In the final minutes of overtime on Sunday night at the Barclays Center, New York sports icon and NYU alum Spike Lee could only watch from his hands and knees as the New York Liberty fought to win their first WNBA title in franchise history — marking the city’s first professional basketball championship in nearly 50 years.
“I’ve been manifesting this for a while, to be able to bring a championship to New York — first ever in franchise history — it’s an incredible feeling,” New York native and Liberty forward Breanna Stewart said at a press conference. “I can’t wait to celebrate with the city because it’s going to be bonkers.”
Mayor Eric Adams invited fans to celebrate the championship win against the Minnesota Lynx at a traditional ticker-tape parade in lower Manhattan on Thursday morning. In honor of the Liberty’s thrilling Game 5 victory, the parade traversed New York’s “Canyon of Heroes” route, drawing in people of all ages.
“For girls like mine, having someone to look up to and something they can aspire to is amazing,” said Desiree Bounds, who attended the Liberty parade with her two daughters.
The Finals win was not only a victory for the Liberty, but the WNBA as a whole. ESPN set a new record for WNBA Finals viewership on Sunday night, as 3.3 million viewers tuned in to watch from home. Fans also set a new attendance record for a Liberty game at Barclays Center, with 18,518 packing the stands.
The game has grown in popularity over the last year due to more social media coverage, as well as famed athletes like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese endorsing the WNBA and viral athletes. According to the WNBA, regular season attendance is up by 48% and TV viewership by 170%, with further growth expected next season.
The city has thrown over 200 ticker-tape parades, but today marks only the second ever to honor a women’s championship of any kind — after the U.S. Women’s National Team won the 2019 FIFA World Cup.
In a truly bonkers moment, camera crews spotted Stewart receiving a bottle of wine from an eager fan, shortly after the forward posted on the social media platform X, “Who can hand a bottle of red wine to me when my float passes by?”
“Seeing a New York women’s team get a ticker-tape parade really brought tears to my eyes,” said NYU women’s basketball coach Meg Barber. “It was just incredible to see these women being celebrated by the city with such a diverse group of people coming out to support them.”
After 28 years and five empty trips to the WNBA Finals, the Liberty remained one of the league’s eight original teams still chasing a championship. The last time a New York basketball team celebrated a Finals win was when Julius “Dr. J” Erving led the Nets to an ABA Championship in 1976.
“Winning in New York, a place rich in basketball culture, is really important,” NYU women’s basketball captain Belle Pelleccia said. “It does a lot for the brand of women’s basketball.”
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