WNBA Ready To Hit The Court Running In 2023 With Biggest Season In League History

By Barry Janoff

November 30, 2022: Coming off a season that set numerous records, the WNBA today released its schedule for the 2023 regular season, to begin May 19 and featuring a league record-high 40 games per team.

All 12 teams will be in action during the opening weekend of the league’s 27th regular season as part of WNBA Tip-Off 2023 presented by CarMax.

The WNBA regular-season schedule of 40 games per team is up four games from the previous high of 36 last season. Each team will play 20 home games and 20 road games.

The WNBA’s national and local television schedules will be released after the New Year.

ESPN said the full 2022 season — including regular season and post-season — was the most-viewed WNBA campaign since 2006, averaging 412,000 viewers (49 games), up 22% form 2021.

The Las Vegas Aces-Seattle Storm regular season finale on ABC averaged 835,000 — the most-viewed WNBA game across all networks since May 17, 2008.

The regular season is scheduled to conclude on Sept. 10, with all 12 teams in action, followed by the WNBA Playoffs presented by Google. (See full schedule here.)

Last year’s regular season schedule began on May 6 and ended Aug. 14, with the playoffs concluding Sept. 18 with the Las Vegas Aces winning the title, due to the FIFA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Australia (Sept. 23-Oct.3).

“We eagerly anticipate tipping off the 2023 season and building on the success of last season, which was our most-watched in 14 years and set records for social media engagement, digital consumption and merchandise sales,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said via the league.

“The expanded schedule will provide fans greater opportunities to see the best players in the world compete on the game’s biggest stage.”

The schedule release comes as the WNBA, NBA and U.S. officials are still seeking the return to the U.S. of Brittney Griner, who has been jailed in Russia since February 2022.

According to AP Sports, "Russia and the United States have repeatedly been on the verge of agreement on a prisoner exchange, a senior Russian diplomat said Tuesday, adding that a deal is still possible before the year’s end."

According to Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, “There always is a chance.”

However, he said the Russian Foreign Ministry was not currently engaged in any dialogue on the subject with the U.S., “so we aren’t feeling full dynamics,” according to AP Sports.

AT&T WNBA All-Star 2023, the 19th All-Star Game in league history, is scheduled for July 15.

More information about AT&T WNBA All-Star, including the host venue, will be shared in 2023.

The Commissioner’s Cup presented by Coinbase, an in-season tournament in which conference teams face each other during the first half of the regular season, will return for its third season.

The ten designated “Cup games” per team will be the first home game and first road game each team plays against its five conference rivals, all completed from May 19-July 12.

The team from each conference with the top record in Commissioner’s Cup presented by Coinbase games will compete for a half-a-million-dollar prize pool in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship presented by Coinbase on Aug. 15.

Additional details will be shared at a later date.

WNBA teams can begin negotiating with free agents on Jan. 21. Free agents can begin signing contracts with teams Feb. 1.

Engelbert said the league plans to play a pre-season game in Canada prior to the 2023 season, which would be its first international game since 2011. The WNBA is vetting expansion cities.

The 2023 WNBA Draft presented by State Farm is scheduled for April 10, 2023 (ESPN).

The WNBA played 34-game schedules from 2003-19; and 32 games in 2020 due to COVID-19.

The WNBA played a 28-game schedule during each of its first six seasons.

“We secured the largest-ever capital raised for a women's professional sports league back in February,” Englebert said during a WNBA Finals media conference.

“We announced new and renewed partnerships like our newest WNBA Changemaker, U.S. Bank, which joins AT&T, Deloitte, Google and Nike; and great games that have led to increased viewership.

“From a viewership perspective, we just delivered the most-viewed WNBA playoffs in 20 years. And the most-watched regular season in 14 years for all of our television partners, ABC, CBS and ESPN.

“When looking at ways that our fans can experience the WNBA in person this year, our tentpole events continue to be some of our most popular events on calendar.”

Englebert: WNBA Has Momentum, Media, Marketing

WNBA Scores Viewer Growth On EPSN, ABC

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