CBS expands WNBA Tip-Off coverage

CBS Sports is expanding its WNBA studio coverage for the 2026 season, adding the WNBA Tip-Off Show to 10 of its 20 regular-season broadcasts, according to Sports Video Group and league announcements. The move was announced on May 21, two days before CBS opens its 2026 slate with a Saturday doubleheader. All 20 games in the package will air on the CBS Television Network and stream on Paramount+, under a new long-term rights agreement announced in March. The expanded studio plan comes as the WNBA enters its 30th season under a new collective bargaining agreement that the league said includes a revenue-sharing model and sharply higher team salary caps. ### Which games are getting the added studio show? Sports Video Group reported on May 21 that CBS will carry the WNBA Tip-Off Show for half of its 20-game regular-season package, up from a smaller presence previously. The outlet said that means 10 regular-season games will now include the pregame program. (sportsvideo.org) Saturday, May 23, will open that schedule with two broadcasts: the Minnesota Lynx at the Chicago Sky at 1 p.m. ET and the Los Angeles Sparks at the Las Vegas Aces in prime time. CBS Sports’ previously announced 2026 schedule said the network’s season package includes 20 regular-season games, its largest WNBA broadcast slate to date. (sportsvideo.org) ### Who is on the show? CBS Sports and the WNBA said in March that the expanded WNBA Tip-Off Show would return with Lisa Leslie and Renee Montgomery as analysts and Jenny Dell as host. The March announcement described the studio show as part of the network’s enhanced presentation under the new rights agreement. (cbssports.com) Jenna McKeon, senior director of remote technical operations at CBS Sports, told Sports Video Group that planning for the season had been underway for months. Sports Video Group said the larger studio footprint is one of the new elements in CBS’s 2026 WNBA production plan. (paramountpressexpress.com) ### How does this fit into CBS’s broader WNBA deal? CBS Sports announced on March 25 that it had expanded its seven-year relationship with the WNBA through a new long-term multiplatform agreement. Under that deal, CBS Sports will present up to 20 regular-season games annually on the broadcast network and Paramount+. (sportsvideo.org) The WNBA said the 2026 schedule marks a record 20 regular-season games on CBS broadcast television. CBS Sports separately said the package includes marquee matchups such as Liberty-Fever games and opening-weekend coverage as the league begins its 30th season. ### Why is the league’s business backdrop part of this story? (paramountpressexpress.com) The WNBA and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association said on March 20 that they had reached a tentative new collective bargaining agreement, pending ratification by players and the league’s Board of Governors. The league said the deal creates what it called the first comprehensive revenue-sharing model in women’s professional sports and sets the 2026 team salary cap at $7 million, up from $1.5 million in 2025. (cbssports.com) The league said the agreement is expected to deliver more than $1 billion in player salaries and benefits over the life of the deal. Those announcements did not tie the CBS programming change directly to the CBA, but they place the network’s expanded WNBA presentation inside a season of larger media and business commitments around the league. (wnba.com) ### When does viewers’ first look come? May 23 is the first date viewers will see the expanded CBS presentation in action, with the Lynx-Sky game in the afternoon and Sparks-Aces later that day. The WNBA’s national broadcast schedule says the regular season began on May 8 and runs through Sept. 24, with the 2026 playoffs set to start on Sept. 27. (cbssports.com) (wnba.com)