By Cassandra Cousineau of LVSportsBiz.com
After a long seven-month offseason, the Las Vegas Aces will be featured on national broadcasts 25 times in 2021.
The WNBA’s 2020 runners up will have their games cast across seven different broadcast partners, according to the newly-released season TV schedule. The Aces’ first national TV appearance is slated for May 15, with a 12PM PT tip on ABC in a rematch at the defending champion Seattle Storm.
The Storm will make a total of eight national appearances on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, which ties for the most in the league. The Chicago Sky are scheduled for eight total appearances on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, followed by the Aces with seven, and the Washington Mystics and Phoenix Mercury at six a piece.
Google is the new presenting sponsor for national telecasts. Its efforts are aimed to help champion women’s sports. The technology giant is the latest business to join the league as a “WNBA Changemaker,” a program started by Commissioner Cathy Engelbert last year.
Led by reigning WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas will participate in an exhibition May 8, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The game will be open to the media but not fans.
Having relocated from San Antonio to Las Vegas four years ago, the Aces have remained one of the top draws in the league. MGM Resorts International purchased the San Antonio franchise and re-branded it into the Aces in 2018 before selling the team to Raiders owner Mark Davis in January.
“We have a target on our back. I’m excited for it and so ready to play,” said Wilson who in January was honored by her alma mater, the University of South Carolina, with an 11-foot-tall bronze statue. “This year, the expectations are there, pressure might be there and you gotta start all over again,” Wilson said. “It’s all about the teaching.”
Las Vegas will have to apply lessons learned from being swept by the Storm in a complicated season. The WNBA moved into a bubble at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., to play out an abbreviated 22-game stint amid the novel coronavirus global pandemic.
In addition to the odd structure of the season, the restricted movement within the campus wore on the athletes mentally and emotionally. “There was no outlet for me; nothing at all,” Wilson said during media day.
“I couldn’t do anything, and that’s tough. Basketball is my job, my work, but at the same time, I would love to have an outlet. Whether that’s just going to the grocery store, or going shopping, and having my puppies with me. So, it was very tough and tested my mental toughness a lot, and I can appreciate it. I feel like I was reborn, or rebirthed out of the bubble. I feel like I’m just a whole new person now.”
Many WNBA players, especially Wilson, were also at the forefront of the national conversation about racism. Players wore shirts which read “Say Her Name” while openly calling for the arrest of police officers involved in the death of Breonna Taylor, an unarmed 26-year-old black woman while she slept in her bed.
The 24-year-old shared a more vulnerable, less measured story in March through the Player’s Tribune titled ‘Dear Black Women. “Trying to get that title, trying to prove the doubters wrong about our team’s potential … it was just all-consuming. It was like being sealed off in an alternate reality. And what made it so surreal was that there was so much trauma and emotion and energy going on in the outside world over the summer, while we were inside this literal bubble of sunshine and hotel rooms and basketball.”
As she told media, basketball is her job, and she’s considered one of the best in the world at it. Wilson will take to the floor with center Liz Cambage and Kelsey Plum, who didn’t play last season along with a retooled roster featuring Chelsea Gray, an All-Star guard acquired from the Los Angeles Sparks.
The team will also have new uniforms when it hits the court. Nike and the WNBA unveiled teams in the league’s new jerseys. “The Las Vegas Aces’ uniforms bring together the best of what Las Vegas has to offer, from the luxury and thrill of the strip to the classic and fresh nuances that makes Vegas a desert oasis,” says Tania Flynn, VP, Women’s Apparel Design at NIKE, Inc.
The WNBA regular season is scheduled to conclude Sunday, Sept. 19, and to be followed by a traditional playoffs and Finals format. As this is an Olympic year, there will be a break from July 15 until Aug. 11, when the USA Basketball Women’s National Team will be competing for its seventh consecutive Olympic gold medal.
“It is an honor to be one of the 144 women that’s playing in this league this year. It’s crazy to think the WNBA is only 25 years old.” Coincidentally, Wilson will celebrate her 25th birthday this summer as well.