2017 Most Important Moments in Sports edition: Moments #4, #3, and #2

#4 National Women’s Hockey League achieved greater credibility in 2017 with two investment transactions. In October, the New Jersey Devils signed a three-year partnership with the Metropolitan Riveters. In December, Pegula Sports and Entertainment took it a step further and purchased the Buffalo Beauts. Pegula is no newbie to sports ownership; they also own the NHL Sabres, NFL Bills, and National Lacrosse League Bandits.  The Pegula’s bought a winner, as the Beauts are the reigning 2017 Isobel Cup Champion.

#3 Women playing ice hockey for Team USA used the IIHF Women’s World Championship as the perfect timing vehicle to pressure USA Hockey to address the players concerns over compensation and financial benefits. With the pressure on, Team USA won both battles: livable wages and insurance, and their fourth consecutive world championship beating archrival Canada 3-2 in overtime.

#2 Mississippi State, coming off a Sweet 16 birth in the 2016 NCAA Tournament, took their game right at UConn in the national semi-finals and came out on top with an overtime buzzer beater shot by Morgan William, the 5’5” Bulldogs junior.  
The win ended the UConn Huskies record 111-game winning streak.

2017 Most Important Moments in Sports edition: Moments #7, #6, and #5

#7 Aditi Ashok, the first Indian woman to win a Ladies European Tour (LET) title in 2016, repeated as a LET winner in 2017 by winning the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open.. Ashok also earned her Priority List Category 17 status for the 2017 LPGA Tour season. The 19-year-old also qualified for the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship on the LPGA, becoming the first from India to play in the prestigious meet. 

#6 Twenty-one years into the league, the WNBA has its second four-time champion with the Minnesota Lynx (the first was the Houston Comets, which won the league’s first four titles). Sylvia Fowles was named MVP for the Finals. 

#5 Serena Williams continued her winning ways. In 2017, while eight weeks pregnant, Williams claimed her 23rd major singles title by defeating her sister Venus to capture her seventh Australian Open. Williams went the entire tournament without dropping a set.

2017 Most Important Moments in Sports edition: Moments #10, #9, and #8

2017 ushered in three new members to the coveted Division I 1,000 Win Club, joining Pat Summitt (1,098-208) and Mike Krzyzewski (1,082-330). Tara VanDerveer of Stanford joined on February 3, 2017. Sylvia Hatchell of North Carolina, and Geno Auriemma of Connecticut both hit the mark on December 19, 2017. REAL SPORTS recognizes their achievements collectively for moments eight through ten.

REAL SPORTS magazine, The Authority in Women's Sports since 1997, unveils its 2016 selections for the Most Important Moments in Sports and Athlete of the Year.  In its 19th year of publishing, REAL SPORTS continues its tradition of highlighting the world of women's sports.

2015 Sportsperson of the Year and Most Important Moments in Sports

Publisher’s Note:

Maya Moore has been a thrill to watch over the years, and it’s an honor to celebrate her winning ways as this year’s REAL SPORTS Sportsperson of the Year.

This year’s Most Important Moment is the calling out of the inability of the WNBA to gain traction since its founding 19 years ago. The WNBA, as the most globally visible team sport, has yet to find its groove. The timing of Adam Silver’s comments deflated some, but if women’s sports fans are truly reflective, they will see the truth in his words. A fresh approach is needed to enable the WNBA to thrive on its own terms, where it can be a profitable league while also serving as a mission-driven organization.

View the 2015 Top 10 Most Important Moments in Sports and Tribute to Maya Moore, 
REAL SPORTS 2015 Sportsperson of the Year Poster

The next president will inherit a league that has lost its relevance to all but its most-staunch fans and one that is wrestling with the public words of Gilbert Arenas and non-spoken words of others.  The league needs to chart its own course with focused profitability and sustained growth. Doing so will require rebuilding the WNBA brand and fan engagement, if the league is truly destined to be relevant in the sports entertainment and lifestyle arena.

(C) ISI Photos by Steven Lineman

In closing, I also want to acknowledge and thank Abby Wambach for her outstanding career and congratulate her on her retirement.  2015 turned out to be the year the USWNT recaptured the Women’s World Cup and in doing so, Abby’s role on the team changed from the go to star to the elder stateswoman. As the all-tie goal scorer in international soccer for men or women with 184 goals, her impact though is measured across the 15 years that she played internationally.

All the best,
Amy Love

Founder/Publisher

REAL SPORTS publishes this annual Most Important Moments in Sports edition and Sportsperson of the Year as a commitment to the history of women’s sports.  This nonprofit effort pays tribute to the passion exhibited by the 300,000 fans that engaged REAL SPORTS, The Authority in Women’s Sports, when it was a printed publication. 

REAL SPORTS 2015 Sportsperson of the Year

Winner

2015 WNBA champion Maya Moore has won three titles, an MVP award, a Rookie of the Year award, and an Olympic Gold Medal in her first five seasons in the WNBA league. No NHL, NBA, NFL, or MLB player has ever done that. She’s also excelled overseas. In 2012, she won both the Spanish league title and EuroLeague title playing for Ros Casares Valencia. From 2013 to 2015, Moore also won the Chinese league title every year.

Maya Moore at the 2015 WNBA All-Star game held at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville CT
Photo credit: Danny Karwoski (Karwoski Facebook) CC BY-SA 3.0 

As for 2015, the Minnesota Lynx were the best team in the Western Conference through the regular season on their way to their third championship.

In 2006 and 2007, Moore was named the Naismith Prep Player of the Year. She was the John Wooden Award winner in 2009 after leading UConn to an undefeated season and a national title. The following season, Moore led Connecticut to its second straight and in the 2010–11 season, she led the Huskies to an NCAA record (all divisions) of 90 wins. On May 18, 2011, Moore became the first female basketball player to sign with Jordan Brand.

Here career exemplifies a sports person of the year and her accomplishments this year led REAL SPORTS to selecting her as the 2015 Sportsperson of the Year.

Follow Maya Moore at http://mooremaya.com  

Most Important Moments in Sports

# 1 Calling It As He Sees It

It takes guts to say the emperor has no clothes.  Adam Silver, who took over as NBA commissioner in February 2014, said the equivalent regarding the WNBA just prior to the 2015 WNBA Playoffs, when he called into question the fans, the media and the foundation upon which the league is based. 

Brittney Griner dunking at the 2015 WNBA All-Star game held at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville CT
By Danny Karwoski (Karwoski Facebook) CC BY-SA 3.0 

His comments were direct, honest and reflective. He said the league has not lived up to its potential, criticized the lack of press coverage and pointed to poor profitability. The things he said did not sit well with some in the media, some of the fan base and were seen by many as a lack of endorsement for then-WNBA President Laurel Richie.  It was no surprise when Richie stepped down later in the year. 

Ex-commissioner David Stern had propped up and kept the league alive, but now Sliver can raise questions without the challenges of being the founding father, as it were. An added element of credibility for Silver is he one of the league’s behind-the-scenes architects.  But the WNBA needs to a new wardrobe!

WNBA Average Game Attendance

2015: 7,318

2014: 7,578

1998: 10,864

1997: 9,662

Read more about Adam Silver's comments: http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/09/adam-silver-on-wnba-we-thought-it-would-have-broken-through-by-now