The WPLL is the first and only women’s professional lacrosse league. Michele DeJuliis is the CEO and founder of the league. On April 14th, the league announced that it was cancelling its 2020 season due to the coronavirus. The season was originally intended to begin on June 13th. Below, DeJuliis discusses what went into that decision and why she remains optimistic regarding the league’s future.

For an earlier interview with DeJuliis on both her own professional background and the challenges of starting a professional sports league, click here.

Obviously there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the pandemic. But what ultimately went into your decision to cancel the 2020 WPLL season?

Leading up to our decision to cancel the 2020 WPLL season, we were doing everything we could to see how everything with the virus was playing out. We didn’t want to make the call too early. But as you can imagine, the changes in the announcements that were coming from the government and local agencies each day looked grimmer and grimmer. First and foremost, we had to think of the safety of our players, fans, officials, and staff. On top of that, we were planning to play games at venues and universities that are out of commission for the summer because of the pandemic. And then there were our sponsors, who are going through furloughs and layoffs themselves. They’re hesitant to spend money given all the uncertainty surrounding our season and the economy.

A lot of professional leagues are considering playing without fans in the near future. Was that option? 

We thought about it, but a big part of the excitement is playing in front of fans and having our players interact with fans. If we can’t do that, that’s not great. So we just felt like for the safety of everyone involved, it was the best decision to cancel. And now this means we can push our efforts full throttle into 2021.

You mentioned sponsors. Are they in support of your decision to cancel and will they continue to support the WPLL come 2021? 

All of our sponsors were in full support. We have a couple of really big champion sponsors that we’re excited to announce over the next couple of weeks that are standing by us and we know that they will thrust us into a great 2021 season.

Following the announcement of 2020 season cancelation, the WPLL announced the creation of the WPLL+, a virtual online training platform. Can you talk a little bit about this? 

We wanted to give players the opportunities to stay connected to their fans, to coach/mentor younger players and to make money. The WPLL+ is just that. Via these online training sessions, our athletes are able to connect with fans and younger athletes, which is even more important and valuable during these difficult times. We know that sharing an hour with a mentor can mean the world to these young athletes who have been stripped of their spring opportunities.

We’ve been consulting with youth and club colleagues in the industry and there’s a lot of excitement around what we have planned. Our athletes love giving back to the next generation of talent and WPLL+ was designed as a means for our athletes to engage with our fans. We are also taking registrations for group programming with one-on-one and coach-to-coach programming. Despite the cancelation of our 2020 season, there are a lot of exciting things to come for our league.

How much of an impact do you think the cancelation of the 2020 season has on the future of lacrosse at the professional level?

The lacrosse community is so tight, everybody knows everybody, and people are supportive and people want to see the women’s game grow. They want to see women’s pro lacrosse stay. We have gotten a lot of feedback from fans and supporters saying that they understand the decision we made is the right decision and that they believe we will be back stronger. These are things that just motivate all of us to be better and give us an opportunity to really get our ducks in a row for a killer ‘21 season.

The Women's Super League (WSL) is growing, with the UK league's top two flights deciding in a Monday expansion vote to enlarge its top tier from 12 to 14 teams ahead of the 2026/27 season.

The number of matches played each season will also balloon from 22 to 26 games to accommodate the incoming clubs, as will established cup competitions.

Monday also saw the WSL vote down a prior proposal to temporarily suspend the relegation and promotion process to accommodate this expansion, deciding instead to adopt a "two up, one down" model for the second-tier WSL2 next season.

As such, the top two finishers of the 2025/26 WSL2 season will automatically join the higher-tier WSL, while the WSL's last-place team will battle the WSL2's third-place club in "a high-profile, high stakes match" for the final spot in the top flight.

After reaching 14 teams, both leagues will return to relegating the last-place WSL finisher while promoting the WSL2's top team for the following season.

Along with the increased investment in club infrastructure, a 14-team WSL keeps pace with the global women's game — most notably, the NWSL, which will become a 16-team league in 2026.

"Our priority was to find a route that would benefit the whole women's game pyramid, and we believe this next evolution of women's professional football will raise minimum standards, create distinction, and incentivize investment across the board," said WSL Football CEO Nikki Doucet.

With EuroBasket set to tip off on Wednesday and injuries mounting league-wide, WNBA teams are filling out dwindling rosters with more short-term contracts — and calling back some familiar faces along the way.

While some European standouts withdrew from EuroBasket consideration — including Phoenix's Satou Sabally and Seattle's Gabby Williams — others, like New York's Leonie Fiebich and Golden State's Temi Fagbenle, will join their national teams for the regional FIBA tournament through the end of June.

Due to these planned absences, WNBA teams temporarily suspend their EuroBasket players' contracts, allowing squads to add others to their rosters.

Players signed due to temporary absences are technically on rest-of-season deals, though the agreements can end whenever the missing athletes return.

In contrast, the league requires that teams release any hardship signings due to injury once squads tally enough healthy original players to satisfy the WNBA's 10-athlete roster minimum.

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Featuring a lineup stacked with international talent, Golden State made the most transactions this week, temporarily suspending four regular contracts as 2025 EuroBasket stars departed for the annual competition.

To bolster their depleted bench, the Valkyries brought back 2025 WNBA Draft Cinderella pick Kaitlyn Chen and recent training camp participant Laeticia Amihere on short-term contracts, in addition to guard Aerial Powers and forward Chloe Bibby.

Elsewhere, after losing forward Maddy Siegrist to injury and temporarily suspending the contracts of centers Teaira McCowan and Luisa Geiselsöder, Dallas acquired center Li Yueru from Seattle — with the Wings possibly needing additional hardship signings in the coming days.

The Storm snagged two future draft picks in the Saturday deal — a second-round selection in 2026 and a third-round pick in 2027.

Ultimately, teams are striving to find a balance between stocking up and maintaining consistency, all while operating under the WNBA's roster constraints — with further league expansion fast approaching.

The 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup will wrap up its conference play on Tuesday, as both Eastern and Western teams battle for a ticket to the in-season competition's championship game — and a cut of the $500,000 prize pool.

With 12 of the league's 13 teams facing off across Tuesday's WNBA courts, the results will set the stage by minting the two squads who will battle in the July 1st final showdown.

Reigning Commissioner's Cup champs Minnesota have the West's easiest path, as a win over the Las Vegas Aces will send the Lynx to a second straight final.

Should the Lynx fall to the Aces, however, Seattle can grab the Western Conference berth by beating the Los Angeles Sparks.

Meanwhile in the East, a surging Atlanta could land a trip to the final by topping New York, while the Liberty need both a win over the Dream plus a loss by the Indiana Fever to clinch their own return ticket to the Cup's grand finale.

If New York does take down Atlanta, the Fever could advance to the team's first-ever Commissioner's Cup final by beating the struggling Connecticut Sun.

How to watch Tuesday's 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup games

All of Tuesday's six WNBA games count toward the 2025 Commissioner's Cup tally.

The action begins with the Atlanta Dream tipping off against the New York Liberty while the Indiana Fever battles the Connecticut Sun at 7 PM ET, live on WNBA League Pass.

Chicago Sky star Angel Reese made headlines this week, with the second-year WNBA forward announcing that she has trademarked word "mebounds" — a slang term opposing fans use to describe Reese rebounding her own missed shots.

"Whoever came up with the 'mebounds' thing, y’all ate that up, because mebounds, rebounds, keybounds...anything that comes off that board, it's mine," Reese said in a TikTok video on Saturday.

"And a brand? That's six figures right there," she continued, referencing her trademark application. "The trolling — I love when y'all do it because the ideas be good!"

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Currently averaging 11.9 boards per matchup, Reese is leading the WNBA in rebounds for the second straight season.

Her rookie campaign saw Reese average 13.1 boards per game, a rate that set a single-season league record. She also blasted through the WNBA's consecutive double-double record last season, claiming it with 10 straight before extending it to an impressive 15 games.

Along with the average rebounds record, Reese also broke the single-season total rebounds record previously held by retired Minnesota Lynx legend Sylvia Fowles — a mark that was later surpassed by 2024 MVP A'ja Wilson following Reese's season-ending wrist injury.

"Statistically, all the rebounds that I get aren't always just mine," Reese added in her Saturday social media post. "They're the defense's, too, or somebody else on my team."