Inaugural Home Season Opener at Barclays Center Slated for May 17 Against the Los Angeles Sparks
BROOKLYN – January 16, 2020 – The WNBA released the 2020 schedule for each of the league’s 12 teams, and New York will begin its 24thcampaign in franchise history on the road against the Connecticut Sun on Saturday, May 16 at 7 p.m. ET. The Liberty’s home opener and inaugural season at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center will tip off on Sunday, May 17 against the Los Angeles Sparks at 5:30 p.m.
The 2020 WNBA season will include 36 games, a two-game increase from 2019.
New York, led by new head coach Walt Hopkins will participate in two nationally televised games in 2020, both of which will be on ESPN2 at Barclays Center. The first is on Tuesday, June 16 against the Phoenix Mercury at 8 p.m. ET. The second nationally televised game will be on Thursday, July 2 against the Connecticut Sun at 8 p.m. ET.
The Liberty’s longest stint away from Brooklyn will come in August when the team embarks on a five-game road trip beginning in Dallas and ending in Los Angeles.
New York’s last game before the Olympic break will be at Barclays Center on Friday, July 10 against the Dallas Wings at 11 a.m. The team’s first game after the Olympic break will also be against the Wings in Dallas on Sunday, August 16 at 3 p.m.
Additional Schedule Notes
- The Liberty will be in Brooklyn for seven of its first 10 games.
- The team’s longest home stand is four games, which comes twice in the season, May 17 through May 26 and June 30 through July 6.
- New York will have three matinee games, June 2 against Indiana at 11 a.m., July 8 at 11:30 a.m., against the defending WNBA champions in Washington, and July 10 against the Dallas Wings at 11 a.m.
- The Liberty close out the regular season on the road at Indiana on September 20.
- The previous WNBA schedule, which grew from 28 to 32 games per team over the WNBA’s first six seasons, has consisted of 34 games per team since 2003.
- The WNBA’s new Commissioner’s Cup will consist of designating 10 regular season games per team as counting towards Cup play. The team from each conference with the top record in designated “Cup games” will then compete for The Commissioner’s Cup title and a special prize pool.
- Cup games will be the first home game and first road game each team plays against its five conference rivals, all completed from May 15 – July 10 before the WNBA takes a monthlong break while many WNBA players participate in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan, including the USA Basketball Women’s National Team, which will be competing for its seventh consecutive gold medal.
- The Commissioner’s Cup Championship Game is tentatively scheduled to be played on Friday, Aug. 14, two days before regular-season play resumes on Sunday, Aug. 16 following the Olympic break.
- Further information on The Commissioner’s Cup will be forthcoming.
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The full Liberty 2020 schedule is listed below.
2020 New York Liberty Schedule
(all times local – p.m. unless noted)
DATE OPPONENT TIME
MAY
Sat. 16 AT Connecticut 7:00
Sun. 17 Los Angeles 5:30
Thu. 21 Connecticut 7:00
Sun. 24 Atlanta 3:00
Tue. 26 Chicago 7:00
Fri. 29 AT Atlanta 7:00
Sun. 31 Minnesota 3:00
JUNE
Tue. 2 Indiana 11:00 a.m.
Fri. 5 AT Minnesota 7:00
Sun. 7 Seattle 3:00
Tue. 9 AT Washington 7:00
Thu. 11 AT Chicago 7:00
Sun. 14 AT Indiana 5:00
Tue. 16 Phoenix 8:00
Fri. 19 AT Connecticut 7:30
Sun. 21 Las Vegas 3:00
Tue. 23 AT Las Vegas 7:00
Sat. 27 AT Seattle 6:00
Sun. 28 AT Los Angeles 6:00
Tue. 30 Phoenix 7:00
JULY
Thu. 2 Connecticut 7:00
Sun. 5 Atlanta 3:00
Mon. 6 Washington 7:00
Wed. 8 AT Washington 11:30 a.m.
Fri. 10 Dallas 11:00 a.m.
AUGUST
Sun. 16 AT Dallas 3:00
Sat. 22 AT Minnesota 7:00
Thu. 27 AT Las Vegas 7:00
Sun. 30 AT Phoenix 3:00
SEPTEMBER
Tue. 1 AT Los Angeles 7:30
Fri. 4 Dallas 7:30
Sun. 6 Seattle 3:00
Fri. 11 AT Atlanta 7:00
Sun. 13 Chicago 1:00
Wed. 16 Washington 7:00
Sun. 20 AT Indiana 5:00