WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Final Moved to UBS Arena

The WNBA Commissioner’s Cup championship game between the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx on June 25 will be at UBS Arena in Long Island because the NBA Draft makes the Barclays Center unavailable, the league announced.

The draft is the next night and there wouldn’t be enough time to change over the arena.

The Liberty have back-to-back games on June 22 and June 23, so moving the game up a day would not work and the draft is June 26. The Associated Press reported that Liberty officials knew this could be a potential conflict in December and told the league, offering to have a scheduled July 2 game between the teams serve as the Commissioners Cup title game but the proposal was denied by the Lynx.

“It’s not the day of the Commissioner’s Cup,’’ Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said before the team played Dallas on Monday night. “The July 2 game is a regular-season game. The Commissioner’s Cup is June 25 and all parties have known that for a while.”

The AP also reported the league offered the Liberty the option of playing the game in Minnesota, which New York did not want to do.

The UBS Arena is primarily used as the home of the New York Islanders. There have been college basketball games played there since it opened in 2021. Both the UBS Arena and Barclays Center have a capacity of about 17,000; New York is second in the league in attendance, averaging 12,586 fans.

“We are excited for the opportunity to defend our Commissioner’s Cup title in New York and we appreciate our fans’ unwavering support of our team,” said New York Liberty Chief Executive Officer Keia Clarke. “While we wish we could have brought this game to our fans in our home arena, we are grateful to UBS Arena for accommodating us and providing a world-class venue in New York.”

This is the fourth year of the Commissioner’s Cup and New York is the defending champion. The teams are competing for a $500,000 cash prize pool.

“With the scheduling of the NBA Draft at Barclays Center on June 26, the NBA created an unavoidable conflict for use of the building,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said. “We are working closely with the New York Liberty on this one-game relocation to UBS Arena and to provide the best possible experience for attendees and participants at the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Championship. We apologize for any inconvenience to the Liberty’s season ticket holders and loyal fans.”