The case for the WNBA extending its season into NFL territory

USA Today

2 days ago

The case for the WNBA extending its season into NFL territory
What we're all watching this summer is technically the longest WNBA season ever. All 13 teams across the league will play 44 games over 118 days, from May 16 to September 11.
When it's all said and done, this will be the most games ever played in a WNBA season. As a fan, I'm thankful on one hand. The more WNBA the better. On the other, this new schedule already seems to be posing a problem for players around the league, and the season isn't even quite a month old yet.
Players expressed their concerns about the schedule in an article from Front Office Sports' Annie Costabile. The crux of it is this: The WNBA's schedule has increased the number of games played over four years, from 32 in 2021 to 44 in 2025. While the league has added more games, it hasn't added the requisite amount of time in between these games for proper rest and recovery for its players. That packed schedule has resulted in stints where players are playing four games in six nights or, like in the Phoenix Mercury's case, nine games in 18 days. That's grueling and, really, unnecessary.
That packed schedule is only going to get worse. The WNBA is adding two more teams next season, in the Toronto Tempo and the Portland expansion team. We're probably looking at another few games added to the schedule with those two teams coming. If that happens, an expansion on the season is desperately needed.
The only argument against the expansion is that the WNBA will be encroaching deep into NFL territory, which is something essentially every league is afraid of these days. The NFL is a ratings monster. Go up against a football game — especially during primetime — and your audience is probably going to get cannibalized. It could also run up against the NBA, which could be a source of internal strife among the two organizations. MLB will also be playing the World Series around this time.
However, I'd argue that these are not things the WNBA should be concerned with at this point.
As far as TV ratings go, the WNBA should be confident enough at this point to believe it can hold its own against any other league it might run up against. And, yes, that includes the NFL. The W's most popular players are drawing nearly 3 million viewers to regular-season games at this point. You could argue that's a bit anomalous because it's Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese and people will watch every time they play. But when games are being played that late in the season in September and October, we're either talking about late regular-season matchups that have significance for playoff seeding or we're talking about playoffs outright. People will be drawn to these games.
But, honestly, the ratings conversation doesn't even really matter here. We've said it once before and we'll say it again: The WNBA has already signed the biggest TV deal in the league's history. That deal is locked in for the next decade. Ratings no longer matter in conversations about this league. They won't until it's time to lock in the next deal, and once we arrive there, the league will likely be light years ahead of where it is today.
In the end, ratings shouldn't take precedence over player health. We're only a few weeks into the season and we've already seen so many players suffer from soft tissue injuries that you can't help but feel like they could've been avoided if not for so much wear and tear on the talent.
If extending the WNBA's calendar out another month or so can alleviate some of that, then so be it. The league should do it, no matter what the NFL, NBA, or anyone else thinks.
Bennedict Mathurin becomes Michael Jordan
The Indiana Pacers are two wins away from winning an NBA championship and pulling off one of the biggest upsets in the league's history and it's all thanks to Bennedict Mathurin, who was the hero of Game 3 for Indy.
The dude scored 27 points in 22 minutes, which is bonkers. But it gets even more bonkers when you see the conversation he just entered.
Mathurin is only 22 years old. Here's the list of dudes who've scored at least 25 points in the NBA Finals at 22 or younger:
There are a bunch of Hall of Famers on that list and then there's Mathurin, who is still charting his course. I have no idea where things go from here for the Pacers' forward, but that's a pretty good list to be on.
Byron Buxton to the moon
I don't even know what to say about Byron Buxton's 479-foot homer against the Rangers. The Twins' broadcast team didn't, either. All they could do was laugh.
Here's Cory Woodroof on the moonshot:
"It's one of the longest home runs of the 2025 MLB season, and it's one that left the Twins television broadcast in stitches over just how dominant it really was. I mean, he sent that baseball into another time zone.
You don't often see an MLB player hammer a homer like this, but Buxton slammed this baseball in stride. You know you've done well when all your team's broadcast team can do is laugh at how great of a home run it was."
Look at this thing. It truly is comical.
Insane.
Quick hits: A new consensus mock ... The Knicks get rejected again ... and more
— Here's Bryan Kalbrosky with a new consensus NBA mock draft for you. Can't believe it's almost draft season.
— The Knicks really need to go find a head coach who doesn't already have a team, man. Charles Curtis has more on their latest rejections.
— Our Meg Hall had a nice chat with Sha'Carri Richardson! Y'all know you need to click this one.
— A dentist is playing in the US Open. No, seriously. Charles Curtis has five facts you need to know about him.
— Charles Barkley roasted the Knicks' coaching search. Absolutely love this.
— Here's Robert Zeglinski on Kyle Shanahan being annoyed with how fans overreact to NFL practices. This is brilliant.
That's a wrap, folks. Thanks for reading. Peace.
-Sykes ✌️
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