July 21, 2024: In what has arguably been the most defining half season in league history, commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the WNBA is positioned to not only take on the growth being experienced to date in 2024 but is planning for even more prosperity, not only domestically but worldwide.

Prior to last night’s Team WNBA 117-109 victory over Team USA in the AT&T WNBA All-Star Game, Engelbert talked about the current and future state of the league, including the potential of expanding from 40 to 44 games beginning with the 2025 season, upcoming league expansion and the potential of playing in sites worldwide.

She also addressed reports of the league’s $2.2 billion media rights deals, but said details would come once they are finalized.

"I know there is a lot of interest in our media rights deals,” Englebert said during a media conference prior to the All-Star Game in Footprint Center, home to the Phoenix Mercury. “It’s still in an on-going process.

“Once we're able to finalize those media deals I’ll be able to discuss them in more detail. That said, I haven’t been shy in saying we’ve been preparing for this moment for many years. Saying how important media deals are to the growth and future of this league. These deals will be significant and a historical step forward.”

News of the NBA’s new $76 billion media deals — 11 years beginning in 2025-26 with ESPN-ABC, the return of NBC and the addition of Amazon’s Prime Video — came with industry analyst reports that new WNBA 11-year deals would average of $200 million a year, quadruple the $50 million the league receives in its current deal. (Both are awaiting final approval from the leagues.)

“Once we finalize those deals, everybody is going to understand that this is a historic time for women's sports, and the WNBA will be leading that. We did a lot of work leading up to this: what media partners were looking for, what we needed to do three years ago, two years ago, last year to get eyes on our aim and fans in our seats to have the narrative around being a historic league.”

The WNBA said across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and CBS, WNBA games this season to date are averaging more than 1.32 million viewers, nearly tripling last season’s average (462,000 viewers).

“As far as the number of games we play under our current collective bargaining agreement, we can play up to 44 games, so we're looking at that footprint for next year,” Englebert said.

The WNBA played 28 games during its first season in 1997. It moved up to 40 games in 2023 and maintained that number for the current season.

“One of the reasons we're looking at that footprint so hard is we don't have an international competition like the FIBA World Cup or the Olympics next year. So we'll be able to look at our footprint without any interruption or break like this year, and for the World Cup we generally accommodate that to help grow the game.

"So yeah, we're certainly looking at playing the max games up to 44. We are also looking at what we can do with our playoffs. So we'll be back to you on some of the decisions around that that we're working through with our teams and our owners."

Next season will see the arrival of the WNBA’s 13th franchise — the Golden State Valkyries — with the WNBA scheduled to add another expansion team in Toronto before the 2026 season. “We hope to have 16 teams by 2028,” said Englebert.

With the Olympics here, “Making our sport grow everywhere is part of our mission,” said Englebert. “We need girls to stay in sports. We know how important it is for us to grow the game globally. Our next round of media deals will allow us to continue to transform this league."

The 2024 preseason WNBA Canada Game in May in Edmonton was the fourth preseason game in WNBA history outside of the U.S., following Toronto (2023); Manchester, England (2011) and Monterrey, Mexico (2004).

According to Englebert, “I hugely admire what the NBA has done with its global games platform. We started ours after the pandemic in Toronto and then (during this past preseason) in Edmonton. We’d love to expand that farther whether its to Europe or Asia longer term, some people mentioned Mexico City or Middle East or Africa. Looking at neutral sites in the U.S. to test expansion. So we’re looking at all of that as it relates to the 2025 footprint.”

The WNBA’s record attendance and TV ratings to date in 2024 coincides with the arrival of a high-profile rookie class including Caitlin Clark (Indiana Fever), Angel Reese (Chicago Sky), Cameron Brink (Los Angeles Sparks), Rickea Jackson (Sparks), Kamilla Cardosa (Sky), Kate Martin (Las Vegas Aces) and Aaliyah Edwards (Washington Mystics).

Since the start of the season, WNBAStore.com has already set the record for the most single-season sales in store history, with overall transactions up 756% versus the same time period last year.

Clark, Reese and Brink rank among the top players in jersey sales.

“I can’t be more pleased with the moment we are faced with. Not just this class of rookies but what we’re seeing next year and the year after and the year after, from what we can see is three years of great draft classes

"I've been so pleased with Caitlin and all of our rookies. A number of new fans we're able to bring into this league is exponential from my expectations of what we were going to do.

"I think this rookie class has brought a lot of attention and is lifting all of our games and all of our players."

“Not only are the WNBA players the best basketball players in the world, but they also serve as role models, community ambassadors, and symbols of empowerment for people everywhere.”

“Many are calling us a growth stock, and we have welcomed many new partners over the past year,” just recently including Bumble (as the league's first official dating app partner), New Balance and DraftKings as an official sportsbook sponsor (joining FanDuel in that category).

"When I stood in front of you at this time last year, I knew we were poised for big things. We are preparing ourselves for big things, but I’m so thrilled at what we’re been able to accomplish over the last year. The influx of interest, leading our league in sustainable growth, continue to chart this new path for women’s sports.

“We have seen our highest attendance in 26 years and repeatedly set viewership records. A lot of our teams are up triple-digits in attendance. We have 16 WNBA teams that have averaged at least a million viewers, the most in WNBA history, and we’re only a little over halfway through the season.”

“Our growth is not just viewership but truly indicative of fan engagement. They care a lot about what’s going on with the players and the league.”