFC’s Paramount Deal: ‘It’s Going to Be Huge’

White predicts a big influx of viewers by opening up distribution.
Barcelona
August 11, 2025

LaLiga Closing In on Long-Desired Miami Regular-Season Match

The Spanish football federation gave the league the green light.
August 11, 2025

Cincinnati Open Showcases $260M Bet to Be Tennis’s Fifth Slam

Several former Cincinnati Open champions have praised the event’s renovations.