The WNBA is looking abroad, with Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announcing the league’s interest in staging international WNBA games as women’s basketball booms worldwide.
“We’re heavily looking at that,” Engelbert said of moving either preseason or regular-season matchups overseas. “Next year we expect that we’ll do something outside of North America as a true global game.”
The WNBA has set preseason games outside the US, but hasn’t leaned into the practice as aggressively as other leagues like the NFL and NBA.
Detroit and San Antonio met for a 2004 preseason matchup in Monterrey, Mexico, before Atlanta took on Team GB in Manchester, England in 2011. Later, Minnesota and Chicago first tested the Canadian waters with a 2023 preseason game.
In 2025, Atlanta Dream and Seattle Storm played the WNBA's first regular-season international game in Vancouver, setting the stage for 2026 expansion team Toronto’s debut.
"It was an incredible crowd tonight," then-Seattle guard Skylar Diggins said after the Storm's 80-78 victory up North.
"First time in Vancouver, they showed a lot of love. We just love coming out here, playing in front of this electric [crowd]. I know it was a Dream home game, but it felt like a Storm home game. We really leaned on them tonight to help us lock in that victory."
