At this point, with other sports having either canceled or postponed major events, one had to believe it would not be far before the WNBA followed suit and did the same.
In a release, the WNBA announced it would be postponing the start of the 2020 regular season, originally scheduled for May 15 with three games.
WNBA Statement Regarding Start of 2020 Regular Season pic.twitter.com/5LZe5tpTai
— WNBA (@WNBA) April 3, 2020
While the league continues to use this time to conduct scenario-planning regarding new start dates and innovative formats, our guiding principle will continue to be the health and safety of the players, fans and employees.
–Cathy Engelbert, WNBA commissioner (release)
We continue to send our thoughts and prayers to our players, fans, and all of those in the community impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and are grateful to those selfless health care workers and first responders who work tirelessly on the front lines.
–Cathy Engelbert, WNBA commissioner (release)
The release also mentioned that while the season is postponed, the draft will continue as scheduled in a virtual format on April 17 on ESPN.
With the cancellation of the Olympics, it does give the WNBA a bit of flexibility to, perhaps, push the season’s start back to June or July if necessary. Even this appears to be an optimistic solution with projections all over the place on when this pandemic will start to subside.
The three contests that were supposed to occur on May 15 were Atlanta Dream vs. Indiana Fever at Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler University, Minnesota Lynx vs. Chicago Sky at Wintrust Arena and Seattle Storm vs. Dallas Wings at Alaska Airlines Arena.
