It’s 2026, which means our annual collections of what we hope will happen in the world of women’s athletics in the year to come. Many of these may ring hollow because we’ve published them so often, but there’s always optimism that things can improve.
Here’s my list for the next year:
I hope that the Unrivaled basketball league receives a full FIBA certification as a 3×3 league, and that it can coexist with the WNBA as a full-time operation.
I hope that the NWSL and the WSL merge into a full 20-team operation so that women’s soccer in America can fully monetize in the markets that the leagues have been mining in the last few years. And is too much to ask for a team in Philadelphia?
I’m hoping that the upcoming NCAA Division I field hockey season, chock full of proven talent as well as number of superb incoming players, will create the kind of demand and buzz that the sport has been missing for several years.
I wish for an injury-free season for Caitlin Clark and Trinity Rodman. These two women are, like it or not, the straws that stir women’s soccer and women’s basketball, and they need to be fit and available for them to do their magic.
I hope that a women’s national lacrosse team has the talent, gumption, and tactics to give the United States some competition in this year’s World Championship. The Americans may have their finest and most dominant team ever, and I’m not sure England, Australia, the Haudenosaunee, or Canada can hang with them.
I hope that the Maybelline Women’s Lacrosse League has a successful first outdoor season and will identify new stars for not only national-team inclusion, but to justify the expansion of the league.
I hope that the people who run pro softball will try to do something different in order to develop a proper professional league. Right now, the piecemeal approach isn’t cutting it.
The same goes for volleyball, which will have two competing pro leagues and likely an Athletes Unlimited league next fall.
Speaking of piecemeal, I’m hoping that the NFL, USA Football, or someone else will step in and create a sustainable women’s tackle football league structure. For the last three decades, there have been anywhere from three to 70 teams in any particular calendar year. This year, there are going to be at least three planned 8-on-8 tackle football leagues for women.
I hope that the NCAA transfer portal is not going to be weaponized to make certain programs look weak in the eyes of the public or the pool of players looking to play their sport of choice.
And I wish the best for all of you, my readers, for a healthy, prosperous, and safe New Year.