Fans of the WNBA will be able to watch a historic-high 205 live games on national television and streaming options this season.
Though, the question fans might have to answer quite often is this: What channel are the games on? Where can I watch them?
The WNBA is going to have several television and streaming partners for the 2023 season. Games will be on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ABC, CBS, CBS Sports Network, Paramount+, ION, NBA TV, Amazon Prime, Twitter and something called Meta Quest.
Is it good to have your games spread across 12 different channels and streaming options? We’ll see!
The 2023 WNBA regular season tips off on Friday, May 19. Here’s where you can watch MVP favorites A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, Mercury center Brittney Griner, and Rookie of the Year favorite Aliyah Boston this season…
All game times listed are eastern.
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ESPN, ABC
The WNBA has nine games on ABC this season and several other national broadcasts across ESPN platforms, with five games on ESPN2 and nine on ESPN, the mothership.
Coverage on ABC begins Saturday, May 20, with an afternoon double-header.
Here’s the schedule of games on ABC:
- May 20 – Atlanta Dream at Dallas Wings, 1 p.m.
- May 20 – Las Vegas Aces at Seattle Storm, 3 p.m.
- June 11 – Dallas Wings at New York Liberty, 1 p.m.
- June 11 – Washington Mystics at Seattle Storm, 3 p.m.
- June 25 – Washington Mystics at New York Liberty, 1 p.m.
- June 25 – Dallas Wings at Los Angeles Sparks, 3 p.m.
- July 1 – Connecticut Sun at Las Vegas Aces, 3 p.m.
- July 2 – Washington Mystics at Dallas Wings, 3 p.m.
- Aug. 6 – Las Vegas Aces at New York Liberty, 3 p.m.
CBS
This is the fifth year that WNBA games will be on CBS Sports Network, but this season’s slate also features some games on CBS – a channel most folks can pick up with an antenna, the same CBS that’s the home of the NFL and marquee college football games.
There will be four games on CBS, none of which – surprisingly – feature reigning champs Las Vegas. Then there will be 36 other games on CBS Sports Network. All 40 games will be available for streaming on Paramount+ too.
Here’s the four-game CBS slate:
- May 27 – Connecticut Sun at New York Liberty, 1 p.m.
- June 17 – Seattle Storm at Dallas Wings, 2 p.m.
- June 18 – Phoenix Mercury at New York Liberty, Noon
- July 23 – Phoenix Mercury at Washington Mystics, 1 p.m.
Amazon Prime Video
Prime Video enters its third season of WNBA coverage. It will stream 21 games, including the Commissioner’s Cup Championship Game on August 15.
The streaming service will also host a June 8 rematch of last season’s Finals, when the Las Vegas Aces visit the Connecticut Sun. Prime Video also gets two matchups of this season’s super teams, when the Liberty play at the Aces on June 29 and August 17.
The WNBA is thinking reach with its big-time teams. Smart approach.
Liberty: 38 (of 40) games will be on national: ESPN Platforms (9), ION (8), CBS (2), CBSSN (4), NBA TV (6), Prime (5), and Meta (4).
Aces: 32 games: CBS Nets (10), ESPN (7), Prime (6), NBA TV (5) and ION (4).
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) May 11, 2023
Yeah, the WNBA is still trying this.
Fans will be able to watch 12 games this season on Twitter. These games will also be available on something called Meta Horizon Worlds. You can find these games on Twitter using the “#WNBATwitterLive” hashtag.
Here they are:
- May 21 – Indiana Fever at New York Liberty, 2 p.m.
- May 23 – Atlanta Dream at Minnesota Lynx, 8 p.m.
- May 30 – Chicago Sky at Atlanta Dream, 7 p.m.
- June 13 – Washington Mystics at Indiana Fever, 7 p.m.
- June 18 – Chicago Sky at Washington Mystics, 3 p.m.
- June 24 – Phoenix Mercury at Seattle Storm, 9 p.m.
- July 5 – Phoenix Mercury at New York Liberty, 7 p.m.
- July 12 – Dallas Wings at Minnesota Lynx, 1 p.m.
- July 22 – Los Angeles Sparks at Dallas Wings, 8 p.m.
- Aug. 22 – Dallas Wings at Minnesota Lynx, 8 p.m.
- Aug. 24 – Seattle Storm at Indiana Fever, 7 p.m.
- Sept. 5 – Los Angeles Sparks at Connecticut Sun, 7 p.m.
Oh Canada 😮 @jordin_canada
💻 #WNBATwitterLive pic.twitter.com/chBtA69NKZ
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 3, 2021
NBA TV
NBA TV has been showing WNBA games for 21 straight seasons now. It will carry live broadcasts of 43 games this year, including an opening night matchup between the Mystics and Liberty at 7 p.m..
And on May 28, NBA TV will be the home of the Atlanta Dream versus the Indiana Fever, where last season’s Rookie of the Year Rhyne Howard will face this season’s favorite to win the award, Aliyah Boston.
ION
ION is somewhat new to carrying live sports coverage. You might know it as the channel that carries reruns of NCIS, Law & Order and Blue Bloods.
Well, now it is also home to WNBA games.
ION has dabbled in sports in the past, showing UFC fights, WWE matches and some Conference USA football games, but for a lot of folks, when this deal was announced it gave off vibes of the NWSL putting games on Lifetime.
This is the first live sports offering ION will have since it was purchased by E.W. Scripps in 2020 for $2.65 billion. As part of its deal, ION is going to own Friday nights in the WNBA this season, putting games in two windows for 15 weeks.
ION will carry 44 games this season, including 12 contests featuring the Washington Mystics. So, if you’re a fan of Elena Delle Donne, you’ll need to find this channel. The Liberty will also play eight times on ION.
Clear your 𝙁𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 plans, we're watching basketball! 🏀
Are you ready to watch the @WNBA on ION starting May 26th? pic.twitter.com/HEOADi2S5i— iontv (@iontv) May 9, 2023
Meta Quest
So, Meta Quest is – apparently – a virtual reality headset created by the folks in charge of Facebook. And you’ll be able to watch 20 WNBA games through this headset, if you want to, I guess.
And if you’re a fan of the Minnesota Lynx, well, hopefully you have one of these; eight Lynx games will be on Meta Quest platforms this season.
It is assumed that these games will also be streamed on Facebook and/or available on League Pass, but the WNBA’s news release about the schedule doesn’t mention it.
#WNBA and Meta announce multi-year partnership extension: streaming of 20 live games per season on Meta Quest platforms beginning with the upcoming 2023 season. Games will be available on Meta Quest VR headsets in Meta Horizon Worlds and the XTADIUM app. pic.twitter.com/mLVIExZ0Yr
— Hoopfeed.com 🏀 (@hoopfeed) May 11, 2023
