WNBA Announces 22-Game Schedule, Set for Fla. in Late July

From the NY Times

By Howard Megdal
June 15, 2020
Updated 3:29 p.m. ET

W.N.B.A. players have ratified a plan between the league and the players’ union to play a 22-game season, beginning in late July, along with a full playoff schedule, all at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., the league announced Monday.

Players who opt into the 2020 season — they have until June 25 to notify their teams if they will participate — will receive 100 percent of their 2020 salaries, assuming the league is able to complete both the regular season and playoffs. This was a critical component to getting the players to agree, according to Terri Jackson, the executive director of the Women’s National Basketball Players Association.

“They understood that if players are committing to this, that we needed their commitment on that,” Jackson said in a phone interview Monday. “And so we got there.”

Many details remain to be sorted out: A formal start date has not been finalized, and the league has identified several other potential destinations as fallback positions if the plan to play at IMG Academy becomes untenable — either because of a change in local government policy or a spike in coronavirus infections in the area.

Both sides also expect to address living accommodations for players with varying family situations, as well as how the league’s return would affect activism related to police brutality and systemic racism — an issue that the N.B.A. is also working to address as it moves forward with its plan to complete the 2019-20 season.

“The players are launching a bold social justice platform,” Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a phone interview Monday. “And one of the positives of being all together is their ability to use that time as a call to action around driving change. This country definitely needs that.”

Nneka Ogwumike, the Los Angeles Sparks forward and the president of the W.N.B.P.A., said the union’s executive committee had already connected with groups that could help the players use the season as a platform for activism.

“We’ve always been the first in line to speak about social issues,” Ogwumike said. “And we see this as a really magical moment for us to turn to turn the unexpected into something that could be very beautiful, with 144 voices in the same place.”