Project B Tokyo Stop Could Conflict With Proposed WNBA Start Date

The women’s basketball league calling itself “Project B” has announced its first tour dates, and they could overlap with the WNBA calendar.

The startup league, which plans for its inaugural season to begin in November and extend through April, said this week that its Tokyo tournament stop will start March 26, 2027 and end April 4. The 5-on-5 league is planning a global series of tournaments in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. 

It’s likely that the Tokyo stop will be one of the league’s last before players return to the WNBA. (Several top-tier WNBA stars have deals to play in the league.) However, the WNBA’s proposed changes to the league’s competition window could be an issue. 

The league and WNBPA are currently in a stalemate in discussions for a new collective bargaining agreement. The union is still waiting for a response to a proposal they submitted close to Christmas, according to sources familiar with negotiations. 

In that proposal, players are seeking a salary cap of $10.5 million and a roughly 30% share of the league’s gross revenue. This proposal was in response to the league’s which included a $5 million salary cap and a share of net revenue. 

Among the league’s other proposed items was an expanded schedule. 

According to a source familiar with negotiations, the WNBA is proposing an increase from 44 games to between 50–54 games in the new CBA. The league’s proposed start date for training camp is as early as mid-March with the Finals ending in November. A number of league sources expressed confusion over a potential mid-March start date, questioning how training camp could overlap with the NCAA schedule and what the expectation would be for rookies. 

Training camp started April 27 last season, two weeks after the WNBA draft. Under the current CBA, the league has the ability to start training camp as early as April 1. The league has never implemented that early date for a number of reasons, including that the Final Four is played on the first weekend in April. 

The WNBA did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.