League announces big changes to the structure of the 2024 WNBA Draft

The 2024 WNBA draft will be hosted at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on April 15, the WNBA announced Wednesday. Along with the host site, they also announced they will have fans in attendance for the first time since 2016.

Tickets will be for sale for about 1,000 fans and will be available to purchase beginning March 7. The draft will be televised on ESPN from 7:30-9:30 p.m. ET with a "WNBA Countdown" show on ESPN that will lead up to the draft at 7 p.m. ET.

"We are focused on creating elevated events that WNBA fans won’t want to miss, at a time when the energy for the WNBA has never been higher,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a news release. “Last season resulted in our most-watched-regular season in over two decades, our highest total attendance in 13 years and set record figures across WNBA digital and social platforms. As the official start to the WNBA season, we knew the WNBA Draft 2024 presented by State Farm should be transformed into a larger, fan-focused event to celebrate the incredible talent set to enter the draft."

The 2024 WNBA Draft class promises transformational talent

The WNBA plans to launch extensive coverage in advance of the draft. The Indiana Fever will be selected first, followed by the Los Angeles Sparks and the Chicago Sky. Iowa star Caitlin Clark has declared for the draft and is widely expected to be the No. 1 pick. But the draft class could boast several other future stars including Cameron Brink, Angel Reese, Rickea Jackson and more.

Now that the league will be moving from Manhattan to Brooklyn, they are still keeping the Manhattan roots by holding a lighting ceremony at the Empire State Building to celebrate draft night.

Coming off a historic season for the WNBA and an exciting off-season, the league continues to break the pattern for women's sports.