Las Vegas (December 9, 2021) – The WNBA today released its 2022 schedule, and the Las Vegas Aces begin tracking their first league championship with a rematch of their 2021 WNBA semi-final series against the Phoenix Mercury. The Aces season kicks off Friday, May 6, in Phoenix at 7:00 p.m. PT, with the home kick-off in Las Vegas two days later at the Michelob ULTRA Arena against the Seattle Storm at 3:00 p.m. Ticket information for the Las Vegas Aces 2022 home schedule will be made available after the New Year. The teams will play 36 games during the 2022 regular season – 18 at home and 18 away. Las Vegas plays three games against every opponent except the Los Angeles Sparks, Minnesota Lynx and Seattle, which they play four times. Las Vegas welcomes the 2021 WNBA Champion Chicago Sky to the sports and entertainment capital of the world on Tuesday, June 21st and Thursday, August 11th. The regular season ends at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 14th, when the Aces host the storm. This is the earliest end of a regular WNBA season since 2006. The 2022 WNBA playoffs were recently reconfigured and include three rounds of series play in the best-of 3-5-5 format. The eight teams with the highest winning percentages regardless of the conference will qualify for the postseason and will be seeded based on their balance sheet. All eight playoff teams take part in a bracket-style first-round game consisting of four best-of-three series. The WNBA’s national and local television programming will be released after the New Year, as will information on AT&T WNBA All-Star 2022 and the Commissioner’s Cup presented by Coinbase. AT&T WNBA All-Star 2022, the 18th All-Star Game in league history, will be played on Sunday, July 10th, with other pre-all-star activities on Saturday, July 9th. Introduced last season, the Commissioner’s Cup is an in-season tournament where conference rivals compete in the first half of the regular season and will return for its second season. The 10 designated “Cup Games” per team are the first home game and the first street game that each team plays against its five Conference rivals, all of which will be completed from May 6th to July 7th, competing for a lucrative prize pool in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship Game on Tuesday July 26th. Additional notes on the schedule The longest road trip of the year consists of 5 games over 10 days – July 29th to August 7th. Last year the team’s longest road trip was 3 games on 2 occasions. The team had a five-game road trip in its history – July 14-22, 1997 – during the franchise’s inaugural season in Utah. Las Vegas’ longest home stand consists of 4 games over 7 days – May 17th through 23rd. Last season, the team’s longest home game was 3 games on 2 occasions. 8 of the first 12 and 11 of the first 17 games of the aces are at home. Las Vegas closes the 2022 season with three home games from August 9th to 14th. 12 of the 16 Aces games from June 27th to August 7th are on the way. Five teams in WNBA history have had similar stretches, including the Connecticut Sun 2018, which played 13 games on the road over 16 games. Las Vegas plays all 3 of its regular season games against the Phoenix Mercury for the first 7 games of the year. Las Vegas will play three games in a row against the New York Liberty from July 6-14. The Aces don’t play against Indiana until July 21, and then play their entire schedule against the Fever in three of the next four games (July 21, 29, and 31). Las Vegas doesn’t have back-to-back games. This year’s season opener is on May 6th, the earliest start of a WNBA season. The opener in 2021 was May 15th. The earliest previous opener was May 13th in the 2017 campaign. The final regular season game this year is August 14th. The last game of the 2021 season was September 19, but that was an Olympic year. The earliest season end in franchise history is August 9th in the 2000 season Team should play twice in a market, with these games being scheduled one after the other. The Aces have 4 such series – Home Tilts versus Connecticut (May 31st and June 2nd); and street games in Minnesota (July 1st and 3rd), New York (July 12th and 14th), and Indiana (July 29th and 31st).
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