The WNBA announced its first-ever regular-season international game will be played in Vancouver in August 2025.
The Atlanta Dream and Seattle Storm will play in the third WNBA Canada Game on Aug. 15 at Rogers Arena. The 2023 Toronto and 2024 Edmonton games, which both sold out, were held during the preseason. The Storm lost to the Los Angeles Sparks 84–79 in that Edmonton game. The WNBA also played international preseason games in Mexico in 2004 and England in 2011.
Vancouver will hold the record over Toronto, the first Canadian city to win a bid for a WNBA team. The newly minted Toronto Tempo are set to begin play the following season.
“As we prepare to establish permanent roots in Canada with a Toronto franchise, this game and our year-round engagement efforts are a nod to the incredible momentum around women’s basketball in Canada,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement.
One-off international games have become big moneymakers for other professional sports leagues, including the NBA and NFL, so much so that the football giant is considering doubling the number of games and selling a separate $1 billion international media-rights package. Even women’s college basketball has for the past two years begun its season in Paris.
The matchup is scheduled for a Friday night, which during the regular season is typically when all WNBA games air on Ion. The exact broadcast schedule won’t be confirmed until the spring, a league spokesperson says.
