Mercury start season on May 14 at Minnesota
The Phoenix Mercury will open their 25th season on the road against Minnesota on May 14 and host Connecticut in their home opener on May 21.
The Mercury lost 80-79 to Minnesota in the 2020 WNBA playoffs second round.
WNBA teams will play a 32-game regular season, instead of the originally planned 36, due to the Olympics and COVID-19.
Teams are playing in their home markets unlike 2020 when they played in a bubble in Bradenton, Florida, due to the pandemic.
The Mercury will be playing at renovated Phoenix Suns Arena with a limited capacity due to COVID-19 similar to what the Suns currently are allowing.
“Our fans have not been able to see their team in person since September 2019, more than 19 months ago,” said Vince Kozar, Mercury Chief Operating Officer. “Following the direction of health and wellness experts from the state, county and NBA/WNBA, and following the lead of the Suns who have been safely hosting fans since February, we are excited to welcome the X-Factor to our transformed home in downtown Phoenix. We will host all of our PayPal X-Factor season ticket members, and all remaining ticket inventory will go on sale on a per-game basis in the coming weeks.”
Each WNBA team will play three games apiece vs. 10 opponents and two games against one team from the opposite conference. The Mercury's two-game opponent is Washington.
The Mercury will play the same team back-to-back on seven occasions including three in a row against Los Angeles in June.
There will be a WNBA Commissioner's Cup competition with details still to be announced. The Commissioner's Cup was planned for 2020 but postponed due to COVID. It will culminate with a championship game just before resumption of the regular season coming out of the Olympics.