The WNBA announced the 2026 regular season schedule on Wednesday, revealing important details about timing and opponents for the Golden State Valkyries. The announcement comes in the middle of ongoing negotiations between the players union and the league on the next collective bargaining agreement, which would need to be finalized in advance of the season starting, delaying this announcement already by more than a month compared to last season. Neither the broadcast schedule nor the planned home preseason game were announced at this time.
Collective Bargaining Agreement
After the previous CBA expired following the conclusion of last season, the players union and league have been negotiating a new agreement, including officially putting brief extensions into place and creating a moratorium on player transaction activity. Nevertheless, the sides have not reached a deal and there has not been much reporting on progress since the players made it clear that they were still demanding a fundamental change to how annual salary figures are calculated in addition to other proposed changes. The league’s proposals have used a similar methodology to previous CBAs to calculate salary growth, albeit at a higher absolute starting point due to the league’s ongoing financial windfall.
The agreement will have to be completed in order to play games, but the current moratorium also means that a significant amount of league business would have to be conducted before a season could begin. Those include the expansion draft for league newcomers Toronto and Portland, a free agency period that will be extra busy since so many players intentionally lined up their contracts to expire in 2025, and the player entry draft. Officially announcing a schedule puts some pressure on all of that to get done, especially with an opening day that is a week sooner. It is unclear exactly when a failure to reach an agreement would result in the season not being able to start on time, but some rumblings from the league side when it comes to logistics should be emerging soon. In a scenario where the season cannot start on time, there are many possible ways of adjusting, including modifying the schedule for a shorter season this year.
Schedule Format
The league is planning for a 44 game schedule again this year. With two more teams in the league, the number of times that teams play each other was affected. Each team will play all of the other teams at least three times this year with four games against two opponents. The Valkyries have Minnesota as one of those teams, which figures to be one of the tougher possible outcomes, while also getting four games against Portland, which will be featuring an all-new roster as an expansion team. Among the teams that Golden State will play three times, they have two home games against Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, Toronto, and Washington while having one home game against Connecticut, Indiana, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle.
Opening Month
The schedule has an opening day that is the second Friday in May instead of the third Friday this year. The Valkyries are scheduled to start the season on the road in Seattle on May 8th before heading home for two games. That home opener would be on Sunday, May 10th against Phoenix followed by a game against Chicago on Wednesday. The team has a rare full week without a game, but head out on the road for a tricky back-to-back against New York and Indiana on the 21st and 22nd. Three homes games against Connecticut, Indiana, and Las Vegas end the month on the 25th, 28th, and 31st.
Commissioner’s Cup
The Commissioner’s Cup will have the same format this year with games against conference foes being played all in a row in June to determine which team advances to the championship game on the 30th. With eight teams in the Western Conference, teams have an unbalanced schedule and the Valkyries do get one more home game than road game. Their first game will be on Tuesday the 2nd and be the first look at Portland. Tough road games follow at Minnesota and Las Vegas on the 4th and 6th. Phoenix visits on the 9th before the last road game at Seattle on the 12th and home games against Los Angeles and Dallas on the 15th and 17th.
Before the All Star Break
The Valkyries have five games scheduled between the Commissioner’s Cup group stage and the break for the championship game. They host Minnesota on the 19th before a road game at Las Vegas on the 21st. Their only two home games against Atlanta are on the 24th and 26th with New York visiting on the 28th before the break. The team has seven games scheduled in July before that break, starting with a five game road trip to Eastern Conference foes Atlanta, Washington, Toronto, Connecticut, and Indiana between the 4th and 15th. The last two games before the All Star break are at home against Washington on the 18th and 20th.
After the All Star Break
There is one more game in July after the break with the team visiting Phoenix on the 29th and then August opens with two home games against Toronto on the 2nd and 4th. There is a road swing at Dallas and Los Angeles on 7th and 9th before three more home games against Chicago, Dallas, and Minnesota on the 12th, 17th, and 19th. A second five game road trip closes out the month from the 21st through the 30th, featuring games at Chicago and Minnesota before a back-to-back at Connecticut and New York, ending with a game at Portland.
World Cup Break
The World Cup for national teams will be played slightly earlier this year than it was in 2022, running from September 4th to 13th instead. Under the old timing, the WNBA would complete the entire season before the World Cup, but that was just not realistic this time. There had been a thought that the entire regular season could be completed before the event with the playoffs being started after it concluded. The league is not planning for that, which probably makes the most sense from a basketball perspective to allow playoff teams to build up their rhythm again before their season are on the line.
Not having the regular season end before the World Cup also avoids some of the potentially tricky situations involving rules in the previous CBA, although the new agreement would govern any rules regarding players departing to represent their national teams. Only five of the sixteen teams in the field have been determined with qualifying tournaments being played in March. Players representing the United States are not expected to miss any WNBA time at this point, but players on other national teams could spend more time with them to prepare, an issue that could affect a team like the Valkyries more than others as was the case during EuroBasket last year.
Regular Season Finish
The Valkyries play as late as possible before the World Cup break, but do get to be one of the teams with an extra day after the tournament. They host Portland on Friday, September 18th, getting their opponents on the back half of a back-to-back. Golden State then has their own back-to-back, hosting Seattle. How strong Portland is able to be this season will certainly affect the difficulty of the stretch run with one more visit to them on the 22nd and then the regular season ends on the road in Los Angeles on the 24th.
Overall Schedule Details
The schedule is not quite as weekend friendly this year with four Sunday games, two Saturday games, and three Friday games, including on Juneteenth. One of the Monday games is on Memorial Day, but is still at 7:00pm like all of the other weekday games for those needing to be somewhere early the next day. Not all of the weekend games are scheduled for 5:30pm, which likely indicates that they are being picked up for national broadcast that with details to be announced later.
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