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It’s official.
The Women’s National Basketball Association announced Thursday a new partnership that will make FanDuel the official, one-day fantasy partner of the WNBA, according to an official release by the association.
This partnership is the first with a women’s professional sports league and the WNBA’s first official one-day fantasy offering.
“We are constantly looking to innovate by finding new opportunities to engage with our passionate fans and introduce the WNBA to wider audiences,” said Lisa Borders, WNBA president. “This partnership with FanDuel and our new one-day fantasy game will be a fresh, unique way for fans to further connect with their favorite WNBA players and teams throughout our season.”
Tip-off for the WNBA’s 21st season is Saturday, May 13, meaning fans will have the ability to access FanDuel and compete against other fans for daily WNBA prizes that include courtside tickets to regular season games, WNBA merchandise, and memorabilia and other unique fan experiences.
The service will be available throughout the entire WNBA regular season and playoffs, and it will be free to all fans.
FanDuel launched its first major professional sports league partnership with the NBA in 2014. That opportunity will now spread to fans of the 12 WNBA teams and can be accessed via FanDuel’s website, the FanDuel app and the WNBA’s website.
“The NBA has been a fantastic partner as we continue to build out our consumer offerings to appeal to all sports fans,” said Nigel Eccles, the CEO of FanDuel. “We first launched NBA contests in 2009, debuted NBA InPlay late last year, and are now extending our basketball offerings to include WNBA, giving our users, even more, opportunities to play fantasy contests.”
In addition to the official one-day fantasy game, fans will have access to the “WNBA Tip-Off Challenge” the first week of the WNBA season. During the week of May 13-May 20, fans can also enter a series of special edition, free games for the chance to win WNBA store credit tickets to games and a grand prize fan experience that includes courtside seats to the WNBA Finals with a to-be-named basketball legend.