{"id":425083,"date":"2026-01-22T04:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T04:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/425083\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T04:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T04:39:16","slug":"wnba-unveils-26-sked-but-cba-still-an-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/425083\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA Unveils &#8217;26 Sked, But CBA Still An Issue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Barry Janoff<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 125px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/WNBA 26 Sked.png\" alt=\"\" \/>January 21, 2026: The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wnba.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WNBA<\/a> has embraced the power of positive thinking, releasing its 2026 scheduled, which will celebrate the league\u2019s 30th season and welcome new franchises in <a href=\"https:\/\/tempo.wnba.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Toronto<\/a> (Tempo) and Portland (<a href=\"https:\/\/fire.wnba.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fire<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>The season is scheduled to begin May 8 and the Playoffs presented by Google Pixel Sept. 27, with the Commissioner\u2019s Cup presented by Coinbase June 1-17 and the All-Star Game July 25 in Chicago\u2019s United Center.<\/p>\n<p>There will be two-week break when many WNBA players are expected to represent their respective nations in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fiba.basketball\/en\/events\/fiba-womens-basketball-world-cup-2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FIBA Women\u2019s Basketball World Cup 2026<\/a>, Sept. 4-13 in Germany..<\/p>\n<p>All of these plans go could askew if the WNBA and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wnbpa.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WNBPA<\/a> players&#8217; union can not come to an agreement on a new CBA, currently being negotiated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we prepare to tip off the WNBA\u2019s historic 30th season, this schedule reflects both how far the league has come and the momentum that continues to drive us forward,\u201d commissioner Cathy Engelbert said via the league.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom welcoming two new organizations in Toronto and Portland, to honoring our history with marquee matchups that connect the league\u2019s first game to today\u2019s stars, the 2026 season will celebrate the WNBA\u2019s past, present, and future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Training camp is planned to begin April 19, about a week after the college draft. An expansion draft for Portland and Toronto also still has to be held.<\/p>\n<p>The WNBA said it would unveil its complete TV and streaming schedule at a later date. That schedule is expected to include more than 200 of 330 games being available through the league\u2019s national broadcast and streaming partners.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Defending champion <a href=\"https:\/\/aces.wnba.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Las Vegas Aces<\/a> and MVP A\u2019ja Wilson (pictured) begin their season at home against the Phoenix Mercury in a 2025 WNBA Finals rematch, in T-Mobile Arena, site of the Aces 2025 championship celebration, scheduled for May 9.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 135px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/WNBA Aja MVP.png\" alt=\"\" \/>Among the season\u2019s other highlights, the Los Angeles Sparks will host <a href=\"https:\/\/liberty.wnba.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New York Liberty<\/a> June 21 on the anniversary of the original matchup in 1997 between the teams that was the first game in league history.<\/p>\n<p>Toronto will play one game each in Montreal and Vancouver.<\/p>\n<p>The Connecticut Sun will have two games in Hartford and one game in Boston.<\/p>\n<p>There will be 44 games per team, with each team playing 22 home games and 22 road games.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>All 15 teams will play during opening weekend as part of WNBA Tip-Off 2026 presented by CarMax.<\/p>\n<p>The WNBA Commissioner\u2019s Cup presented by Coinbase will feature a 49-game schedule.<\/p>\n<p>Each team will play one game against every other team in its conference \u2013 a total of six games for each of the seven Eastern Conference teams and seven games for each of the eight Western Conference teams.<\/p>\n<p>All Cup games except the Championship will count toward regular-season win-loss records.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/sky.wnba.com\/video\/chicago-x-all-star-2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2026 AT&amp;T WNBA All-Star Game<\/a>, the 22nd All-Star Game in league history, will also include the 3-Point Contest and Kia WNBA Skills Challenge July 24 in Wintrust Arena, home of the Chicago Sky.<\/p>\n<p>WNBA Live, the league\u2019s interactive fan festival, will take place at McCormick Place.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith a record number of games, growing global reach, and unprecedented momentum, this milestone season will help define the next chapter of the WNBA,\u201d said Englebert.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nysportsjournalism.com\/display\/ShowJournal?moduleId=19750604&amp;SSScrollPosition=0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sky\u2019s The Limit: WNBA Taking All-Star Game \u201926, Events To Chicago<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.NYSportsJournalism.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Back to Home Page<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Barry Janoff January 21, 2026: The WNBA has embraced the power of positive thinking, releasing its 2026&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-425083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}