WNBA rolls out plans for 25th season celebration – Nationwide

The WNBA hopes to be again in house arenas for its 25th season this summer time.

The league on Monday introduced a sequence of plans for the season, together with a brand new advertising marketing campaign “Depend It,” in addition to celebrations of the league’s milestones all through its historical past.

When the brand new season will begin remains to be being finalized due to the coronavirus pandemic. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert mentioned that she expects it to start in Might.

Final season, the league performed a 22-game schedule at IMG Academy in Florida. The WNBA final yr had a plan for a 34-game schedule earlier than the coronavirus pandemic modified that. There will likely be a break for the Tokyo Olympics in July.

“We’re working actually exhausting on the schedule,” Engelbert mentioned. “We’ve to get security protocols in arenas and are hoping to play in our arenas like different sports activities are doing. Play in our 12 cities, because the 12 markets are engaged on enviornment protocols, testing and well being and security.

“As we glance to rejoice the primary 25 years of the league, we’re additionally setting the stage for the subsequent 25 years. The WNBA’s new distinctive 25th season emblem and Depend It marketing campaign signify what makes the league distinctive,” mentioned Engelbert. “We’re celebrating 1 / 4 of a century of the affect the WNBA has made on sports activities and society, and on generations of younger and numerous athletes.”

The commemorative emblem will likely be displayed on the courts, jerseys and recreation ball, which is able to now be a Wilson basketball as a substitute of Spalding.

Different commemorative plans for the 25th season embody:

• The W25 to honour the league’s best gamers since its inception in 1997.
• New uniform iterations by Nike.
• Advisory Council made up of former ladies’s basketball pioneers and WNBA greats.

The league additionally plans to proceed to assist the WNBA Justice Motion. It’s the platform by which the league will proceed to steer necessary work in the neighborhood to fight racial and gender inequality, promote advocacy for LBGTQ+ rights, and champion reform in methods the place injustice persists.

“It’s one of many necessary issues I do know to the gamers,” Engelbert mentioned of the social justice motion. “We discuss to them on a regular basis about not being one and carried out round social justice. Persevering with the social justice efforts and integrating that in with the marketing campaign and to steer necessary work with the group.”