OL Reign tied Racing Louisville FC 2-2 on Sunday in a game that featured yet another questionable officiating call.

OL Reign’s Tziarra King notched her first professional brace to put her team up 2-1 before the half. In the second, an own goal was credited to forward Bethany Balcer on a corner kick.

All tied up at Lumen Field 💪#RGNvLOU | #AllTheAction pic.twitter.com/wzTn5uaqUV

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) May 8, 2022

Per NWSL rules the ball must cross the line fully in order to be considered a goal. Following the game, Balcer says she asked the sideline referee about the play.

“I calmly went up to the sideline ref and asked him how he thought the ball crossed the line when I was blocking him from it,” she wrote on Twitter. “He said, ‘I’m very tall,’ to which I said it was still wrong. His response: ‘Yes I might’ve been wrong, but it’s just a goal.’”

after the game i calmly went up to the sideline ref and asked him how he thought the ball crossed the line when i was blocking him from it. he said “i’m very tall” to which i said it was still wrong. his response “yes i might’ve been wrong, but it’s just a goal” JUST A GOAL🥸

— Bethany Balcer (@bethanybalcer) May 9, 2022

After the game, captain Lu Barnes called on the NWSL to implement VAR in order to help correct calls, though she said she was “probably going to get fined for this.”

OL Reign coach Laura Harvey remained mum on the subject.

“I can’t talk about it anymore because I’ll get fined,” said Harvey. “I’m just beyond it.”

It isn’t the first time that a call has not gone OL Reign’s way in the last week. In the team’s Challenge Cup semifinal match, a no-call on an apparent Washington Spirit handball helped send the game to penalties, and the Spirit came out on top. At the time, Harvey called the no-call “embarrassing.”

“I just cannot get over that you can say someone’s arm is next to their body when they’re literally doing the f—ing robot man,” she said. “You’re joking me.”

The Reign, still looking for their first win, next play the Portland Thorns on Friday, while Louisville will take on the Houston Dash on Saturday.

Insurance giant Aflac is renewing their 2024 partnership with the WNBPA, raising the stakes at the 2025 WNBA All-Star Weekend by boosting prize payouts for individual competitions.

When WNBA standouts will take the Indianapolis court for the July 18th competitions, $60,000 will be on the line for this year's 3-Point Contest winner and $55,000 for the 2025 Skills Challenge champion.

Those figures reflect Aflac's overall purse increase from $110,000 to $115,000 — a move that aligns the two events' payouts with their NBA All-Star equivalents.

"Aflac's investment in us isn't a one-off. It's year two," said WNBPA president and nine-time All-Star Nneka Ogwumike. "We're excited about what's ahead as we grow this together. It's not just about the rewards; it's about building a future where our value is undeniable."

Gray, Clark are early favorites for All-Star contest payday

While the increase achieves gender pay equity with their NBA counterparts, Aflac's initial 2024 WNBA All-Star investment already dwarfed the mere $2,575 allocated to each contest's victor in the league's current CBA.

Cashing in on that significant pay increase was Atlanta Dream forward Allisha Gray, who cleaned up at the 2024 All-Star Game by winning both solo events.

As the first-ever player to dominate both contests in a single night, Gray collected roughly 62% of her annual $185,000 WNBA salary with the dual wins.

This year, however, the champ will have some new competition to her title defense, as 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year and notable sharpshooter Caitlin Clark plans to make her WNBA All-Star 3-Point Contest debut this summer.

How to attend the 2025 WNBA All-Star Weekend

Hosted at the Indiana Fever's home of Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game will tip off on July 19th, one day after both the 3-Point Contest and Skills Challenge.

Tickets for all three events will go on sale online at 2 PM ET on April 29th.

On the heels of Unrivaled 3x3 Basketball's successful debut season, TIME honored league founders Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart as two of the year’s most influential people, with the WNBA superstars earning space on Wednesday's 2025 TIME100 List.

"Unrivaled makes female athletes think about everything differently," retired US soccer legend and Unrivaled investor Alex Morgan wrote in the pair's tribute. "It's not always just take the salary and sign on the dotted line and be happy. Sometimes you can just do it yourself better."

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Other big names in women's sports also made the cut, including the most decorated gymnast in history, Simone Biles, and retired tennis superstar Serena Williams.

"She is both deeply human and undeniably superhuman — a combination that makes her impact profound," Biles's former USA teammate Aly Raisman wrote of the seven-time Olympic gold medalist. "She inspires us to believe that we, too, can persevere. That we, too, can shatter limits."

Citing Williams's extensive post-tennis resume, which includes significant investments into women's sports, retired US Olympic track star Allyson Felix sang the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion's praises in the 2025 TIME100 List.

"She continues to show that we, as athletes, are so far from one-dimensional," Felix wrote. "She could take a break from being in the public eye and raise her family. Instead, she continues to pave the way."

WNBA star Caitlin Clark and the Fever will hit the airwaves sooner than expected this year, with multiple sources reporting that ESPN will televise a preseason game between Indiana and the Brazil national team on May 4th.

The broadcast boost will reportedly make the Fever vs. Brazil matchup the WNBA's first-ever nationally televised exhibition game, a move that comes after a 2024 preseason battle between the Minnesota Lynx and Chicago Sky earned more than two million streams — from a fan's cellphone.

WNBA teams follow in the Indiana Fever's preseason footsteps

The May matchup will mark the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year's return to Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena, with the Fever set to play in front of a sold-out crowd at Clark's alma mater.

Indiana isn't the only team taking a trip down memory lane this preseason, with several teams bringing exhibition games to university arenas before the 2025 WNBA season tips off on May 16th.

Two days before facing the Fever, Brazil will clash with the Sky at Chicago star Angel Reese's collegiate home of LSU — an arena also familiar to new Sky recruit Hailey Van Lith.

Also on May 2nd, Notre Dame will host legendary alums Arike Ogunbowale, Jewell Loyd, and Jackie Young when the Las Vegas Aces play the Dallas Wings at South Bend's Purcell Pavilion.

Monday’s 2025 WNBA Draft scored the second-highest viewership in the event's history, with an average of 1.25 million viewers tuning into ESPN to witness the league’s newest young stars turn pro.

The broadcast peaked at 1.46 million viewers, becoming just the second-ever WNBA Draft to surpass the million-fan mark.

That rise represents a 119% increase over the 2023 edition, with Monday's live event weighing in as the night’s most popular programming among key demographics across both broadcast and cable TV.

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NCAA superstars fuel enthusiasm for WNBA Draft

Interest in the WNBA Draft hit a steep peak in 2024, as an average of 2.45 million viewers watched Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark start her WNBA journey with the Indiana Fever.

This year’s iteration also offered a wealth of star power, featuring No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers as well as other 2025 Final Four standouts.

"We're just continuing to try to grow the game, expand the game, bring the viewership from the college game to the WNBA," Bueckers told reporters gathered at The Shed in Manhattan.

"I think the new wave and generation of basketball players are bringing so much to the game, but obviously off the foundation that the players before us have built," she added.

With more NCAA basketball fans following their favorites to the pros, it's now up to the WNBA to sustain that interest through the regular season — and beyond.