On August 30, 1997, the Houston Comets beat the New York Liberty at the first ever WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) championship game. Founded in April 1996 as the women’s counterpart to the National Basketball Association (NBA), the league had their first season in 1997.
The WNBA was created in response to the national excitement over the United States women’s team winning the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Although not the first official women’s basketball league, the WNBA was the first one to secure official backing from the NBA. Starting with eight teams in 1997 (Charlotte Sting, Cleveland Rockers, Houston Comets, New York Liberty, Los Angeles Sparks, Phoenix Mercury, Sacramento Monarchs, and Utah Starzz), there are currently twelve teams total in the league.
Initially, the WNBA enjoyed healthy turnout for games—in 1997, the average audience attendance was 9664; the next year, it jumped to 10,864. However, since the initial enthusiasm, the WNBA has struggled to captivate the same interest from fans.
The league kicked off in 1997 with a swaggering marketing campaign dubbed “We Got Next,” highlighting emerging stars Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes as their star players. Instead, Cynthia Cooper from the Houston Comets would end up becoming the true star of the season. She led her team to defeat the New York Liberty, earning her the MVP title for the 1997 season.
Forty years after Title IX, the federal law that paved the way for millions of girls to play college sports, the WNBA remains a symbol of sports equality. Now into their 21st season, you can support the WNBA by catching games until September 3. The playoffs start on September 7!