One change the WNBA should make to shed minor league feel

Since the arrival of Caitlin Clark, the WNBA has experienced a meteoric rise in popularity. 

The league's viewership saw a 24-year high during Clark's rookie season in 2024, and you don't have to be an expert to realize that the league is more popular than ever. Women's basketball is more popular than ever.

WNBA players are poised to take advantage of this in their collective bargaining agreement. 90 percent of the players voted to opt out of the current CBA, as they are seeking better pay and benefits from the league.

Players should start seeing more money. Call it the Caitlin Clark effect. It's not that different from what Tiger Woods did for the PGA Tour.

But if the WNBA really wants to take off, it needs to stop treating itself like a minor league, meaning it needs to play basketball during basketball season.

The idea behind the summer schedule isn't a bad one. It makes sense to avoid competing against the NBA and other winter sports. At least it did.

On another level, it's a bad idea, sort of like spring football. It makes it feel like a minor league, and while the UFL is, the WNBA is anything but.

The league has stars beyond Caitlin Clark. It has a great product, and in the case of women's college basketball, playing at the same time as men hasn't hurt.

It wouldn't hurt the WNBA either. Instead of millions watching Clark play in a preseason game against Brazil, they should see her battling in the WNBA playoffs.

Maybe going head-to-head with the NBA playoffs isn't the best idea. But it's not the worst either, and is certainly better than competing against college football, the NFL, and Major League Baseball in October, when the WNBA playoffs finish. 

Imagine if the WNBA started in December, right around Christmas Day. 

If the regular season lasts approximately four months (currently from May to September), it could end in April, meaning the WNBA playoffs could run alongside the NBA.

Having both genders playing in March hasn't been an issue for the NCAA tournament. The women's tournament has gotten plenty of viewers, even without Clark.

The same could happen for the WNBA. It could also mean the best women's basketball players in the world getting to play in one league, year-round, during basketball season.

What a revolutionary idea.