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The team will play its home games at Rocket Arena in Downtown Cleveland, with the Cleveland Clinic Courts in Independence set to become the Cleveland WNBA team's exclusive training and practice facility. Support for the WNBA in Cleveland has been widespread, from nearly 9,000 initial down payments for season tickets to founding partners signing on, like Progressive, which has claimed the sponsored patch chest and abdomen placements on the team’s jersey.
The Dallas Wings are getting a major upgrade. The Wings will play their 2027 season at American Airlines Center, also home to the NHL’s Dallas Stars and the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. Since moving to Dallas from Tulsa in 2016, the Wings have played at College Park Center at UT Arlington, which seats 6,251. The American Airlines Center has a capacity of around 20,000 for NBA games and reached 20,409 when the Wings hosted the Indiana Fever there last season.
The Wings had previously planned to move downtown to the Dallas Memorial Auditorium in 2026, but there were construction delays on the renovation project. The Dallas Morning News reported that the renovation is expected to be completed in time for the 2028 season. That space, which used to host the Dallas Chaparrals of the ABA, would only accommodate about 9,000 fans.
Shams Charania: BREAKING: The Los Angeles Sparks are trading five-time All-Star Kelsey Plum to the Phoenix Mercury for Monique Akoa Makani, a 2027 first round pick and a 2028 second-rounder, sources tell me and @kendra__andrews.
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Sophie Cunningham is not just Caitlin Clark’s bodyguard on the court; she’s become her bodyguard in the court of public opinion. If I were WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, I’d thank Cunningham for protecting the health and image of the league’s biggest star on and off the floor. Notice I said biggest star, not best player. That’s four-time MVP A’ja Wilson of the Aces. But the 24-year-old Clark is without question the league’s biggest attraction in terms of TV ratings, box office, and merchandising. Despite her fame, Clark is “politically anodyne,” notes The Ringer’s Seerat Sohi, especially compared to the NBA’s biggest star, LeBron James. Unlike the Chosen One, Clark doesn’t want to talk about politics or social issues. She doesn’t pick a side in the political proxy wars dividing the WNBA and fans over race, sexuality, and transgender athletes. Clark just wants to hoop.
Enter Cunningham, the feisty, 29-year-old Fever sharpshooter, who’s embraced the role of Clark’s older sister/protector. NHL clubs have long used on-ice enforcers to protect their skill players. When Jacy Sheldon and Marina Mabrey of the Sun got physical with Clark last year, Cunningham reacted like Wayne Gretzky’s Oilers enforcer Dave Semenko. On a fast break at the end of the game, Cunningham yanked Sheldon down with a flagrant foul. When Sheldon jumped up to brawl, Cunningham put her in a headlock for good measure. A star was born.
Fast-forward to the current season. Once again, Clark wants to focus on her game, not get dragged into polarizing political debates. Once again, Cunningham is acting as the lightning rod, fearlessly wading into the debate regarding transgender athletes. As she told ESPN: “I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.” Whether intentional or not, Cunningham has become the story instead of Clark, who’s averaging a career-best 21.5 points per game in her third season in the W. When the media tried to make Cunningham backtrack on her ESPN comments, she stuck by her position that little girls–and all women–need protection. “I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense.”
The WNBA has suspended Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton from attending the team's next five home games after her exchange with two fans during Tuesday's matchup with the Indiana Fever, the league confirmed Thursday. According to multiple reports, Keaton had admonished a pair of fans who brought signs into Climate Pledge Arena supporting Fever guard Sophie Cunningham following her recent comments about transgender athletes. The fans told unDividedPod.com that Keaton directed expletives at them for a sign that thanked Cunningham "for speaking up for girls."
Along with the suspension, Keaton was fined an undisclosed amount, the league said. "We respect the league's decision to fine and suspend co-owner Celeste Keaton," the Storm said in a statement Thursday. "We remain committed to creating a welcoming and respectful environment for anyone who attends a Storm game."
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The WNBA delivered one of its five largest audiences on record for Saturday’s All-Star Game. Saturday’s WNBA All-Star Game from Chicago averaged 3.2 million viewers on ABC, marking the fifth-largest audience of any kind in league history, behind only the 2024 All-Star Game, the winner-take-all Game 3 of the 1999 WNBA Finals, and two games on the league’s inaugural weekend of play in 1997. Viewership increased 44% from last year’s All-Star Game, which Fever G Caitlin Clark missed due to injury (2.19M), but fell short of the record 3.44 million for the aforementioned 2024 All-Star Game, which featured Clark and a WNBA vs. Team USA format. The past three years rank as easily the most-watched in the history of the All-Star Game, comfortably surpassing the longstanding high of 1.44 million in 2003.
Over the last month, Sophie Cunningham’s viral point at DeWanna Bonner has become one of the most recognizable memes in sports. But while the image has spread across social media, the WNBPA doesn’t want its official business partners selling it. The WNBPA is “prohibiting licensees” from using the image of Cunningham’s point in their products, according to sports business reporter Darren Rovell, who said the union called Cunningham’s gesture “derogatory.” The WNBPA did not deny Rovell’s report to Front Office Sports. “For licensed apparel, we generally do not feature or look to monetize player conduct from a confrontation between our members,” a spokesperson said.
Alexa Philippou: News: The WNBA will be launching a full centralized replay center beginning in the 2027 season, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert tells reporters
Kendra Andrews: Commissioner Cathy Engelbert says that too many players in the WNBA have experienced “unacceptable” online hate. “The racism, the misogyny, the homophobia, the harassment, and threats directed to our players, has no place in sport or anywhere else.”