Caitlin Clark and the Fever vs. Angel Reese and the Sky will tip off new WNBA Rivals Week in August

NEW YORK (AP) — Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever will face Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky in prime time to tip off the inaugural WNBA Rivals Week in August.

Other games will include two between New York and Minnesota in a WNBA Finals rematch; a matchup of projected No. 1 draft pick Paige Bueckers and Dallas against Clark's Fever; and Atlanta's Brittney Griner facing her old Phoenix squad.

The week will be sponsored by Ally Financial, a new partner for the league this season.

“You can have a great partnership, but you also have to have great activation,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a Zoom interview. “There’s going to be a full slate of games that week and that’s going to be a cool part of the activation."

Rivalry week games will be broadcast on a variety of networks, starting with the prime-time game between the Fever and Sky on CBS on Aug. 9.

“The timing of that week is critical, because in August you start to really make that playoff push,” Engelbert said. “So it would be great to have those matchups during that period to drive that playoff push into September and crown a champion in October.”

The NBA has had a Rivals Week for three years.

Engelbert has mentioned in the past how important rivalries can be to grow the sport. The league started the Commissioner's Cup in 2021 and that in-season tournament has helped spawn rivalries between New York and Las Vegas as well as the Liberty and Lynx over the past few seasons.

“To have two teams who are just competing extremely hard every single time they match up and every time you watch is great basketball,” Bueckers said. “So I think it was a perfect opportunity to start that — there’s so many great rivalries in the league.

This isn't Ally's first foray into women's basketball. It was one of the inaugural partners with the 3-on-3 Unrivaled league that finished its first season last month. The conversations with the WNBA started years before Unrivaled came into existence.

“What Cathy and her team have done with the league, the cultural currency of the players, the media connectivity, the entire ecosystem, is just phenomenal,” said Andrea Brimmer, Ally Financial's chief marketing officer. “To me it’s kind of the crown jewel of what’s happening in the women’s sports space.”

Ally has made it a mission to give equal advertising dollars to men's and women's sports.

“This very intentional focus on women’s sports has been something that have been not only words but deeds behind it," Brimmer said. "The ability to come on as the new sponsor of the WNBA for us is adding another jewel to the family.”

Ally also signed Bueckers, the UConn star, to an endorsement deal. The company already has deals with WNBA players Breanna Stewart and Sydney Colson.

“Partnering with Ally is about more than just banking — it’s about people to make their money work smarter," Bueckers said. “As an athlete, I’ve learned that success isn’t just about the game you play, but the opportunity and resources you get access to.”

Brimmer said Bueckers isn't just a brand ambassador, she's also an online customer.

“She uses the product and she’s got a lot of passion around financial education and financial literacy,” Brimmer said.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball