WNBA Replay Center to Open for the 2027 Season

Beginning with the 2027 season, every WNBA replay review will run through the NBA's Replay Center in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced the centralized operation Saturday at her annual All-Star press conference in Chicago, hours before tip-off at the United Center.

The Secaucus facility will serve as the hub for all reviewable replay situations in WNBA games, connected directly to every WNBA arena. When a play is eligible for review under WNBA playing rules, broadcast and in-arena camera angles will be transmitted instantaneously to Secaucus, where replay personnel will identify the most conclusive views and provide them to the officiating crew on the floor. Replay personnel, WNBA League Operations leadership, and rotating officials will be available to assist the crew during a review.

"As the WNBA continues its extraordinary growth, we're committed to investing in every aspect of the game, including the technology and resources that support players, teams, and officials," Head of WNBA League Operations Bethany Donaphin said in the league's announcement. "Leveraging the NBA's state-of-the-art Replay Center is an important step in the continued evolution of our game. It allows us to enhance the consistency and efficiency of replay reviews while embracing innovations that strengthen the competition and deliver the best possible experience for all our stakeholders."

The NBA announced its Replay Center in 2014 and opened it for the first game of the 2014-15 regular season. The WNBA uses the same building now for replay support.

Replay covers a set list of calls. Officials can go to it on whether a shot was a two-pointer or a three-pointer, and on whether a shot was released before the shot clock or the game clock expired. Flagrant fouls are reviewable. So are out-of-bounds calls in the closing stretch of the fourth quarter and in overtime.

The Coach's Challenge came into the league in 2023. Teams got one per game that season, whether or not the review went their way. Before the 2024 season the league added a second Challenge for teams whose first one succeeded. A Challenge still requires a timeout. A team that signals for one without a timeout available is charged a technical foul.

Speaking Saturday, Engelbert said the work of the league's officiating committee has produced more fouls and more freedom of movement.

"There's always a calibration and adjustment period," Engelbert said. "I know officiating, we always need to be better."

Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was ejected in Game 3 of last season's semifinals against Phoenix. She criticized the officiating in her postgame press conference. The league fined her $15,000 and suspended her for Game 4. Aces coach Becky Hammon and Fever coach Stephanie White were each fined $1,000. In late June, Alyssa Thomas was assessed a Flagrant Foul 2 and a one-game suspension for contact to the throat area of Caitlin Clark. Engelbert was booed during the Commissioner's Cup trophy presentation last month.

The league and the WNBPA reached a verbal agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement March 18. Players approved the deal March 23, and the Board of Governors ratified it March 24. The agreement gives the union access to informational, educational, and points-of-emphasis videos regarding officiating. Beginning in 2027, the season can extend to Nov. 21, and the schedule can grow to 50 games.

Engelbert's contract expires at the end of the year. Asked Saturday whether she will be commissioner at the start of the 2027 season, she said she would continue to do her job. WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike, speaking at All-Star practices Friday, did not say whether she believes Engelbert should stay on.

The WNBA expanded from 13 to 15 teams this season with the additions of the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo. No new teams arrive in 2027. Cleveland begins play in 2028, Detroit in 2029, and Philadelphia in 2030, and each of the three ownership groups paid a $250 million expansion fee.