The WNBA is in a period of unprecedented growth behind the star power of young players such as Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese, and Caitlin Clark.
The league has one team, the Golden State Valkyries, in its inaugural season this summer, and two more, one in Toronto and one in Portland, are joining the league next season, with Cleveland set to get a franchise not too far behind them.
More teams aren’t the only way the league is looking at expanding, either.
The league schedule currently runs from mid-May to mid-September, with the league’s postseason lasting through late October. Now, per Awful Announcing, league commissioner Cathy Engelbert is open to expanding the league schedule, which would likely push the playoffs into November.
“I can definitely see us going to 50 [regular season games],” Engelbert said in an interview on The Bill Simmons Podcast.
“The question is do we want to go into November and crossover with the NBA and college basketball?” Engelbert said. “People don’t understand, there’s not much you can do on the front end because we love the college draft, we love the rookies.”
“… You can’t move it too much forward if you want the rookies to come in, which we do because it’s a great, it’s a great theater system for us, as you said. So we’ll look at the back end and how far can we go and how many NFL and college football Saturdays can we go into and we’ll evaluate all that under the CBA.”
The reality is that the league is probably going to expand, as more games mean more revenue for the league.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.