WNBA Logo PNG
The WNBA logo conveys a sense of expression and movement, suggesting an active sport. The female energy emanating from the emblem adds a sense of grace that reshapes the male competition and creates a standalone, fun game.
The WNBA emerged from a long hiatus in American women’s professional basketball. The WBL operated from 1978 to 1981 but collapsed after three seasons, and many top US players had to continue their careers in Europe or Asia. The timing changed in summer 1996, when the US women’s national team won Olympic gold in Atlanta and proved there was a large audience for the sport.
On April 24, 1996, the NBA Board of Governors, led by David Stern, approved the formation of the Women’s National Basketball Association. The launch campaign, “We Got Next,” introduced the league through players such as Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie, and Sheryl Swoopes. NBA funding gave the new league a structure its earlier rivals had lacked.
The first WNBA season opened on June 21, 1997, with eight teams, including the Houston Comets, New York Liberty, Los Angeles Sparks, and Phoenix Mercury. The Comets, led by Cynthia Cooper, won the first title and then three more in a row. The league also competed with the ABL, which paid higher salaries but lacked NBA backing. After the ABL went bankrupt in December 1998, the WNBA absorbed top players and expanded to 12 teams in 1999.
Through the 2000s and 2010s, stars such as Diana Taurasi, Tamika Catchings, and Sue Bird shaped the league’s profile. In 2020, a new labor deal raised salaries and added maternity benefits. The 2024 draft brought Caitlin Clark to the Indiana Fever and Angel Reese to the Chicago Sky, lifting attendance by 48% and merchandise sales by 601%. In 2025, the WNBA signed a TV deal worth over $2 billion.
Meaning and History
The history of the WNBA is a journey of tough competition. Its formation was officially announced in April 1996 and approved by the Board of Governors of the National Basketball Association. But in parallel, another women’s professional organization appeared, the American Basketball League. It began operations in the fall of the same year but ceased in the 1998-1999 season. The fact is that, unlike the WNBA, she did not have full support from the NBA.
The meeting, which discussed the formation of a new league, was attended by three of the country’s leading basketball players: Lisa Leslie, Rebecca Lobo, and Sheryl Swoopes. Their presence meant that they were automatically assigned to one of the trains. When the association debuted, it had eight teams: the Cleveland Rockers, the Charlotte Sting, the New York Liberty, the Houston Comets representing the Eastern Conference, and the Utah Starzz, the Sacramento Monarchs, the Phoenix Mercury, and the Los Angeles Sparks from the Western Conference. It is safe to say that they laid the foundation for the great world-class women’s basketball.
As soon as the WNBA emerged, it had its symbolism. In the early years, it echoed the NBA men’s identity and was chosen from 50 options. Then the logo received individual features. In total, there are three emblems in the women’s basketball league’s arsenal.
1997 – 2012
The debut logo has an unusual shape. It looks like a diagonally slanted shield. Moreover, both are symbolic: the shield denotes the continuation of traditions and a connection to roots, and the slope conveys movement and dynamism. Unlike the male version of the logo, this sign contains a female silhouette. The basketball player is depicted as feminine, with smooth transitions between levels and rounded lines. The athlete runs and dribbles. Her hair can be seen fluttering from high speed. The text designation is also slightly slanted. The organization’s abbreviation is in capital letters. The color scheme shares something in common with the United States’ state flag: it also includes blue, red, and white.
2013 – 2019
After the redesign, the WNBA personal badge began to differ from the NBA’s. On it, as before, an athlete is drawn in motion. But she no longer dribbles the ball, but throws it into the basket. This made the logo simple, clear, and concise. The changes also affected the color scheme. In this version, instead of blue and red, brick orange is used, as on basketballs. White retained: it still has the silhouette of a female player. The designers moved the league’s name from top to bottom, placing it in the right corner. The inscription is made in lowercase letters with streamlined lines. Sharp corners are absent in them.
2019 – today
The current emblem consists of a silhouette in reverse. Now, it is not the space around the white figure that is painted; the orange basketball player is drawn on a completely white background. At the same time, the developers slightly rotated the athlete, placing the body not sideways but straight ahead. The woman is depicted in a jump, with an outstretched arm holding a ball. The artists have rearranged the silhouette to make it more solid. They also changed the letter design, which made the letters clearer, larger, and more uniform.
Font and Colors
Basketball player Sue Bird is believed to be the prototype for the WNBA logo figure. The first mark of the women’s sports association echoed the men’s league’s emblem, emphasizing their relationship.
Various typefaces are used in different logos. These include Cyclone, a built-in, compact, chopped font designed by Hoefler & Co, and Standard CT Bold Extended.
The branded palette is also unstable. In the beginning, it consisted of red, blue, and white. Now the predominant color is orange, the color of a basketball.