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WNBA season set to begin May 8 if new CBA is reached, league will take 17-day FIBA World Cup break
DOUG FEINBERG - AP Basketball Writer
•1/21/2026
Source: WINK News
NEW YORK (AP) — The WNBA is set to begin its season on May 8, assuming the league and the players' union can come to an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement.
Teams will play 44 games over a five-month period with a 17-day break for the FIBA World Cup in early September. The league said last year that with the World Cup this season they would keep the schedule at 44 games despite adding two new teams in Portland and Toronto.
“As we prepare to tip off the WNBA’s historic 30th season, this schedule reflects both how far the league has come and the momentum that continues to drive us forward,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said.
“From welcoming two new organizations in Toronto and Portland, to honoring our history with marquee matchups that connect the league’s first game to today’s stars, the 2026 season will celebrate the WNBA’s past, present, and future. With a record number of games, growing global reach, and unprecedented momentum, this milestone season will help define the next chapter of the WNBA.”
By putting the schedule out now, teams can start selling ticket packages, book travel for away games — including charter flights — and secure arena dates.
“Releasing the 2026 schedule is a key step as we prepare for the WNBA’s 30th season and allows teams, partners, broadcasters, and fans to begin the essential planning for the year ahead,” a WNBA spokesperson said.
All but two teams have at least one back-to-back set of games. Overall, the average of games on consecutive nights is down from 2.4 per team in 2025 to 1.6 this year.
The WNBA hopes to expand the number of games teams play in future years, but that would come in a new CBA.
Training camp is slated to begin April 19, six days after the college draft. The league will have its sixth annual Commissioner's Cup games in June with the championship game slated to take place on June 30. The All-Star Game is set for Chicago on July 25 with games to resume three days later.
The WNBA will go on break from Aug. 31-Sept. 16 for the World Cup, which will be played in Berlin this year. Teams will have a handful of games after that tournament finishes with the playoffs set to begin on Sept. 27.
All of this is still contingent on the league and union coming to an agreement on a new CBA. The last CBA was announced in the middle of January 2020, a month after it had been agreed to. It could easily take two months from when a new CBA is reached to get to the start of free agency.
The two sides agreed to a moratorium on free agency, which was supposed to begin earlier this month. The moratorium was needed after no new extension was reached on Jan. 9 to negotiate a new CBA. The WNBA and union are now in a “status quo” period where the old CBA is still in effect and the two parties are negotiating on good faith.
Besides free agency, the WNBA also still has to hold an expansion draft for Portland and Toronto.
Other highlights of the schedule include:
— All 15 teams will play opening weekend, highlighted by a WNBA Finals rematch between Las Vegas and Phoenix as well as a matchup of the last two No. 1 picks with Paige Bueckers and Dallas visiting Indiana and Caitlin Clark.
— Los Angeles hosting New York on June 21 on the anniversary of the original matchup between the teams that was the first game in league history.
— Toronto will play two games in Montreal and Vancouver.
— Connecticut will have two games in Hartford and one game in Boston.
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