What is the WNBA Commissioner's Cup? Format, Schedule, More
It's WNBA Commissioner's Cup season, so let's take a look at what's at stake.
This Monday on Peacock, Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever head to the nation's capital to take on Sonia Citron and the Washington Mystics. It's a game featuring some of the league's biggest stars, but there's another reason you might want to watch it: It's the latest game in the WNBA Commissioner's Cup in-season competition.
Entering its sixth season, the Commissioner's Cup is both an in-season showdown featuring every WNBA team and a massive nonprofit fundraising drive, sending donations to local community organizations selected by each of the league's 15 teams. The winner gets a hefty payout and the Commissioner's Cup trophy, but when it comes to the charity fundraising, everyone's a winner here. Let's take a quick look at how it all works.
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What's the format of the WNBA Commissioner's Cup?
Rather than taking the form of a bracketed tournament, the Commissioner's Cup is played in a round robin style, with each team playing every other team in their conference once during Commissioner's Cup play, which runs from June 1 through June 17.
That means each of the seven teams in the Eastern Conference will play six games in the Cup, three on the road and three at home. Each of the eight teams in the Western Conference will play seven games, with either four on the road and three at home or three on the road and four at home. At the end of round robin play on June 17, the team with the best Commissioner's Cup from each conference will advance to the Championship Game on June 30.
For more on the rules, including how tiebreakers work, check out the WNBA website.
How do charity donations work during the Commissioner's Cup?
At the beginning of the Cup, each of the WNBA's teams selects one local nonprofit organization doing important work in their home cities as a means of community partnership and outreach. The team then plays on behalf of that organization through the Cup's 49-game schedule. Win a game, and your organization gets $3,000. Lose a game, and your organization still gets $1,000.
The winner of the Championship Game gets an additional $10,000 donation, while the runner-up gets $5,000. That's all in addition to the cup, and a $500,000 prize pool that nets big bonuses for the Cup-winning squad.
To see every charity organization receiving donations, and to donate yourself, head to the WNBA's website.
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Who are the past winners of the WNBA Commissioner's Cup?
The Commissioner's Cup was first played in 2021, and the inaugural winners were the Seattle Storm, defeating the Connecticut Sun. The Las Vegas Aces defeated the Chicago Sky to win the 2022 cup, while the New York Liberty staved off a repeat attempt from the Aces to win in 2023, and Minnesota Lynx stopped New York's own repeat attempt with a win in the 2024 cup. Last year, the Indiana Fever took their first Cup, defeating, you guessed, the returning champions, the Minnesota Lynx.
So far seven teams have appeared in the Commissioner's Cup Championship, with three — the Aces, the Liberty, and the Lynx — making two trips each. Who'll win in 2026? Keep watching the WNBA on Peacock to keep track.
