The Sky will open the 2026 season with a West Coast trip starting May 9 in Portland against the expansion Fire.
That is, of course, assuming the league and the players’ union can come to a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement.
After visiting Golden State, Phoenix and Minnesota, the Sky will have their home opener on May 20 against the Dallas Wings.
The league’s other expansion team, the Toronto Tempo, will visit Wintrust Arena on May 27 and Sept. 22.
“It’s an honor to participate in the WNBA’s 30th season amid a time of tremendous growth for the league,” Sky head coach Tyler Marsh said in a statement. “We’re especially excited to welcome two more expansion teams to our competitive league, and we’ll be ready to match up against a strong lineup of opponents at home and on the road.”
Some of the other major home matchups include the champion Las Vegas Aces on June 28 and Aug. 1, and Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever on Aug. 8 and Aug. 23. The June 28 game vs. the Aces and the Aug. 8 game vs. the Fever will be played at the United Center. The Sky have no back-to-back games scheduled for this season.
The WNBA All-Star Game will be held July 25 at United Center.
The Sky will end the regular season on Sept. 24 at Washington.
WNBA teams will play 44 games over a five-month period with a 17-day break from Aug. 31-Sept. 16 for the FIBA World Cup in early September in Berlin. The league said last year that with the World Cup this season they would keep the schedule at 44 games despite adding two new teams in Portland and Toronto.
Training camp is slated to begin April 19, six days after the college draft. The league will have its sixth annual Commissioner’s Cup games in June with the championship game slated to take place on June 30.
All of this is still contingent on the league and union coming to an agreement on a new CBA.
The two sides agreed to a moratorium on free agency, which was supposed to begin earlier this month. The moratorium was needed after no new extension was reached on Jan. 9 to negotiate a new CBA. The WNBA and union are now in a “status quo” period where the old CBA is still in effect and the two parties are negotiating on good faith.
Contributing: Associated Press
Sun-Times staff
Source link