2027 WNBA Season Expected to Start May 7 With Record 50 Games

May 7 is the expected opening date for the 2027 WNBA season, sources told ESPN’s Alexa Philippou on Thursday. The season could last until Oct. 24.

The league shared those dates with officials at its meetings in Manhattan this week. There will be 50 regular-season games for every team, an increase of six from the schedule they just finished.

That schedule had a break for the FIBA Women’s World Cup. Next year’s will not, according to Philippou. Players will have another international break in 2028, when the Summer Olympics take place in Los Angeles.

The 2026 Finals did not end until Halloween. Golden State beat Atlanta in Game 7 on Oct. 31, winning the Valkyries’ first title. Oct. 24 would put the last possible game of next season a week earlier on the calendar.

Teams began the 2026 season May 8 and finished their regular-season games Sept. 24. To get through the playoffs, they had to win a best-of-three first-round series, then a best-of-five semifinal. The championship round has required four wins since the Finals expanded to seven games in 2025.

The WNBA announced the extra regular-season games June 17. Dates were still to come at that point, though the number was set at 50. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert addressed the change in the announcement.

“Demand for the WNBA has never been greater,” Engelbert said.

There is room for more games under the collective bargaining agreement. The maximum is 50 in 2027 and 2028, then 52 starting in 2029. That agreement lasts through 2032; players approved it March 23, and the Board of Governors ratified it the following day.

The CBA also permits play as late as Nov. 21 in 2027. The October date reported by ESPN is four weeks before that limit.

Fifteen teams played in 2026 and 15 will play in 2027. The change is in Houston, which is getting the Connecticut Sun franchise after WNBA and NBA owners approved the sale and relocation in May.

The team will be called the Comets and play at Toyota Center. Houston’s original Comets won four straight championships to start the league, from 1997 through 2000. They folded after the 2008 season, and the city has been without a WNBA team since.

Houston is also in Sunday’s draft lottery. Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, Toronto and Washington are the other teams involved, with ESPN carrying the results Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m. ET. Bethany Donaphin, the WNBA’s head of league operations, will reveal the order.