On Thursday, the WNBA and the Minnesota Lynx officially announced the regular season schedule for the upcoming 2020 season.
The WNBA regular season will tip off with a tripleheader slate of games on May 15.
The first game will feature the Lynx, as they will begin their year at 7 p.m. on May 15 on the road against the Chicago Sky, marking the second straight season the Lynx and Sky will face off in the season opener. The other two games will consist of the Atlanta Dream playing the Indiana Fever and the Dallas Wings visiting the Seattle Storm.
In the season opener, the Lynx will square off against former Minnesota assistant coach and current Chicago head coach James Wade, who was named the WNBA Coach of the Year in his first season at the helm of the Sky in 2019.
The Lynx regular season home opener will take place at 6 p.m. on May 17 when they host the Indiana Fever at Target Center.
The WNBA also announced that the 2020 season will feature a few new wrinkles throughout the regular season schedule, including the introduction of the Commissioner’s Cup tournament, an expanded schedule of 36 games and an increase in nationally televised games. The details on each of those aspects is outlined below.
The Lynx will have three games on national television throughout the season: one on ABC (June 7 vs. Los Angeles), one on ESPN (Aug. 16 at Connecticut) and one on ESPN2 (Aug. 25 at Seattle).
Minnesota’s preseason schedule and 2020 local television schedule will be announced at a later date, the organization announced in its release.
The regular season schedule, which will span from May to September and will feature a break in the middle for the 2020 Summer Olympics, will include eight games in May (four at home, four on the road), nine games in June (five home, four away), six games in July (two home, four away), six in August (four home, two away) and seven in September (three home, four away).
The longest homestand for Minnesota will occur from Aug. 28-Sept. 6 with four consecutive games at Target Center. The longest road trip will take place from Sept. 9-18, with four straight games on the road.
Last year, Minnesota’s season came to an end in the first round of the WNBA Playoffs, earning the seventh seed in the postseason while falling to the sixth-seeded Seattle Storm on the road. The Lynx, which compiled a regular-season record of 18-16 during the year, saw their season end in the opening round of the playoffs for the second year in a row.
With preparations for the upcoming season now underway, Minnesota will look to return to the postseason once again in 2020. And on Thursday, the Lynx were able to kick off those preparations by learning their full schedule for the summer ahead.
Commissioner’s Cup
The major addition to the schedule is the start of the Commissioner’s Cup, which will be an in-season tournament consisting of 10 designated regular-season games per team that will count towards Cup play. The team from each conference with the best record in Cup games will then compete for the Cup title and a special prize pool.
The Cup games will be the first home game and the first road game each team plays against its five conference rivals, all completed from May 15 to July 10 prior to the start of the 2020 Summer Olympics. The Cup Championship is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 14.
Expanded schedule
The league also announced it will be expanding the regular season schedule to an all-time high of 36 games per team, up two games from 34 while consisting of 18 home games and 18 road games.
After the league made the jump from 28 regular season games to 32 over the WNBA’s first six seasons, the schedule has remained at 34 games per team since the 2003 summer.
Nationally Televised Games
ESPN and the WNBA announced there will be a total of 17 regular season games that will be broadcast live on ESPN networks, which is up three games from the 2019 campaign.
Of those 17 games, two will air on ESPN, 10 will air on ESPN2 and the remaining five games will air on ABC.
To view the full schedule of nationally televised games, click here.
2020 Minnesota Lynx Regular Season Schedule
Here is a full breakdown of the 2020 regular-season schedule for the Lynx:
May
- Friday, May 15 at Chicago, 7 p.m.
- Sunday, May 17 vs. Indiana, 6 p.m.
- Tuesday, May 19 vs. Atlanta, 7 p.m.
- Thursday, May 21 vs. Dallas, 7 p.m.
- Saturday, May 23 at Dallas, 7 p.m.
- Tuesday, May 26 at Phoenix, 9 p.m.
- Friday, May 29 vs. Las Vegas, 7 p.m.
- Sunday, May 31 at New York, 2 p.m.
June
- Friday, June 5 vs. New York, 7 p.m.
- Sunday, June 7 vs. Los Angeles, 2 p.m.
- Tuesday, June 9 at Las Vegas, 9 p.m.
- Thursday, June 11 at Los Angeles, 9:30 p.m.
- Saturday, June 13 at Dallas, 7 p.m.
- Friday, June 19 vs. Phoenix, 7 p.m.
- Sunday, June 21 at Chicago, 5 p.m.
- Tuesday, June 23 vs. Washington, 7 p.m.
- Thursday, June 25 vs. Seattle, 7 p.m.
July
- Wednesday, July 1 vs. Atlanta, noon
- Friday, July 3 at Seattle, 9 p.m.
- Sunday, July 5 at Las Vegas, 5 p.m.
- Tuesday, July 7 at Indiana, 11 a.m.
- Wednesday, July 8 vs. Dallas, 7 p.m.
- Friday, July 10 at Washington, 6 p.m.
August
- Sunday, Aug. 16 at Connecticut, 11 a.m.
- Wednesday, Aug. 19 vs. Los Angeles, 7 p.m.
- Saturday, Aug. 22 vs. New York, 7 p.m.
- Tuesday, Aug. 25 at Seattle, 9 p.m.
- Friday, Aug. 28 vs. Indiana, 7 p.m.
- Sunday, Aug. 30 vs. Chicago, 6 p.m.
September
- Friday, Sept. 4 vs. Connecticut, 7 p.m.
- Sunday, Sept. 6 vs. Las Vegas, 6 p.m.
- Wednesday, Sept. 9 at Atlanta, 6 p.m.
- Friday, Sept. 11 at Washington, 6 p.m.
- Sunday, Sept. 13 at Connecticut, 4 p.m.
- Friday, Sept. 18 at Phoenix, 9 p.m.
- Sunday, Sept. 20 vs. Phoenix, 6 p.m.
Note: All times are Central Time
