The WNBA’s 10th anniversary season tips off on Saturday, May 20, 2006, the league announced today. The upcoming regular season will be highlighted by a consistent presence on ESPN2 along with an expanded national television playoff package.

Tip off of the WNBA 2006 season will include ABC’s broadcast of All-Star guard Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury playing at the defending WNBA Champion Sacramento Monarchs as they commemorate their 2005 WNBA title by raising the championship banner prior to the game on Saturday, May 20 at 1:00pm.

Highlights of the Mercury schedule include June 6 when the defending champion Monarchs makes their first appearance in Phoenix for a game that will be televised on ESPN2. The slate will feature four back-to-back sets of games for the Mercury while the longest homestands and road trips of the season will be just three games. Phoenix will play each team in the Eastern Conference two times (one home/one away) and will play two teams in the Western Conference four times (Seattle, Los Angeles) and four teams three times (Minnesota, Houston, San Antonio, Sacramento).

ESPN2 will televise 14 games on Tuesdays including five doubleheaders. Coverage on ESPN2 will premier May 23 at 9 p.m. ET with a doubleheader featuring Lindsay Whalen and the Connecticut Sun visiting the Minnesota Lynx in Game one, followed by 2005 WNBA MVP Sheryl Swoopes and the Houston Comets taking on Sue Bird and the Seattle Storm at Key Arena at 11 p.m. ET.

“The WNBA, ESPN2 and ABC are meeting the growing interest of our fans who desire to see the wnba brand of basketball on national TV,” said WNBA President Donna Orender. “In essence we’re delivering appointment viewing for WNBA fans. This consistent package of Tuesday night games on ESPN2, in particular, makes us easily accessible to our fan base.”

Broadcast coverage of the postseason will include more first-round games than in 2005. While only four first-round games were aired a year ago, ESPN2 and ABC will combine to televise five and, if necessary, six such games in 2006. Continuing with the league's more consistent presence on ESPN2, every game of the 2006 WNBA Finals will be televised on ESPN2.

Rounding out the television schedule, NBA TV will televise approximately 50 regular season contests. The league’s 24-hour television network is available to 67 million homes in the U.S. and in more than 40 other countries.

The 2006 WNBA season concludes on Sunday, Aug. 13, with the playoffs scheduled to begin on Thursday, Aug. 17.

In 2005, the WNBA concluded its ninth season with an action-packed WNBA Finals that crowned a new champion for the third straight year as the Sacramento Monarchs defeated the Connecticut Sun. The WNBA Finals on ESPN2 produced significant increases in ratings (+33 percent) and viewership (+27 percent) versus 2004. As the preeminent women's professional sports league, the WNBA is the destination for the best female athletes in the world. For more information, visit wnba.com.