Episode 16 - WNBA Season Preview, A'ja Wilson's Historic Deal, and Emma Hayes' Masterclass

Wed Apr 22 2026 Filed under: WNBA

Cover art for Episode 16 - WNBA Season Preview, A'ja Wilson's Historic Deal, and Emma Hayes' Masterclass

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In This Episode

A’ja Wilson signs a three-year, $5 million supermax with the Las Vegas Aces, the largest contract in women’s basketball history under the league’s new CBA
A full 2026 WNBA season preview ranking the Aces, Liberty, and Wings as scary contenders as the league opens play on five broadcast platforms
The USWNT splits a three-game series with Japan 2-1, with Emma Hayes deliberately playing a young lineup to a loss in game two to develop depth ahead of World Cup qualifying
Emma Hayes gets a full breakdown as the best coach in the modern era, from giving the captain’s armband to 20-year-old Claire Hutton to her relational coaching style
The PWHL hits one million in-person fans 46 games ahead of schedule as the playoff race for fourth place comes down to the wire
Oklahoma wins back-to-back NCAA gymnastics titles and LOVB Austin repeats as champions in a golden-set thriller

It was a big weekend in women’s sports. LOVB Austin went back-to-back in a golden set thriller. Oklahoma gymnastics won their fourth national title in five years. The U.S. Women’s National Team wrapped a three-game series against Japan that told us a lot more than the 2-1 result suggests. And the WNBA is officially around the corner.

We had a lot to get through this week, and the through-line for most of it was the same thing: women’s sports are growing, the investment is real, and the quality on the field and court keeps getting better. The WNBA draft drew 1.5 million average viewers — up 20% year over year — and was the top program on ESPN that night among men ages 25-54. The PWHL hit one million in-person fans faster than projected. And A’ja Wilson just became the highest-paid player in the history of her league.

If you’re still asking whether women’s sports have an audience, the data has answered that question for you.

A’ja Wilson’s Historic Contract and the WNBA’s Big Picture

A’ja Wilson — four-time MVP, three-time champion, and the most dominant player in the league — signed a three-year, $5 million supermax deal to stay with the Las Vegas Aces. It’s the largest contract in women’s professional basketball history, and it comes under a new CBA that finally reflects what the league’s best players are worth.

Wilson’s deal is fully guaranteed at approximately $1.4 million in year one — up from the $200K she made in 2025
The new CBA sets the salary cap at $7 million per team for 2026, up from $1.5M the prior year
The Aces also re-signed Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, and Jewell Loyd — returning their entire core four
The 2026 WNBA Draft averaged 1.5 million viewers, peaked at around 1.9 million, and was the top program on ESPN that night among men 25-54
WNBA Commissioner Kathy Engelbert has indicated the league is looking to stage international games as soon as 2027
The Toronto Tempo enter as an expansion team this season, taking the league to 15 teams in its 30th year

“The bags keep coming for these ladies under the new CBA. The Aces re-signed their core four. They are definitely on my who-to-watch list.”
— Caitlin

The league is also available on five broadcast platforms this season — NBC, USA, Prime, CBS, and ESPN — which makes it nearly impossible to have an excuse not to watch.

2026 WNBA Season Preview: Teams to Watch

With free agency reshuffling almost every roster, no team is returning to exactly what they had last year. Here’s how we’re thinking about the field heading into opening week on May 9th.

Scary Contenders

Las Vegas Aces: Reigning champions. Core four back. Becky Hammon on the sideline. Deep veteran bench. The team to beat.
New York Liberty: Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, and Jonquel Jones are 70-16 when all three play together. They also added Satou Sabally. The question is depth and health — that trio played only 234 minutes over 15 games in 2025 due to injuries.
Dallas Wings: On paper, one of the most talented rosters in the league. Paige Bueckers, Arike Ogunbowale, Alanna Smith, Jessica Shepard, and veteran Alicia Clark in her 13th season. Does the roster translate to the court? We’ll find out fast.

Teams Worth Watching

Minnesota Lynx: Highest ceiling if Napheesa Collier returns healthy. Cheryl Reeve has leaned into international talent in free agency, and this team has the experience to make noise.
LA Sparks: Kelsey Plum, Rickea Jackson, and Cameron Brink coming back from injury — sneaky good on paper.
Washington Mystics: Young, but stacked. Their draft class includes Lauren Betts, Rory Harmon, and Angela Dugalic. Worth keeping an eye on.
Golden State Valkyries: Coach of the Year Natalie Nakase returns. This team quietly competes every night.
Atlanta Dream: Angel Reese joins Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard. Can they click?
Indiana Fever: We haven’t really seen Caitlin Clark healthy and in rhythm for over a year. A lot to look forward to.
Toronto Tempo: Sandy Brondello as head coach, a wave of fan support, and the momentum of a new market. Don’t count them out.

“I just need to see Dallas on the court. They’ve got a lot of talent, a lot of personality — the free agency situation felt like a hot mess. But the roster looks really good.” — Caitlin

We’ll be covering every team all season in our WNBA episode archive.

Key early games to watch: Fever vs. Wings on May 9th (the first game of the season), Minnesota vs. Phoenix on May 12th, Aces vs. Atlanta Dream on May 17th, and Liberty vs. Golden State on May 21st.

USWNT vs. Japan: What the Series Actually Told Us

The U.S. Women’s National Team won the three-game series 2-1, but the scoreline understates how deliberate and meaningful the whole thing was.

Game 1 (San Jose, 2-1 win): Rose Lavelle scored on her 100th cap, with an assist from Trinity Rodman. Lindsey Heaps also scored. Sophia Wilson made her first start since October 2024 after having her daughter Gigi — the 18th mom to play for the national team.
Game 2 (Seattle, 0-1 loss): Emma Hayes started a younger lineup, wearing the captain’s armband on 20-year-old Claire Hutton. The weather was bad, the result went against them — and they drew record attendance for a standalone women’s game in Seattle, over 36,000 fans at Lumen Field.
Game 3 (Commerce City, CO, 3-0 win): The first team returned, and the result was emphatic. The second game was the most interesting one. Hayes knew the younger lineup was at a disadvantage against Japan’s quality and played it anyway — she had veterans on the bench who could have changed the result, and chose not to use them.

“She had players sitting on her bench that she knew she could put into that game earlier and probably pull out a result, at least a draw. And she didn’t do it. We have to appreciate her willingness to sit in the discomfort of that — to allow the process to work.” — Caitlin

The other thing that stood out across all three games was a tactical shift in style of play. This USWNT is being asked to build out of the back — patient possession through the midfield, then use the speed in the final third. That’s a departure from the long-ball, chase-and-win approach that defined U.S. teams for years. The third game showed what it looks like when it clicks.

Emma Hayes: The Best Coach in the Modern Era

We spent a good chunk of this episode just talking about Emma Hayes — and we make no apologies for it.

She’s using games like the second Japan match to deliberately develop depth. The signal isn’t just about results now; it’s about building for the 2027 World Cup and beyond.
Giving the captain’s armband to 20-year-old Claire Hutton in a competitive international fixture is a deliberate investment in the next generation of leadership.
Her relational approach — TikTok videos with players, manicure invites, engaging with Sophia Wilson’s daughter — isn’t just “being nice.” It’s building the trust that makes players willing to be coached hard.
Players consistently describe feeling fortunate to play under her at this moment in the program’s history.

“The other thing that’s genius about this is Emma’s signaling: I don’t care about this game right now. I care about winning a World Cup in a year. I also care about winning a World Cup in five years.” — Caitlin

“It’s a masterclass in coaching this year so far. She took that loss, but now she knows what she has — she has such a wide view of what she has and where to plug people in.” — Alex

The 2027 Women’s World Cup will be hosted by Brazil. Eight of 32 spots are already filled (Brazil as host, plus the full Asian federation qualification). The U.S. still needs to qualify through CONCACAF, with that window opening in late November/early December. Four direct slots plus two playoff slots are available through the federation. We’re following the whole qualifying road in our USWNT coverage.

PWHL Playoff Picture and the Race for Fourth

The PWHL regular season wraps this week with three spots locked in and one still being contested.

Locked in: Montreal Victoire (No. 1 seed), Boston Fleet (No. 2), Minnesota Frost (No. 3)
Still fighting: Ottawa (39 pts), Toronto (37 pts), New York (34 pts) — with two games remaining for each team The math: Ottawa wins out and they’re in. Toronto needs Ottawa to drop games. New York needs Ottawa and Toronto to both lose while winning their remaining two. It could be decided as early as this week — or it might come down to the final day of the regular season.

The bigger story underneath all of this: the PWHL hit one million in-person fans this season — 46 games ahead of their projected timeline. Expansion teams are expected to be announced any day now.

“I kind of love that it goes down to the wire. There’s some parity there — those top three competed all season, trading blows back and forth. And then the next three. That speaks well for the league.” — Caitlin

Full playoff coverage all postseason in our PWHL episode archive.

Quick Hits

Oklahoma gymnastics won back-to-back NCAA national titles, their fourth in five years, over a stacked final four field. Shoutout to Minnesota making it in as a 13-seed.
LOVB Austin defended their championship in a five-set, golden-set thriller over LOVB Salt Lake. Madisen Skinner won Finals MVP for the second straight year. The golden set format — one set to 15 to break a tie series — is wild and we fully endorse it.
NWSL calendar shift: The league is reportedly considering a move from its spring-to-fall schedule to a fall-to-spring European-style framework, aligning better with international windows. The Players Association is pushing back, and there are real infrastructure questions — especially for cold-weather markets in February. More on this in our NWSL episode archive.
England beat Spain in UEFA World Cup qualifying, moving ahead in their pool. Germany and Denmark also won their respective pools over the weekend.
Flau’jae Johnson traded her jersey with Hillary Knight after visiting the Seattle Torrent locker room. She is going to be a franchise-level personality for the Seattle Storm — and possibly bigger than the franchise itself.

What’s Next

The WNBA season opens May 9th. Preseason kicks off this weekend with Fever vs. Liberty on Saturday and Seattle Storm vs. Golden State Valkyrie that evening. There’s no excuse not to watch — it’s on five different channels.

The USWNT has another international window in early June, with CONCACAF World Cup qualifying coming in late November. In the meantime, the NWSL is back — Gotham FC vs. Bay FC is on CBS Saturday at noon, and you’ll get to see Rose Lavelle, Jaedyn Shaw, Emily Sonnett, and a certain 20-year-old captain named Claire Hutton.

The PWHL postseason is about to begin. And Emma Hayes has a plan. She always has a plan.

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Full Transcript ## Intro and Favorite Things

Alex: Hi, I’m Alex.

Caitlin: And this is Raising the Game, a women’s sports podcast covering primetime performers, the business behind the athletes and leagues, and what the growth of women’s sports means for the next generation of women’s athletes.

Alex: We’re back this week. We’ve got quite a bit to handle. We’ve got WNBA preseason starting up.

Caitlin: Yep. Training camp started yesterday as of the time of this recording.

Alex: We have the U.S. Women’s National Team, who just finished their three games against Japan.

Caitlin: Yep. We’re gonna talk all about that.

Alex: And I think we’ve got a few other things in our What to Watch. PWHL is

Caitlin: coming down to the wire here. Playoff spot in the PWHL. Regular season ends on Saturday.

Alex: Saturday.

Caitlin: Yep. And then we had some finals over the weekend.

Alex: Oh yeah.

Caitlin: NCAA College Gymnastics and LOVB. The League One Volleyball championship happened over the weekend. So we’ll get into all of that and more. But before we dig into headlines, you had a favorite thing?

Alex: I do. You went to pick up the equipment for the soccer team that you’re coaching for our eldest’s team. And she was so excited for the jerseys. She seems really excited to start. She is talking about it constantly. Getting all our equipment ready. It’s really fun to watch her get excited about that and getting to watch you coach her team.

Caitlin: It’s been many years since I’ve coached rec soccer. Mom’s going to have to figure out how to pull it back a little bit. I’m looking forward to that with her — giving back, helping the next generation of young girls.

My favorite thing was probably watching that third game for the national team on Friday. They looked so solid. Everything sort of clicked. Emma Hayes has been running with her Michelin star chef analogy, so it was like we were able to put out the full courses of the meal, and that was really exciting to see.

I also got to watch the LOVB final with Alex’s dad. He was getting pretty into the game. We were admiring the skill and athleticism of the ladies playing, but also learning as we went — I can’t tell you how many times I used my phone to look up the rules. Something about the rules or something about the league. We always love sharing lesser-known games with potentially new fans.

Headlines

Alex: A’ja Wilson signs a $5 million three-year deal with the Las Vegas Aces — the largest contract in women’s professional basketball history.

Caitlin: Yeah, the bags keep coming for these ladies under their new CBA deal. The Aces also re-signed Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, and Jewell Loyd — their core four from last year’s championship team. They are definitely on my who-to-watch list.

Alex: 2026 WNBA Draft draws 1.5 million average viewers — second only to the 2024 draft when Caitlin Clark was the number one overall pick.

Caitlin: Viewership peaked at about 1.8 to 1.9 million, up 20% year over year. Something really interesting was that the draft was the top program on ESPN that night among male-identified adults ages 25 to 54. We often hear the refrain “yeah, women are watching women’s sports” — but it’s like, no, men are watching too. There are a lot of guys who say the basketball is a better product, or more true to the game.

Alex: WNBA Commissioner Kathy Engelbert indicates the league is looking to stage international games as soon as 2027.

Caitlin: We talked last week about the Deloitte Game Changers report and the growth of the game globally. You see a mostly domestic league — the Toronto Tempo are now part of the WNBA — starting to want to expand that footprint and get exposure outside of primarily the United States.

Alex: Oklahoma women’s gymnastics takes home the national title over a stacked field in the Final Four, earning their second title in a row and fourth in the last five years.

Caitlin: Just sheer dominance. Shoutout to Minnesota making it in as a 13-seed.

One thing I want to comment on — people were getting really upset about the coverage. When there are four teams competing at once in gymnastics, there’s almost always somebody going, and you should never not have someone on screen. People were calling for better split-screen coverage, particularly for the Gophers’ turns. Calls to clean it up and even it out.

Alex: LOVB Austin clinched back-to-back championships in a golden set match win over LOVB Salt Lake, in front of a sellout crowd.

Caitlin: Like I said, I learned so much about this. They play a two-match championship series — not a single match. Salt Lake had won the first match on Thursday, so they came in ahead. If they had won a second match, they would have won the championship. Austin was down two sets to one, had to win the fourth set, did, then won the fifth to force a golden set — one set to 15 to determine the champion. And they owned them. Madison Skinner is the big star player on Austin.

Alex: U.S. Women’s National Team wins their three-game series against Japan with an emphatic 3-0 victory after a gritty 1-0 defeat midweek.

Caitlin: Yep. We’ll talk about these in a little bit.

Alex: In other international women’s football competition, England took down world number one Spain in the quest for early bids to the 2027 Women’s World Cup.

Caitlin: And when Alex said “early birds,” she meant “early bids.” We’ll talk a little bit about the different qualifiers — which teams have qualified and what’s remaining. In Europe, the top 16 ranked teams in UEFA play in four League A pools, and the winner of each pool advances. England is now ahead of Spain in their pool. Germany and Denmark also won their respective pools over the weekend. The Dutch are at the top of another. Two more games to play in that group.

Alex: PWHL playoff picture: Montreal locking up the number one seed, Boston with the number two, and Minnesota with the third seed, with a battle for the final playoff spot between three teams going down to the wire.

Caitlin: We’ll cover that in What to Watch.

Alex: PWHL surpasses 1 million fans in in-person game attendance for the first time.

Caitlin: They did this 46 games ahead of what they had projected. Growth is ahead of schedule — we said it a couple weeks ago, and this is one more data point pointing to that.

Alex: We say it every week: they are about to announce expansion teams any moment.

Caitlin: I don’t know how it hasn’t happened yet, frankly.

Alex: Three Winter Olympians — Alysa Liu, Hillary Knight, and Chloe Kim — headline Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People list.

Caitlin: Pretty cool, especially considering the clout those three brought from a media attention and storyline standpoint throughout the Winter Olympics.

Alex: And the NWSL is reportedly looking at a calendar shift from a spring-to-fall season to a European-style fall-to-spring framework.

Caitlin: This is interesting. The MLS voted last year to make this change — they’re playing their final season on the spring-to-fall timeline right now. The argument is to better align with the international major tournaments. But the Women’s Players Association is pushing back, arguing they don’t have the right infrastructure to do this and play really high quality soccer. I also think about cold-weather markets. Minnesota in February? European climates are just different. And then there’s the broadcast angle — right now MLS and NWSL are bundled together. If they shift away from each other, what does that mean for broadcast deals?

USWNT vs. Japan Series Breakdown

Caitlin: So last week they played the first game. Just to refresh — that was a 2-1 win in San Jose, California. Goals from Rose Lavelle on her 100th cap, with an assist from Trinity Rodman. And then Lindsey Heaps scored on an assist from Rose Lavelle. That was Sophia Wilson’s first start since October 2024 after having her baby Gigi. She is the 18th mom to play for the national team, which is pretty impressive.

Alex: We talked about it a lot, but let’s keep celebrating it.

Caitlin: The average caps for the starters in that first game was around 56. Just tracking how Hayes is building experience into the lineups — earlier this year in January friendlies, the average caps were around six. After SheBelieves it crept up to around 30. They had nine shots with three on goal and two goals in that opener.

The second game was a 0-1 defeat in Seattle. The weather was horrible — pouring rain in Seattle. But it did not stop record attendance for a standalone women’s game there. Over 36,000 people showed up. It was the first time the national team had played in Seattle in almost 10 years, and I also learned they have never won at Lumen Field.

Alex: The stats you have for the second game were wild to me considering what we just talked about in the first game.

Caitlin: Right — she rolled out a very different lineup for that second game. Younger players, fewer caps. Claire Hutton captained. And part of what makes it remarkable is she knew going in that this lineup was a risk against Japan’s quality.

Alex: And they still fully prepped. It’s not like she threw this team out there and said let’s see what happens. It was a real game.

Caitlin: Exactly. The next 11 for the USWNT would be a starting 11 for most countries. These are very, very good players. But she knew against Japan that it was a risk. They could have won and that would have been great for their confidence. It’s better that they lost.

Alex: You learn things in losing.

Caitlin: The other thing that’s genius about this is Emma’s signaling: I don’t care about this game right now. I care about winning a World Cup in a year. I also care about winning a World Cup in five years. That is what that signal is sending — because she is putting the armband on 20-year-old Claire Hutton, knowing Claire Hutton is going to be captaining this team in 2031.

The third game, in Commerce City on Friday, was dominant — a 3-0 win. The team looked so solid. Everything clicked.

Emma Hayes Coaching Deep Dive

Caitlin: She’s the best coach in the modern era. I’m just going to say it. There is nothing she’s doing that you can really point a finger at and say “what are you doing?” A couple of things that really stood out to me.

Can we talk about how uncomfortable it probably was to go into that second game — knowing it was more possible that they could lose — and accept that, but still decide it was worth it to test the young pool of talent she has? In a program that expects to win.

I was on the FIFA website while prepping for this and they have this cool graphic where you can look at any team’s FIFA ranking going back 30 years. For the U.S., the graph barely moves — the line sits at number one for years and years. They have never been ranked lower than five. This is a program that is expected to win. We get antsy when they lose one game.

Alex: When they allow a goal, we get mad.

Caitlin: And for Emma to sit back and say: “I have a plan. Trust me.” And now I’m like — okay, I trust you.

She also had players sitting on the bench that she knew could have changed the result, and chose not to use them. We have to appreciate her willingness to sit in the discomfort of that — to allow the process to work.

Alex: And then you see it in the NCAA too. Corey Couch, Brenda Frese — you don’t get that type of coaching without the relationship. She’s building in the relationship so that if she needs to be tough with them, it’s coming from someone that cares.

Caitlin: Right. All of the players rave about her. They talk about how fortunate they feel to be playing at the time that she is coaching this program.

One more thing on her tactical approach: she is coaching this team to build out of the back. They’re possessing, not just clearing the ball. If you’ve watched the national team long enough, the U.S. has typically won on being faster, more athletic, stronger, and taller than most teams — a lot of long ball, chase, and win. To see her ask for patience is striking. You can almost tell the players are uncomfortable. But then you see the third game against Japan and you see how it pays off.

Alex: It’s a skill to get it there in the right way at the right time.

Caitlin: She’s really leaning into a lot of what she learned coaching Chelsea in Europe — Spanish influence, possession, little passes, keeping the ball. They outpossessed Japan in every game. And the Michelin star analogy she’s been using for the series: every game you see a little more of the menu. The third game was putting out the full courses.

She also just knows how to build relationships. So many videos of her with Gigi — Sophia Wilson’s daughter. She bombs the TikTok videos the players make. She invites players to get manicures with her. It seems surface-level, but no — she is building trust so that when she makes players uncomfortable, they say “okay, I trust the process.”

“She changed the title of her book. Used to be something about unicorns — but it’s incredible to listen to how she talks about constructing not just a team but a program.” — Caitlin

Alex: It’s going to be a good long ride, I think.

Caitlin: I hope so. My dream would be to interview her. I’ll just manifest it today on this episode.

2027 World Cup Qualifying Overview

Caitlin: There are a few remaining international windows for the U.S. this year — early June for two matches, then early October for two more, then CONCACAF qualifiers in late November/early December.

Quick rundown on who’s already qualified for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil — eight of 32 spots are filled. Brazil as host nation, and then the Asian Federation has done all of their qualifying: China, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Australia, the Philippines, and New Zealand out of Oceania.

Still to come:

UEFA: 11 direct slots, plus two playoff spots. Four will qualify from the League A pools, with remaining teams dropping to another round. Lots still to play.
African Federation: Their tournament was moved from March to July. Four direct slots, two playoff spots.
Conmebol (South America): Three direct slots, two playoff spots. Brazil already has one of those direct slots.
CONCACAF: Four direct slots, two playoff spots. That’s where the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Haiti, and others compete. Most of this should wrap up by end of year. Like we talked about with the European federation — any chance to qualify early is huge.

WNBA Season Preview

Caitlin: There’s a lot still to shake out in preseason. Teams sign extra players, run them through training camp, and it essentially becomes scrimmages by this weekend. It’s hard to know exactly how things will look, but I picked out what I’m calling scary contenders — teams I would not want to play.

Las Vegas Aces: Reigning champions. Re-signed A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray, and Jewell Loyd. Experienced bench. Becky Hammon, Hall of Fame head coach. That team is always going to be good.

New York Liberty: Re-signed Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, and Jonquel Jones. They are 70-16 when those three play together. They also signed Satou Sabally from the Phoenix Mercury, and re-signed Leonie Fiebich. My question is depth. Those three had only 234 minutes together over 15 games in 2025 due to injury. They also have a new head coach — Sandy Brondello was dismissed after they didn’t advance as far as expected after their championship run.

Dallas Wings: Paige Bueckers, Arike Ogunbowale, Alanna Smith, Jessica Shepard. They signed Alicia Clark, a 13-year veteran and multi-championship winner. Their roster has a lot of players who came through Unrivaled and may have some chemistry from that. Does the roster convert to the court?

Alex: Yeah — it’s going to be really fun watching those first five or so games to see what’s going on there.

Caitlin: Honorable mention: the Sparks look solid. Kelsey Plum, Rickea Jackson, Cameron Brink coming back from injury. And Minnesota — I trust in Cheryl Reeve. She’s leaned into international talent. If Napheesa Collier returns and is healthy, that team has the highest ceiling of anyone.

Alex: I put Minnesota down as biggest question mark, highest ceiling, if Napheesa returns.

Caitlin: And then some teams with real potential — Washington Mystics are young, but their draft class is loaded: Lauren Betts, Angela Dugalic, Rory Harmon from Texas. Atlanta has Angel Reese alongside Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard. Can they click? The Fever — I just really want to see Caitlin Clark healthy and in rhythm. It’s been over a year since we’ve seen her play extended minutes. And Toronto Tempo — Sandy Brondello, championship pedigree, brand-new market. I’ll be paying attention.

Alex: This is the 30th season for this league, which is a huge milestone. 15 teams now. Five ways to watch: NBC, USA, Prime, CBS, and ESPN. You have to try to not watch the WNBA at this point.

And I think it’s hilarious that we still get comments on our videos saying the WNBA is floated by the NBA. For some reason, that line — from an organization that doesn’t open its books — is just taken as gospel. We’re in the 30th season. If they kept losing money all the time, why are they still around? You think there’s maybe a financial benefit somehow?

Caitlin: I think where we come from is: we don’t really trust the source material. It’s never been shared in full. And Kathy saying “we always wanted to pay players the way we’re going to pay them” — which tells me you could have.

Alex: I mostly wanted to bring this up to get a good clip for Instagram and get the jokers wound up in the comments.

Caitlin: The other thing is — clearly you’re engaging with it somehow, because it’s coming across your feed. You don’t come across our feed unless you’re talking about women’s sports or thinking about it. And we appreciate all of you.

Regular season starts May 9th. That first game is Dallas Wings vs. Indiana Fever — a battle of recent rookies of the year. Games to watch in May: Wings vs. Fever on the 9th, Minnesota vs. Phoenix on the 12th, Chicago vs. Golden State on the 13th, Toronto vs. LA Sparks on the 17th, Las Vegas Aces vs. Atlanta Dream on the 17th, Washington vs. Dallas on the 18th, Liberty vs. Golden State on the 21st.

PWHL Playoff Picture and What to Watch

Alex: Let’s get into the PWHL four spot — for the last time until we talk about who wins it.

Ottawa is at 39 points, Toronto at 37, and New York at 34, with two games remaining for each team. The math: Ottawa can win out and seal it. Toronto can get in if they win one and Ottawa loses two. New York has to win both while Ottawa and Toronto both lose out.

Tomorrow — well, by the time you’re listening, last night — Toronto will have played New York, so we’ll know if New York is eliminated. Then Ottawa vs. Boston on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Central. Toronto vs. Ottawa on Saturday the 25th at 1 p.m. Central. New York vs. Boston on Saturday the 25th at 11 a.m. Central. Could end tomorrow for New York, but there’s still a battle between Ottawa and Toronto the rest of the week.

Caitlin: I kind of love this. They’re literally going to have to play to the end to figure out who gets that last spot. And it speaks to the parity — Montreal Victoire, so good. The Fleet have been really impressive. Minnesota has been there. But then you have those next three competing all season. And then the expansion teams that struggled. You might have one or two playoff spots opening up next year, which makes it even more fun.

Alex: WNBA pre-season: Fever vs. Liberty on Saturday at 2 p.m. Central — Caitlin Clark vs. the new-look Liberty roster.

Caitlin: Part of me is so conditioned by watching NFL football — I’m like, are the starters even gonna play? In the NFL, starters don’t play preseason games. But these rosters are so new after free agency, you almost have to have them out there to get chemistry going.

Alex: Then at 7:30 that night, Seattle Storm vs. Golden State Valkyrie. Seattle Storm with Flau’jae Johnson.

Caitlin: She’s been releasing rap tracks. Might have an album coming out. She hasn’t taken that draft-night hat off.

Alex: She said on Threads: “I have not taken off this hat since draft night.”

Caitlin: Going back to Flau’jae for a second — I saw a video of her going into the Seattle Torrent locker room and meeting the hockey players. She traded jerseys with Hillary Knight. She is going to be one of those bigger-than-the-franchise personalities — which was partly why we talked last week about why Chicago might have traded her. They don’t seem to love that. They’d rather have four personalities than one mega personality.

Alex: And Thursday next week we have Indiana Fever vs. Dallas Wings. It’ll be fun to see Paige Bueckers in that situation.

Caitlin: Also — NWSL is back. Gotham vs. Bay FC, Saturday at noon, CBS, nationally televised. Rose Lavelle, Emily Sonnett, Jaedyn Shaw — the whole crew on Gotham. And then 20-year-old captain Claire Hutton on Bay FC.

Winners and Losers

Alex: Winners and losers. Losers — what do you got?

Caitlin: I’ll just be really honest. Losers: the internet and social media. We started posting more clips, and inevitably you get more comments — and we had some really unfortunate, disgusting comments, and that hit me hard. I know it comes with the territory, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s a shock to the system. I see it all the time, but it’s never been directed at me before. And now it has been, and it hurt.

We’re new to this and getting our bearings on how to navigate it. But I go back to when we talked about the U.S. men’s hockey team and the locker room jokes — we just need to treat people with more respect, whether in person or online. People are impacted by your words. People find comfort in hiding behind a screen to say things they would never say to someone’s face. That’s my loser.

Alex: Mine is the Lynx — mostly as a victim of their own success. We had such a good team. We developed so many good players. And then the CBA that we all wanted comes, and it’s like — okay, you all have to leave now, because we can’t pay you what you deserve. So it’s good to see them get their bags. Just kind of a bummer to see the losses from free agency.

Caitlin: Someone did the math — if they kept all those players and paid them what they’re getting paid elsewhere, it would have been about 80% of the salary cap for just five players. So you don’t have a team.

Alex: It’s 80% over like five players. Yeah.

Caitlin: Good for those players to go get what they can, where they can. It will be interesting to see how the season plays out.

Alex: Winners.

Caitlin: Emma Hayes. I just — she brings joy, and deep expertise. Not just on the game she coaches, but on people. She is a relational master. If you haven’t listened, she has a book out there. It’s incredible to listen to how she talks about constructing not just a team, but a program. She understands that every person involved — coaching staff, training staff, support staff — goes into success in football, in any sport probably. I just want to be her when I grow up.

Alex: Yeah, it’s a masterclass in coaching this year so far. She took that loss, but now she knows what she has. She has such a wide view of where to plug people in. It’s going to be so cool to watch them succeed.

Caitlin: At least through the World Cup. Same page on that. Emma Hayes stan account. My dream would be to interview her. I’ll manifest it.

Alex: All right. Where can they find us?

Caitlin: RTG underscore pod on Instagram and Threads, YouTube, RTGpod.com, and Raising the Game on Substack.

Caitlin: All right, till next week.

Alex: Till next week.

Caitlin: Thanks for being here. Bye.

Alex: Bye.