What is the Commissioner’s Cup?
The Commissioner’s Cup presented by Coinbase is an annual in-season competition. The team from each conference with the top record in Commissioner’s Cup games will compete for a $500,000 prize pool in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship presented by Coinbase, which will be played on Tuesday, June 25 at the arena of the team with the best record in Cup play. Coinbase has committed an additional $120,000 in cryptocurrency to the prize pool, which includes $5,000 for each player in the championship game.
The Commissioner’s Cup presented by Coinbase provides added incentive and increased interest for players and fans alike with a half-million-dollar prize pool on the line for players and enhanced conference rivalries through which fans can support their favorite teams. The Commissioner’s Cup presented by Coinbase will continue to feature a platform through which the league makes charitable contributions to non-profit organizations aligned to the players’ social justice work. The accumulating donation dollars will be presented to each organization at the conclusion of the Commissioner’s Cup Championship.
How did the Commissioner’s Cup format change in 2024?
Effective with the upcoming 2024 season, the league’s 28th season, the reconfigured structure for the WNBA’s in-season tournament will see each team play a total of five Commissioner’s Cup games, one against each of its in-conference rivals.
All games played during the two-week period from June 1-13, 2024 will be Commissioner’s Cup games. Teams will play either three Commissioner’s Cup games at home and two on the road, or two at home and three on the road. All Commissioner’s Cup games will be a part of the team’s 40-game schedule and will count toward the team’s regular-season win-loss record
The team from each conference with the top record in Commissioner’s Cup games will compete for a $500,000 prize pool in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship presented by Coinbase, which will be played on Tuesday, June 25 at the arena of the team with the best record in Cup play.
How do tie breakers work?
Home Court in Commissioner’s Cup Championship:
Home-court hosting of the Commissioner’s Cup Championship game will be awarded to the conference winner that has the higher winning percentage in all games played (ending on the night of the last Commissioner’s Cup games).
If both Commissioner’s Cup conference winners have the same winning percentage in all games played through the night of the last Commissioner’s Cup games, the below tiebreaker procedure shall be used to determine which team will host the Commissioner’s Cup Championship game.
- Average point differential in all games played (ending on the night of the last Commissioner’s Cup game);
- Head-to-head record (ending on the night of the last Commissioner’s Cup game);
- Coin flip.
Commissioner’s Cup Conference Finalist:
The team in each conference that has the best record from the Commissioner’s Cup Tournament will play in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship game.
If two or more teams have the same record, the following tiebreak procedure shall be used to break ties between teams within the same conference to determine the conference finalist for the Commissioner’s Cup Championship game.
1. Two-Way Tie Between Teams.
Head-to-head record in the Commissioner’s Cup game between the teams (which will be all that is necessary to break any two-team tie because every team plays every other team in the conference once).
2. More Than Two Teams Tied.
- Head-to-head record in the Commissioner’s Cup games among all the tied teams;
- Point differential in the Commissioner’s Cup games among all the tied teams;
- Total Points scored in the Commissioner’s Cup games among all the tied teams;
- Higher winning percentage in all conference games played (ending on the night of the last Commissioner’s Cup game);
- Random draw.
Example: First, the head-to-head records of the teams with the same record will be combined. (For example, if Team A is 1-0 against Team B and 1-0 against Team C, and Team B is 1-0 against Team C, then Team A’s combined record against the other tied teams would be 2-0 (or 1.00); Team B’s would be 1-1 (or .500); and Team C’s would be 0-2 (or .000). Team A will win the tie breaker. If that step results in a winner (as in the example), the multi-team tiebreaker is complete. If two or more teams remain tied at the top after that step, the process must begin again from the first step only for those teams that finished at the top during that first step (i.e., the next step is head-to-head only among those teams that were tied at the top after the first step). If the remaining teams are still tied after re-applying the first step to only the remaining teams, those remaining teams will move on to the second step (point differential among those remaining teams). If the remaining teams are still tied after the second step, those remaining teams will move on to the third step (total points among those remaining teams).
Which teams have won the Commissioner’s Cup?
2023: The New York Liberty defeated the Las Vegas Aces, 82-63, in the Championship Game of the third-annual Commissioner’s Cup, which took place at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023.
2022: The Las Vegas Aces defeated the Chicago Sky, 93-83, in the Championship Game of the second-annual Commissioner’s Cup, which took place at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois, on Tuesday, Jul. 26, 2022.
2021: The Seattle Storm defeated the Connecticut Sun, 79-57, in the Championship Game of the inaugural Commissioner’s Cup, which took place at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Ariz., on Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021.
When is the first game of Commissioner’s Cup play?
The in-season competition began on Saturday, June 1.
