LAS VEGAS -- Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced Saturday that Phoenix will be the host city for the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game.
It will be the third time for the event in Phoenix; it was also there in 2000 and 2014.
"With Phoenix being one of our original franchises, now under new ownership, they are very excited," Engelbert told ESPN. "The city is also hosting a women's Final Four coming up [2026], and I think they want to be a center of basketball. So the Mercury were very interested in having All-Star."
Mat Ishbia, who purchased the Phoenix Suns and Mercury last December, told ESPN that he and other Phoenix officials have been monitoring how things are going this week for the WNBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas, which includes a large "WNBA Live" fan fest. Team A'ja Wilson faces Team Breanna Stewart at 8:30 p.m. ET Saturday on ABC/ESPN App.
"We're all here in Las Vegas seeing how [owner] Mark Davis and the Las Vegas Aces are putting on the All-Star Game and saying, 'What can we take from here to put into our event?'" Ishbia said. "And make it even better, not only for the people that show up for the game, but for the community. We're looking at all aspects of it to try to make this a great show.
"We're real big believers that Phoenix is a basketball destination, not only for women's and men's players but for fans. It's one of the best basketball hotspots in the country. And we're eager to showcase that."
The All-Star Game will be held at Footprint Center, home of the Mercury and Suns. The Mercury, who last won the WNBA title in 2014, currently still have players Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi on their roster from back then.
Griner, an All-Star starter here in Las Vegas, said she has fond memories of the 2014 All-Star Game in her home arena. The game then was still an East vs. West format; in 2018, it changed to have the two leading vote-getters as captains who pick teams.
It will be an Olympic year in 2024, which could change the format of the game. In 2021, when the Tokyo Olympics were held, the All-Star Game was contested between the members of the U.S. national team and a group of WNBA All-Stars, who won 93-85.
"We're talking to USA Basketball about that," Engelbert said of the 2024 game's format. "In an Olympic year, I think it is nice to give the national team another playing opportunity against some of the other best players in the world." Ishbia added, "Being an Olympic year elevates it even further. We're really excited about that opportunity, and thrilled that the commissioner chose us."