Plan approved
The WNBA will return to action with a 22-game season.
NEW YORK — The WNBA announced plans Monday to play a reduced season, with a 22-game schedule that would begin in late July without fans in attendance because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The league still is finalizing a partnership with IMG Academy in Florida to play all the games at the facility in Bradenton or other nearby locations. Players and team officials for the league’s 12 teams would be housed at IMG and teams would hold training camps there.
“There’s a lot to do between now and the tip of the season, now that we’ve selected IMG Academy” as the location to play, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a phone interview.
“My hope is the July 24 date will stick. We have scenarios and plans to lift and shift the tip of the season. It could slip to a couple of days later. We want to have the appropriate number of days for training camp.”
Players would receive their entire salaries for the year despite playing a schedule that would be about two-thirds the length of the 36-game one that was supposed to start May 15.
“It was an important message the owners said to pay the players 100%,” Engelbert said. “There are people taking pay cuts in the country and people being furloughed. It was a really important signal from the owners and the league.”
Engelbert hopes to have teams in Florida by the first week of July to start camps.
The WNBA would use its regular playoff format, with the top eight teams making the postseason and the first two rounds being single-elimination. The top two seeds would have byes until the semifinals. The playoffs would begin in the middle of September and end in early October.
Teams would play each other twice in the abbreviated 22-game schedule, which will be released later. The IMG facility has four courts, but the WNBA is exploring options to play games at other sites in the area just south of Tampa/ St. Petersburg that might be better for broadcasts.
The union said 77% of players voted in favor of the league’s proposal. They have until June 25 to let their teams know whether they plan to play this season. The commissioner said players who are considered as high risks for the new coronavirus could opt out of playing this season but still earn their full salaries. Players with children will be able to bring a caregiver with them.
“We know this is not going to be perfect; it’s not going to be ideal,” WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson said.
The league also announced that it will work with the players on their commitment to social justice reform. The WNBA recently said it will make donations from sales of its “Bigger Than Ball” women’s empowerment merchandise to the Equal Justice Initiative.
More than 70% of the league’s players are black.