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The WNBA is going global, eyeing its first overseas game by 2027 as million-dollar deals flood free agency.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert with Spain’s Marta Suarez (AP)
The WNBA is already eyeing a passport stamp.
As free agency heats up, commissioner Cathy Engelbert revealed that the league is targeting its first-ever game outside North America as early as 2027.
“We’re heavily looking at that,” Engelbert said ahead of Monday’s draft. “Next year we expect that we’ll do something outside of North America as a true global game.”
That push comes on the back of steady expansion, including the addition of a Toronto franchise this season — the league’s first team outside the United States — and growing international momentum with events like the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup on the calendar.
Million-Dollar Moment
If expansion is one headline, money is the other.
The WNBA’s latest free agency window has already rewritten the script, with 23 players reportedly signing million-dollar deals within just two days — a landmark moment for the league.
“I’m pretty emotional seeing 23 million-dollar contracts signed only two days into free agency,” Engelbert said. “Now these players can build real generational wealth.”
Engelbert, however, wasn’t too interested in making the story about herself. And when asked about her own future as commissioner, she sidestepped the question with a pointed response.
“I do crack up, everyone’s focused on me, and you should be focused on the hundreds and thousands of women who run this league outside of myself.”
“I wonder if you would ask that of a man?”
(with AP inputs)
April 14, 2026, 11:51 PM IST
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