One knows a sport is in a boom period when media outlets like ours are asking if the WNBA went too big and bold with its schedule.
One interesting aspect of things is when we first launched at the midpoint of the previous decade, the WNBA season was 34 games long. Meaning it was only a few games less than the current 44-contest campaign the W is currently enjoying.
With a new team in the Golden State Valkyries joining the ranks, an expansion of the W schedule was to happen. But by how much?
Many a sports economist will say that Cathy Engelbert was simply responding to the age-old economic concept of supply and demand. Sports fans want more WNBA and the league simply responded to said demand with more games.
And while it has had a positive effect in terms of higher ratings and increased attendance, the negative effect has also been seen in the number of injuries that has occurred this season.
Not only have we seen injuries, but we are seeing injuries to marquee players. The New York Liberty already knew at the beginning of the season that Betnijah Laney-Hamilton would be sidelined for the entire season.
Injuries are, indeed, an unfortunate element of the sports we know and love and always will be. But the injuries that have occurred this season appear to be an unfortunate byproduct of the WNBA increasing its schedule to 44 games.
A’ja Wilson was hurt earlier in the season. Jonquel Jones missed 4-6 weeks of the Liberty’s season with an ankle injury. Big names such as Napheesa Collier, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese have also been dealing with injuries. Clark’s injury even sidelined her from All-Star weekend which was essentially built around her.
The injuries the Phoenix Mercury have dealt with involving marquee names such as Satou Sabally and Kahleah Copper have been noteworthy. With the Atlanta Dream, Rhyne Howard and Brittney Griner have dealt with injuries.
One element of this season that is noteworthy is how the season was extended to 44 games during an odd-numbered season. The WNBA did not have to plan the 2025 season around a FIBA World Cup as will be the case next season when said World Cup takes place in Germany. It did not have to plan a season around an Olympics as was the case last year with Paris 2024 or will be the case in 2028 (though those Olympics being set to be a Los Angeles-hosted Games may give the W a bit of leeway in terms of scheduling).
Yet, the large number of injuries we are seeing clearly display that the quick turnarounds appear to be taking their toll.
The WNBA has its work cut out for it in terms of its 2026 schedule because it will have to schedule around the debut of two new franchises in the Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire. It will also have to schedule around 2026 being the first year of its new media rights deals courtesy of NBC and Amazon Prime.
And let us be honest – as is the case with every major sports organization, a good bit of its schedule is planned around what games their television and streaming partners have vested interests in broadcasting. It was not an accident that almost every single time the Indiana Fever play the Chicago Sky it is on national television.
Add those factors to the FIBA World Cup factor and what the 2026 schedule could resemble will likely be the first thing many a player, coach, fan and pundit zero in on once league and players kiss and make up on a new collective bargaining agreement.
With how this WNBA season, particularly the stretch run, has been riddled with injuries to marquee players – one has to believe that time off between games will become an issue that will come up in CBA talks (if it has not already).
Again – injuries will happen. It is sports, after all. But as more eyeballs gravitate towards the W, it should want for its marquee players particularly to be healthy down the stretch run of a season. Perhaps this CBA battle will be a reminder that there is a such thing as growing rapidly – and a such thing as growing too rapidly.
