Liberty’s first WNBA championship highlights exciting local year in women’s sports

Fewer than 1,200 fans filtered into the Barclays Center for the New York Liberty’s 2021 season opener to get their first in-person glimpse at 2020 top pick Sabrina Ionescu in black-and-seafoam green threads after her rookie season took place in a bubble because of the pandemic.

In three short years, the Liberty have seen their average attendance grow by nearly 580 percent.

In 2023, the team recorded its first sellout at Barclays Center, drawing a crowd of 11,418 fans for a regular-season contest against the Las Vegas Aces.

This year, Ionescu and her teammates won the franchise’s first WNBA Finals in front of a crowd of more than 18,000.

Winning, of course, makes everything easier for a franchise.

Fans love to rally around and invest in a team that brings home a title.

But the Liberty’s recent off-the-court success follows that of a larger trend across women’s sports over the past few years.

After years of being undervalued, women’s sports, particularly the WNBA, have seen a massive wave of investment and have never been more accessible for fans to watch and follow.

While women’s sports may have been on the rise for years, 2024 felt different.

It helps that there was no shortage of exciting moments, from the budding rivalry between WNBA rookie stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese to American Olympians Simone Biles and Ilona Maher captivating fans at the 2024 Paris Games.

A new professional women’s hockey league, promising viability and sustainability, crowned its first champion.

TV ratings across different sports boomed.

Attendance records were shattered, too.

There were tales of redemption and heartbreak.

Viral moments and legendary performances.

In the New York market, specifically, women’s sports continue to carve out their space in the saturated sports landscape.

The Liberty delivered the city its first professional basketball title since 1973.

Gotham FC fell short of going back to the NWSL championships.

Columbia women’s basketball went dancing for the first time in program history.

And things are looking up for the Sirens, too, after they drafted the most exciting rookie in hockey.

Here’s a review of each local women’s professional team’s last year.

Liberty

After losing to the Aces in the 2023 WNBA Finals, the Liberty came back this season with vengeance.

Breanna Stewart signed a discounted deal, and Jonquel Jones committed on paper to two more seasons with the Liberty.

The Liberty suffered a tough loss against the Minnesota Lynx in the Commissioner’s Cup championship, but it was New York that ultimately had the last laugh.

The Liberty met the Lynx in one of the most memorable Finals to date.

Both teams exchanged blows.

Ionescu drilled an absurd go-ahead 28-footer with a second remaining to give the Liberty a 2-1 series lead.

It came down to an epic Game 5, which the Liberty won in overtime.

It ended up being the most-watched WNBA Finals game in 25 years, peaking at 3.3 million viewers.

With Stewart planning to sign on for another season, the Liberty seem likely to have a good shot at defending their title in 2025.

Gotham FC

In 2023, Gotham pulled off a miraculous postseason run, going from the last team to make the playoffs to being the last group standing.

Gotham had a better regular-season finish this time around, ending in third place.

Plenty of drama followed in the playoffs.

Gotham hosted the Portland Thorns for their first home playoff match in team history at Red Bull Arena, and Rose Lavelle scored the go-ahead goal in the seventh minute of stoppage time.

The semifinals match against the Washington Spirit came down to a penalty shootout.

The Spirit netted three straight and goalie Aubrey Kingsbury had three straight stops to end Gotham’s season.

Gotham already lost one of its two notable free agents when midfielder Delanie Sheehan signed with the Houston Dash earlier this month.

It’s still unclear whether Midge Purce will be back for Gotham in 2025.

Sirens

The Sirens pushed the reset button after finishing last in the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s inaugural season.

They have a new coach in Greg Fargo and a permanent home at Prudential Center after playing home games at three different venues last season.

They also used the No. 1 overall pick to draft former Princeton star Sarah Fillier.

Fillier and Alex Carpenter’s immediate chemistry make them arguably the most lethal duo in the league.

The Sirens are 2-1-1-2 to end this year, good for third place in the six-team league.

There seem to be good things in store for them in 2025.

Five other memorable moments from 2024

U.S. women’s basketball wins Olympic gold

The U.S. beat host France 67-66 in an epic Olympic gold medal game. Perhaps no one was more emotional about the U.S. winning its eighth straight Olympic gold in women’s basketball, though, than Brittney Griner. After the win, Griner said representing the U.S. was extra meaningful after the country helped facilitate her release from a Russian prison.

Simone Biles silences detractors with glorious Olympic return

A bad case of the “twisties” sidelined Biles in Tokyo. But Biles cemented her GOAT status with a performance for the ages in Paris, where she added three golds and a silver to her already absurd collection. She also completed a vault no other woman has done: the Yurchenko double pike, now known as the Biles II, the fifth skill named after her.

Katie Ledecky swims her way to history again

Ledecky became the most decorated American woman Olympian of all time, winning two gold medals, a silver and a bronze to bring her career Olympic medal count to 14. She also set an Olympic record in her signature race, the 1,500-meter freestyle, finishing in 15:30.02 — 10 seconds better than the next finisher. With Ledecky eyeing 2028 Los Angeles for her fifth Olympics, she could very well surpass Russian gymnast Larisa Latynina for the most Olympic golds won by a woman. Ledecky and Latynina are tied with nine.

Penn State volleyball wins the national title

Penn State coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley stayed on her team’s sidelines this season, despite being diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer. Her perseverance and strength paid off this month when she made history 43 years in the making and became the first female coach to win an NCAA Division I volleyball championship. The Nittany Lions rolled through the NCAA Tournament, pulling off a reverse sweep of Nebraska in the semifinals. Penn State beat Louisville 3-1 in the final to win the program’s first national title in a decade.

Caitlin Clark takes WNBA by storm

The Clark effect is real. After being a ratings sensation in college at Iowa, Clark was drafted No. 1 overall in April to the Indiana Fever, who became the hottest ticket in town. The Fever became the WNBA equivalent of One Direction on tour, with some teams moving their games to bigger venues to help meet the demand.