The first year of the new WNBA media rights deal features a level of broadcast television exposure that is exceeded perhaps only by the NFL.
The WNBA announced its 2026 regular season TV schedule on Wednesday, with the league set for a combined 40 games across the major broadcast networks of CBS (20), ABC (13) and NBC (7). That includes the WNBA All-Star Game on ABC.
Including the Scripps-owned “netlet” ION, there are a total of 74 WNBA game windows set for national broadcast television prior to the playoffs, almost certainly the most of any league outside of the NFL.
Not counting playoff games, the NBA this past season had a combined 64 windows on broadcast between NBC and ABC (including NBA All-Star Weekend events on NBC), Major League Baseball is set for 48 this season across FOX, NBC and ABC (including the MLB All-Star Game on FOX), and the NHL had 16 on ABC.
On the major broadcast networks alone, the WNBA is scheduled for 11 primetime windows — eight Saturday night windows on CBS, two “Sunday Night Basketball” games on NBC and the WNBA All-Star Game on ABC. Prior to this season, a grand total of five WNBA games had ever aired in primetime on a major broadcast network, all coming in the prior three seasons. Three were All-Star games on ABC and two were Saturday night matchups of the Fever and Sky on CBS last season.
CBS, airing an expanded schedule of 20 WNBA games as part of its new deal with the league, will carry Saturday night games on six-straight weeks from May 23 through June 27, with two additional primetime contests on July 18 and August 15. Seven of those eight will feature the Caitlin Clark-led Fever (four times) or defending champion Aces (three), with the exception being Sky-Wings on June 20.
As had been previously suggested on this site, the WNBA editions of “Sunday Night Basketball” will air on the two weeks this summer when NBC is not scheduled to air “Sunday Night Baseball.” The first is Fever-Aces July 12 at 9 PM ET, when MLB will not have a Sunday night game due to the MLB All-Star break. The second is Fever-Sky August 23 at 7 PM ET, when NBC has no Sunday night MLB because of the Little League Classic on ESPN.
ABC’s lone primetime game will again be the WNBA All-Star Game.
While the WNBA will have a formidable broadcast network presence during the regular season, the same cannot quite be said of the playoffs. NBC will air only Games 1 and 4 of the best-of-seven WNBA Finals, with the remaining five set for USA Network. Peacock will simulcast all WNBA Finals games.
In addition to the broadcast network slate, the WNBA is set for a combined 79 windows on cable between USA Network (47), ESPN (17) and NBA TV (15), plus 47 on direct-to-subscriber streaming between Prime Video (32) and Peacock (15). (All Peacock games will be simulcast on NBCSN.)
ESPN will carry WNBA games on eight of nine Sunday nights from June 21 through August 16, including on July 12 when NBC has one of its two “Sunday Night Basketball” games. The Sunday night ESPN games, which will air under the previously-announced banner of “Women’s Sports Sundays,” will typically air at 7 or 8 PM ET.
Combined, the WNBA is scheduled for 200 total national windows, or nearly two-thirds of the league’s 331 total games (including the Commissioner’s Cup final). Excluding NBA TV, the 185 national windows this season compares to 12 total in the 2012 season, when the league’s only national broadcast partner was ESPN/ABC.
All 44 Indiana Fever games are scheduled for national TV, a change from past seasons when one or two might have been set aside for WNBA League Pass.
With Angel Reese being traded from Chicago to Atlanta, all four meetings between the Dream and Clark’s Fever are scheduled for national TV. The first two matchups are set for Prime Video on June 4 and 18 in Indiana, with the third meeting set for ABC on June 20 and the fourth on ESPN August 16.
