Hot ticket
Tickets for opening night were going for almost $500 on the secondary market with top seats at $727, according to Gametime.
Faces in the crowd
Investors including former U.S. women’s national soccer team captain Alex Morgan and former NBA All-Star Steve Nash were there for opening night as well as WNBA player Nneka Ogwumike, who is president of the WNBA players’ union.
She shimmied after the shot went through the net at center court.
The intimate venue in Miami that was created in about six weeks and seats about 850 fans was full. The farthest seat is about 30 feet from the court. Those in attendance cheered virtually on every play as they didn’t really have allegiances to either team.
Rhyne is on 🔥🔥27 pts with 4:02 left in Q3 pic.twitter.com/yaePKaoQua
There were three seven-minute quarters and then the fourth quarter was played to a “winning score.” That score is decided by adding 11 points to the leading team’s score after three quarters. The intensity picked up in the fourth quarter in both games.
— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb) January 18, 2025
Lisa Leslie, one of the analysts for the broadcast on TNT and TruTV, was there at the beginning of the WNBA. Now, she’s here for the launch of this league.
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 18, 2025
Jewell Loyd led the Mist with 30 points while Collier had 27 for the Lunar Owls in the fast-paced game.
In the opener, Stewart’s Mist team led 73-67 heading into the final period before Skylar Diggins-Smith rallied the Lunar Owls to an 84-80 victory. Diggins-Smith hit consecutive 3-pointers, including the game-winner, to clinch the comeback.
The idea for the domestic league was first discussed a couple of years ago and now it’s come to fruition.
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AP video journalist Brittany Peterson contributed to this story.
“I can’t even put it into words what it’s going to be like,” Stewart said. “But just the fact that there’s so much hype, there’s so much content, so much chatter about opening night and we worked really hard to get to this point both on and off the court. Excited to kind of just go in and showcase what we’ve done.”
The pregame introductions had the feel of All-Star Games with the players coming out from a stage at center court through a smoke show. Stewart and Collier then did a photo at halfcourt with league commissioner Micky Lawler.
