LAS VEGAS — The 2024 WNBA All-Star Game will stay in the West when Phoenix hosts the annual event next summer, commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced Saturday.
This will be the third time the Phoenix Mercury has hosted the game, joining the second All-Star Game in 2000 as well as the 2014 event. The news came during Engelbert’s speech ahead of the 2023 game being held at Michelob Ultra Arena, which was announced in January. It’s the first time the league has announced an All-Star venue in its tenure, which began in mid-2019.
The Mercury has announced that the Skills Challenge and 3-Point Shootout will take place on July 19 with the All-Star Game on July 20.
“We kind of looked at three years of the All-Star type of accommodation because we kind of want to get ahead a lot more than at least [while] I came here, we made it,” Engelbert told Yahoo Sports by phone Thursday. “Three-time WNBA champions, they had hosted the Commissioner’s Cup when we did it at a neutral site that first year. Great people to work with. They know how to do it, they have great attendance. They’ve been on the original teams for a long time, so yeah, we’re really excited to work with them.
Engelbert said the league has been working with Phoenix since last fall and began finalizing it early in the calendar year. Mat Ishbia, the new team owner of Mercury and NBA’s Suns, announced in late May that the franchise had made an official bid for the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game.
“Phoenix is one of the great basketball cities in the world and the perfect place to bring players and fans together to celebrate the sport,” Ishbia said in a statement in May. “The Phoenix Suns and Mercury want to continue to find new and important ways to partner with the city to have a real impact on our community.”
The Phoenix City Council then unanimously approved the resolution to host the game and an NBA All-Star Game in 2025 or 2026. The franchise, the city, the mayor’s office, the governor’s office, the Phoenix Convention Center and other local groups wanted to present a united front. on their offers.
“We’ve become known as ‘Championship Valley’ because we have the know-how and ability to host the best major sporting and mega-events,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego told KJZZ.
An announcement a year in advance gives fans more time to plan trips and vacations, especially during a time of increased travel across the country. It also gives more information to sponsors and companies, which invest more in women’s sport.
The venue for this year’s event, Michelob Ultra Arena, which has a capacity of 12,000, sold out months ago and players struggled to find tickets at the last minute. Footprint Center can accommodate over 17,000 people.
The 2022 All-Star Game in Chicago featured the first WNBA Live event, a multi-day fan festival featuring player meet-and-greets, interactive booths, live panels, fan skill challenges and viewing parties. The festival expanded from its 15,000 square foot area outside Wintrust Arena in Chicago to the 75,000 square foot experience at Mandalay Bay in Vegas that was similar to the event held at the Women’s Final Four each year.
“Our partner companies kind of want to know where we stand [and] know how they’re going to start thinking about getting active at All-Star,” Engelbert said. “And then we’ll get into this kind of habit of doing next year [announcement] in the All-Star Game.
Sponsors in Vegas included American Express, Mielle, STARRY and Kia. Fans could get their nails done at the nail bar, head to the Playa Society pop-up for merchandising, take photos with the Nike flower wall, and hang out at the Sports Bra pop-up, an all-female sports bar based in Portland, Oregon. There was also a center court for activations and the kids had plenty of games to play. Engelbert said the league plans to “keep blowing that up” for the event in Phoenix and is happy to see the brands and agencies holding functions.
“It’s a little more like NBA All-Star Weekend, although it’s a lot warmer,” Engelbert said.
The 2024 season takes place during an Olympic year, which historically meant that the league did not hold the annual mid-season event, as the best players competed for Team USA. When the Tokyo Olympics were held in the summer of 2021, the league held an all-star game as Team USA, who were all automatic All-Stars, against the WNBA All-Stars who weren’t. part of the national team. It was also the league’s 25th anniversary year.
“I always thought about Sue Bird and her time in the league,” Engelbert said. “She could have been 20 times All-Star, but there were times when we didn’t have it, so we really wanted next year and not skip it like we’ve done in the past. But we also put [in] 40 games now. We have a tough footprint and all that.
Engelbert said “we will definitely look into this format” with USA Basketball again as an option and more details on the game setup will come later. The Olympic Games will be held in Paris from July 27 to August 11, 2024.