Nashville to host women's pro basketball league in 2025
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Jordin Canada of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream dribbles during an Athletes Unlimited game in 2023. Photo: Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball, a professional women's hoops league featuring WNBA players, is coming to Nashville Municipal Auditorium in 2025.
Why it matters: The women's pro basketball showcase comes to Nashville amid a push to bring a WNBA franchise here.
- Fueled by stars like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and A'ja Wilson, women's basketball has never been more popular.
Driving the news: The AU Pro Basketball Championship will take place at Municipal Auditorium from Feb. 5 through March 2.
- WNBA players are eligible to participate in the league, because the AU championship takes place during the WNBA's offseason.
- The 40-player roster and other details will be released at a later date.
- In this year's AU championship, 29 of the 40 players had WNBA experience.
The intrigue: The AU championship is a test run for Nashville's WNBA push. Backers believe the city and state's long-running support for college and high school basketball makes Nashville an ideal city for a WNBA franchise.
What they're saying: Nancy VanReece, a former city councilmember and current board member for the city's auditorium commission, tells Axios that she's excited about the AU's plans for community engagement this fall. "This is an excellent start of what I hope to be a beautiful beginning to women's basketball in Nashville," she says.
- "The emergence of women's sports is undeniable, and this is an incredible opportunity to showcase our city's support for women's basketball and pave the path for more opportunities in the future," Sheila Gibson, who chairs the Nashville Sports Council Women in Sports Committee, said in a press release.
Between the lines: AU Pro Basketball puts a creative spin on the sport, using a fantasy sports-style scoring system that creates a game within a game.
- The league features typical five-on-five games, but individual players earn points based on their own play and their team's results.
- Points are earned on every play, and the league's leaderboard changes continually.
- Teams are shuffled each week, with the top four individual players serving as team captains selecting their new teammates. At season's end, the player with the most points is crowned the individual champion.
Flashback: Last year's champion was Allisha Gray, who is having an excellent season for the WNBA's Atlanta Dream.