NBA at 75: David Stern launches game-changing WNBA in 1997

By DOUG FEINBERG
AP Basketball Writer

David Stern had a vision to start a women’s professional basketball league with the NBA booming in the 1990s. The decision to call it the WNBA was intentional, a way to give the league immediate credibility and link it to the NBA. It worked. While the fight for gender equity continues around the sports world, 26 years after it was launched the WNBA is one of the longest running professional women’s sports leagues.