WNBA preseason nears | NWSL ups salary cap | NCAA backs flag football

Get that money up.

WNBA drops preseason lineup

The WNBA has been teasing upcoming preseason games in recent weeks, as teams across the league prep for the 2025 regular season’s full rollout.

• Most teams will supplement their training camps by playing fellow WNBA clubs, though a few special trips have been thrown into the mix.

Hitting the road: Both Indiana and Chicago will tap into markets tied their biggest stars, with Iowa alum Caitlin Clark’s alma mater hosting a May 4th matchup between the Fever and the Brazil national team.

• The Sky will also take on Brazil — this time on May 2nd at LSU grad Angel Reese’s former Baton Rouge stomping grounds, as Chicago’s Brazilian star Kamilla Cardoso squares off against her own national team.

• This recent wave of university-hosted exhibitions comes after the Las Vegas Aces staged a successful preseason clash with Puerto Rico inside South Carolina alum A’ja Wilson’s college arena last May.

Big picture: WNBA training camps start on April 27th, with the regular season set to tip off less than three weeks later on May 16th.

• West Coast fans could get a glimpse of incoming expansion side Golden State Valkyries soon, with the team announcing its early preseason schedule yesterday.

Bottom line: While the NCAA and Unrivaled continue to dominate the women’s basketball spotlight, the WNBA’s 29th season is fast approaching — and teams appear eager to flex their refreshed rosters well ahead of opening day.

NWSL ups the salary cap

The NWSL dropped its updated 2025 Competition Manual on Tuesday, with the most significant changes impacting the upcoming season’s finances.

• Each 22- to 26-player team’s salary cap has been raised 20% from $2.75 million to $3.3 million, with additional benefits tied to the league’s new revenue sharing system bringing the maximum total to $3.5 million.

• With the newly negotiated CBA eliminating the waiver wire and trade windows as well as allowing all out-of-contract players to negotiate as free agents, teams can further supplement their salary cap with any remaining allocation money.

Big picture: Per that same CBA, league-wide caps will continue to grow year-over-year to at least $5.1 million by 2030, with minimum base salaries rising from $48,500 in 2025 to $82,500 over that same timeframe.

• If a team issues individual player bonuses during the season, those will count towards the following season’s cap, regardless of whether or not the team retains that player.

• Teams are also free to sign players to short-term roster relief or salary cap exempt contracts, with those deals extending no farther than the end of the calendar year.

Bottom line: In a global economy where record transfer fees and other benefits are luring top contenders away from the NWSL, salary caps will continue to constrain certain elements of the way US clubs do business — but the positive long-term changes ushered in by the NWSL CBA are sure to make their mark far beyond this offseason.

NCAA backs flag football

Last week, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics recommended that DI-III schools should sponsor legislation adding flag football to the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program.

• Should flag football make the cut, a minimum of 40 schools will have to agree to offer the sport at the varsity level.

• Participating schools will then have to meet the regulatory requirements for championship eligibility in order to make flag football an official NCAA sport.

Big picture: With flag football featuring at the 2028 LA Olympics, the NCAA has seen increased interest in upping the sport’s competitive status — particularly from women’s sports athletes.

• At least 65 NCAA schools offer women's flag football at either the club or varsity level this year, with more slated to join in 2026, per the NCAA.

• The NFL has also gotten involved, advocating for flag football to become a girl’s varsity sport in all 50 states via a 2025 Super Bowl commercial, with just 17 states currently offering varsity flag football.

Making strides: If the legislation were to advance, flag football would join the likes of rugby, triathlon, acrobatics and tumbling, and equestrian sports in the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program.

• The NAIA — the governing body overseeing athletics at 200+ mostly private schools — officially launched women's flag football in 2020.

Bottom line: Enthusiasm for both youth and adult flag football is on the rise across the US, with this latest news indicating that the sport will likely join the college fold sooner rather than later.

Sun reject Mabrey trade

The Sun has denied guard Marina Mabrey’s February 5th trade request, team president Jennifer Rizzotti told Sportico on Tuesday.

• Mabrey started the 2024 season with Chicago — a team she joined in February 2023 as a restricted free agent from Dallas — before landing in Connecticut last August after filing a midseason trade request.

• “We knew at the time that she had already forced her way out of two teams, so it was a bit risky for us to trade for her,” Rizzotti said, reflecting on the Sun’s decision to roster Mabrey despite her trade-request track record. “But we felt like it was worth it.”

Big picture: After falling to the Lynx in the 2024 WNBA semifinals, much of the Sun’s starting lineup has since either been traded away or lost to free agency, including stars Alyssa Thomas, DeWanna Bonner, DiJonai Carrington, and Brionna Jones.

• "No free agents returned and they are doing all they can to try and force Marina to stay when she clearly doesn't want to be there. It's interesting,” Mabrey’s agent told ESPN this week.

PWHL fines fighting players

PWHL Player Safety issued fines to two star players on Tuesday, after reviewing a pair of penalties during Saturday’s matchup between the Montréal Victoire and the New York Sirens.

• Victoire forward Marie-Philip Poulin was fined $500 for roughing in the second period, with the committee finding that she “exhibited no attempt at playing the puck as she hit her opponent in retaliatory fashion.”

• Victoire forward Dara Greig was fined $250 for boarding in the second period, after it was determined her check came “from behind and caused her opponent to impact the boards dangerously.”

• While this week’s ruling marked Greig’s first-ever PWHL fine, Victoire captain Poulin is coming off her first — a $250 fine also incurred against the Sirens on February 2nd.

Big picture: Operating by a new set of rules governing both gameplay and disciplinary action, the second-year women’s pro league is still navigating how and when to handle penalties in a sport where body checking and other forms of physicality are part of the game — so long as they’re deployed strategically.

Quote of the day

USWNT & Arsenal defender Emily Fox
on scoring a banger of a goal last Sunday against Arsenal’s crosstown rivals Tottenham Hotspur.