Anticipation for the 2024 WNBA season has been building since the Las Vegas Aces closed out last season’s finals at Barclays Center, through a historic 2023-24 college campaign, and peaking with the most-viewed WNBA Draft of all time.
“With the energy and excitement already generated by what we anticipate will be a star-studded rookie class, and on the heels of a 2023 season that featured one of the greatest MVP races in WNBA history and our most-watched regular season in over two decades, the WNBA’s broadcast and streaming partners are offering a huge national platform,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a league statement.
Advertisem*nt
Now that the season is finally tipping off Tuesday night, here’s how to watch the league’s 28th season.
ESPN is the WNBA’s primary national broadcast partner
Starting Tuesday, with a double-header of the Indiana Fever vs. the Connecticut Sun and the Phoenix Mercury vs. Las Vegas on ESPN2, 25 regular-season games will air on the ESPN family of networks. That includes ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC on weekends. The opening night games for Caitlin Clark’s debut and the Aces’ ring night will also be streaming on Disney+. Furthermore, ESPN carries the WNBA postseason.
Some standout matchups from this package include:
• 1 p.m. ET June 8: New York Liberty at Connecticut, a rematch of the 2023 WNBA semifinals
• 3 p.m. ET June 15: New York at Las Vegas, a rematch of the 2023 WNBA Finals
• 3 p.m. ET June 30: Indiana at Phoenix, featuring Caitlin Clark and Diana Taurasi, No. 1 picks 20 years apart
• 8:30 p.m. ET July 20: WNBA All-Star Game, pitting Team USA against Team WNBA
An additional 40 national TV games are also available on NBA TV. CBS will carry eight games and CBS Sports Network has 12. One of the highlights of the CBS schedule is June 16, when the Chicago Sky head to Indiana as Angel Reese faces her former college rival Clark.
Amazon owns Thursday nights
Much like the NFL, where “Thursday Night Football” takes place on Prime Video, the WNBA has its own weekly date with Amazon. Once the regular season begins, at least one game — and on five occasions, two — will air on Prime Video every Thursday, excluding Aug. 29 for a total of 20 contests. The Amazon schedule kicks off with Clark’s home opener against the Liberty on May 16. It also includes Connecticut at the Minnesota Lynx on July 4 after the teams exchanged three guards this offseason, and Phoenix at Chicago in the first game back from the Olympic break.
Tuesday, the '24 #WNBA season tips off on ESPN platforms with an Opening Night doubleheader
🏀 7p ET & 9:30p ET | Countdown
ESPN2, @DisneyPlus, @ESPNPlus, @ESPNDeportes
🏀 7:30p ET | #IndianaFever–#ConnecticutSun
🏀 10p ET | #ValleyTogether–#ALLINLV🔗https://t.co/Ao4L4QupgP pic.twitter.com/LtSbaf1KOF
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) May 10, 2024
The championship of the 2024 WNBA Commissioner’s Cup also will be broadcast on Prime Video. This is the fourth year of the league’s in-season tournament, and the winning team will once again win $500,000 to be divided among its 11-12 players.
Friday nights are for ION
ION will air 43 WNBA games on its “Friday Night Spotlight.” Through the first three months of the schedule, one to two games will be broadcast each week, but that will expand to four to five during the final month with the playoffs chase. ION has a WNBA pregame show and studio show during halftime.
Advertisem*nt
WNBA League Pass takes care of the rest
Tip-Off Test Drive by @CarMax is back 🔥
For a limited time, get a FREE League Pass preview on the WNBA App. No subscription required. Simply download the App, open the Watch Tab, and stream these must-see matchups.
📲: https://t.co/D9HjJs290j pic.twitter.com/ZqGf2B7PiV
— WNBA (@WNBA) May 13, 2024
Each team has a substantial national television footprint — Indiana has 36 games out of its 40 on national networks, and even the most camera-shy teams have nearly half of their games available nationally. However, with 240 contests, the only way to catch the full schedule is with WNBA League Pass. Every non-national game is available live through the app. With many matchups occurring simultaneously, it’s helpful that the majority of games – even ION and NBA TV offerings — can be streamed on demand when they’re over.
(Photo of Chelsea Gray: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
Sabreena Merchant is a women's basketball Staff Writer for The Athletic. She previously covered the WNBA and NBA for SB Nation. Sabreena is an alum of Duke University, where she wrote for the independent student newspaper, The Chronicle. She is based in Los Angeles. Follow Sabreena on Twitter @sabreenajm
