The WNBA is Taking Off. What Took So Long?

Mar 23, 2026 · 1169 words · By Keia Clarke

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What to know about The WNBA is Taking Off. What Took So Long?

My earliest memory of professional women’s basketball is the 1996 Olympics.

Claims checked 16

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Right coverage

Left25%

Center75%

Right0%

4 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

My earliest memory of professional women’s basketball is the 1996 Olympics.

Why it matters

The All-Stars on Team USA pushed the sport to a point where it could no longer be ignored.

Common ground

I recorded features about that team on VHS and watched them over and over.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: The WNBA is Taking Off. What Took So Long??
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that Our ambition is to become the first billion-dollar women’s sports franchise?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://time.com/article/2026/03/23/the-wnba-is-taking-off-what-took-so-long-/

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 16 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

help Insufficient Evidence 7

schedule Pending 6

verified Verified By Reference 3

schedule

Claim 1: “Our ambition is to become the first billion-dollar women’s sports franchise.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 2: “Local viewership increased 129% year over year, leading to a multi-year extension.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 3: “The Liberty set the WNBA’s all-time single-game gate revenue record, twice.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 4: “WNBA players are set to become some of the highest-paid women athletes in the world.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it insufficient evidence based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 5: “By 2006, we became the first WNBA team to air our entire regular season on television.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it insufficient evidence based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 6: “We secured 52 corporate partners, 20 new to the WNBA, driving sponsorship revenue growth of more than 60% year over year.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 7: “Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, Dawn Staley, and Rebecca Lobo didn’t just win gold; they expanded our imagination of what women’s basketball could be.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it verified by reference based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held f…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Summer_Olympics

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 1996 United States women's Olympic basketball team competed in the Games of the XXVI Olympiad which were held in Atlanta, Georgia. The U.S. women's Olympic team won their third gold medal at the e…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_United_States_women's_Oly…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Group E of the women's soccer tournament at the 1996 Summer Olympics was played from 21 to 25 July 1996, and included hosts United States, China, Denmark and Sweden. The top two teams advanced to the …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_at_the_1996_Summer_Ol…

help

Claim 8: “Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai acquired the franchise in 2019.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it insufficient evidence based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 9: “We negotiated a landmark distribution agreement with WNYW FOX5 New York, the network’s first partnership with a women’s professional sports team, reaching more than 7.5 million households.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 10: “The All-Stars on Team USA pushed the sport to a point where it could no longer be ignored.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it verified by reference based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 1996 Summer Olympics—based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States—marked the first time that women participated in the Olympic association football tournament. The tournament featured eight women's na…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_at_the_1996_Summer_Ol…

help

Claim 11: “The WNBA is taking off. The league broke viewership and attendance records in 2025.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it insufficient evidence based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 12: “In 2024, we delivered a professional basketball championship to New York City for the first time in 50 years.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it insufficient evidence based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 13: “The Liberty have evolved from a founding franchise to an industry leader—on the court and in the boardroom.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it verified by reference based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2024 New York Liberty season was the 28th season for the New York Liberty franchise of the WNBA, and their third season under head coach, Sandy Brondello. The season tipped off on Tuesday, May 14,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_New_York_Liberty_season

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2025 New York Liberty season was the 29th season for the New York Liberty franchise of the WNBA, and their fourth season under head coach, Sandy Brondello. The season tipped off on Saturday, May 1…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_New_York_Liberty_season

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Liberty

schedule

Claim 14: “They backed that belief with infrastructure, most notably an $80 million state-of-the-art practice facility in Brooklyn.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 15: “In 1997, we faced the Los Angeles Sparks at the Great Western Forum and drew more than 5 million viewers.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it insufficient evidence based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 16: “In 2025, Forbes named us the most valuable women’s sports franchise in the world.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it insufficient evidence based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.