The WNBA needs better scheduling: Here's the solution

The WNBA playoffs are just around the corner, and every team is fighting tooth and nail for a playoff spot or improved seating. Not only this, but every single player is raising their level of performance as the playoffs and awards near.

Sunday's slate of WNBA games produced some incredible headline material both for individual players and for entire teams.

But those headlines were lost in the shuffle of a day that has always been dominated by the NFL.

All 12 of the W's teams were on display Sunday, which means players like Caitlin Clark and A'ja Wilson were taking the court. The top two teams in the league faced off, and the teams currently third and fourth in the standings met as well. Two teams fighting for the last playoff spot battled as well on Sunday.

However, these important matchups and momentous individual performances fell on deaf ears and took a back seat to the current king of pro sports: the NFL.

This has been a historic year for the WNBA, as its popularity has increased exponentially from years past. Viewership, attendance and merchandise sales are all screaming upward, but if the league ever wants to be serious about competing for the top spot, it has to improve its scheduling.

Here's how they can do it:

Stop scheduling games during NFL windows

Everyone knows that during the Fall, football takes priority over everything else in American sports.

Sundays are almost exclusively reserved for NFL games, as contests take place all day and into the night. Monday and Thursday night are also marquee nights for the league, as primetime matchups occur in the evenings.

That leaves four nights of the week for the WNBA to schedule games, but instead, they chose to play all six games on a Sunday.

Take the league's schedule this week:

When looking this breakdown, it feels like a blatant missed opportunity.

College football is popular, but it is nowhere near the extreme popularity of the NFL. The league could schedule games on Saturdays and still yield tremendous results.

Instead, the league's biggest slate of matchups is a direct conflict with the NFL.

To me, it makes more sense to concentrate bigger market games on Friday nights and Saturdays, and the more mundane games could be scheduled on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

There are some games where fans are not as interested, perhaps between two struggling teams or between two small-market teams. Those games could be played on Monday and Thursday nights early, before the primetime NFL games kick off.

During the majority of the season, this conflict is a non-issue, because the NFL season starts so late compared to the W. But if the most important games of the year are being overshadowed by another league, the WNBA has to take their schedule into account.

Trying to beat the NFL at their own game by scheduling a slew of Sunday afternoon matchups is not beneficial for viewership. NFL fan bases are so large and there are only 17 games every season, so each contest holds such a great deal of importance. You cannot beat the NFL at its own game.

A'ja Wilson reached 1,000 points on the season for the first time in WNBA history, and Caitlin Clark had a 35 point, 8 assist performance, but most folks would rather watch a Week 2 matchup.

Whether one is more interesting or important than the other is irrelevant in this discussion. The W needs eyes on it to gain notoriety and respect, and if people can't see it, they'll never change their tune and watch it.

Stop scheduling games at the same time

On Sunday, the WNBA had six games scheduled, but they tipped off at only two different times. Three were set to start at 3 p.m. ET, the other three at 6 p.m. ET.

How are fans supposed to enjoy what each WNBA team has to offer if you physically cannot watch all three games at one time?

The NFL does it out of necessity because you cannot possibly find an individual time for each of the 32 teams to play a four-hour game.

But the WNBA only has 12 teams, and games typically last about two hours, often times under.

The league should be able to find ways to at least stagger games so that more eyes are on each individual contest. The W does not have the luxury of other pro sports leagues in that their fan base is so massive that it can afford to cut corners.

Instead, the league is fighting hard to capitalize, both monetarily and in terms of popularity, on a tremendous, star-studded rookie class joining the most talented league that the WNBA has ever seen.

Five people watching three separate games is better than ten people watching one. It's as simple as that. The league needs to work to find a schedule that maximizes individual game windows to get as many eyes on the league as possible.

Down the line, if the league gains enough popularity, they can start to broaden their horizons in terms of scheduling. If they know that they can compete with NFL viewership, they could schedule games on Monday and Thursday nights. But the league is not there yet.

The W, though tremendously popular and exponentially growing, has to improve its scheduling so more people can, and are willing, to watch. If you continue to schedule games in competitive windows, fans will never lay eyes on the league and know what they're missing.