LOS ANGELES - The Women's NBA is changing the playoff format for its upcoming 20th season, hoping to add excitement for a league that hasn't grabbed the imagination of US sports fans as its creators had hoped.
(L-R) Lindsay Whalen, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles of the Minnesota Lynx celebrate a win in Game Five of the 2015 WNBA Finals against the Indiana Fever on October 14, 2015 in Minneapolis, Minnesota
In 2016, the top eight teams in the 12-team league will make the playoffs, regardless of whether they are in the Eastern or Western Conference, a change from the current four teams from each.
The change dovetails with a new regular-season schedule that includes more cross-conference games.
In other changes to the playoff structure, the two seeds will receive a bye to the semi-final third round, while the third and fourth seeds receive a bye into the second round.
Teams will be re-seeded after each round, with the first and second rounds both one-and-done single elimination games.
The semi-finals feature a best-of-five format, and the WNBA Finals remain a best-of-five series.
"The new post-season format will provide a heightened sense of urgency to the start of the post-season," said Mark Tatum, NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer.
The NBA, parent of the WNBA, is launching a "Watch These Women Work" marketing campaign ahead of the upcoming season, hoping to encourage fans to watch.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver admitted in September that the women's league wasn't "where we hoped it would be" 20 years after its launch.
"The overall quality of play (in the WNBA) has never been better," he said in November. "In a way, that only makes it more disappointing that we haven't been able to do more."