NYC honors WNBA champs with New York Liberty Parade of Champions
Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and their NY Liberty teammates were celebrated with a parade and ceremony in NYC
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Thousands turned out to shower the WNBA champion New York Liberty in ticker-tape in the Canyon of Heroes in downtown Manhattan on Thursday.
Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and their New York teammates were celebrated with a parade broadcast live on Channel 7 and streamed on ABC 7 New York.
The Liberty won the franchise's first championship, beating the Minnesota Lynx in overtime in a decisive Game 5 of the WNBA Finals on Sunday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Some veteran Liberty players from the early teams, including Teresa Weatherspoon, Vickie Johnson and Kym Hampton, attended the parade.
The route was full of fans of all ages, with many of the kids wearing jerseys of their favorite players. Jones carried her Finals MVP trophy atop her float, while Stewart and Ionescu went into the crowd, giving high-fives and taking selfies with fans.
"This is awesome. I've been a Liberty fan since they first started playing" said Sarah Davis of the WNBA's start in 1997. "It's so cool that we won and we could celebrate with a parade."
"(To) see how many people were in the crowd, smiling, celebrating the Liberty," Ionescu said. "It really puts into perspective what it means to bring a championship to this city and how it really takes everyone."
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, Gov. Kathy Hochul, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams joined the celebration too.
The parade was especially significant for the younger generation of girls in attendance at the parade. Among them, Eyewitness News Anchor Mike Marza and ABC News' Rhiannon Ally's daughter.
A girl's basketball coach from New Jersey also shared with Eyewitness News how significant this moment is for her and her team to see.
More videos from the parade route:
After the parade, the team received keys to the city during a ceremony at City Hall.
"On behalf of 20 million incredibly proud New Yorkers, I say welcome home to our champion women," said Hochul, who thanked Liberty owners Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai for investing in the team. "Let's do it again next year."
On Thursday night, the celebration continued with a fan event at Barclays Center where the team greeted fans.
"I went to the parade, I went to city hall, and now I'm here for the Barclays! New York!" said Nakiya Greene, Liberty fan.
Ticker tape parade history
Thursday's ticker tape parade is the first to honor a local sports team since 2012 when the Giants beat Tom Brady's Patriots for the second time in Super Bowl 46.
There have been over 200 ticker-tape parades in New York. The most recent to honor a women's sports team came in 2019 when the U.S. soccer team won the World Cup. Two years later, there was a parade to honor essential workers and first responders for their service during the coronavirus pandemic.
Not all New York sports champions have gotten the honor of the ticker-tape parade. The New York City FC won their first Major League Soccer championship in 2021, but only received a celebration at City Hall. Last year, NY/NJ Gotham FC won the championship of the NWSL woman's pro soccer league, but also didn't get a ticker-tape parade.
With the rise of television and computers, the tape became obsolete in the 1960s, but in the late 1800s, these one-inch-wide ribbons of paper were abundant in the financial heart of New York City, according to the Downtown Alliance, an organization that now supports the city's ticker-tape parades.
Office workers realized that the tape made a dramatic swirling motion when thrown out the windows of tall buildings, so the first ticker-tape parade seemed to start as a spontaneous gesture to celebrate the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in 1886.
ALSO WATCH | Behind-the-scenes look at the making of the ticker-tape parade floats
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