NEW YORK -- The WNBA continues to grow.
And that growth will also be seen in the schedule. Starting in 2027, the league will increase its regular season to 50 games, as part of the agreement in the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement. It was said that they could play up to 50 games in the next two years and could increase to 52 from 2029 and beyond for the rest of the CBA.
“Demand for the WNBA has never been greater, and expanding to a 50-game regular season reflects the extraordinary momentum we are seeing across the league,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert mentioned in a statement.
“This move reflects our commitment to growing the game and creating more opportunities for fans to watch the best players in the world and experience the extraordinary talent and competition that define the WNBA.”
When the WNBA started in 1997, they had a 28-game regular season schedule. In the next season, it went up to 30 games and then added two more games to the schedule the year after that. They would stick with a 32-game season until 2002. From 2003 through 2019, the league had a 34-game season and planned to increase it to 36 in 2020 but the pandemic happened and they only played 20 games that year in the Disney Bubble, known as the "Wubble."
The world was still recovering from COVID in 2021 so they only played 32 games that year before going to the planned 36 games in 2022. In 2023 and 2024, the league played 40 games before going into the current format of 44 games in 2025.
With new teams coming in from 2028 through 2030, it was not unexpected for the WNBA regular season to increase its schedule. Whether the calendar for the season becomes longer remains to be seen.