On March 15, the WNBA announced a new league-wide sponsor,
Verizon Wireless. The Verizon logo appeared on all jerseys except those of the Stars and Sun, and Verizon received significant branding in arenas, on jerseys, and in telecasts via commercials. Verizon also sponsored the WNBA Playoffs, WNBA Finals, WNBA Tip-Off, WNBA Draft, and WNBA Inspiring Women Luncheon. On March 28, the WNBA introduced new jerseys for the 2016 season. Teams no longer had white home jerseys. Teams used the away jersey from the previous year or a secondary color-based alternate jersey. The Sparks and Stars already used their secondary colors for jerseys, and thus had no significant change. The jerseys included special patches commemorating the 20th season for the league, along with the three remaining original franchises, and showed the WNBA Championships each franchise has won by displaying the trophies on the back collar. The ESPN Networks aired 14 games (1 on ESPN, 13 on ESPN2) during the regular season and all playoff games. NBATV showed 42 games across the regular season. On June 25,
Becky Hammon's jersey no. 25 was retired by the San Antonio Stars after their game against the Atlanta Dream. Her jersey was the first to be retired by the Stars. On July 15,
Lauren Jackson returned to Seattle to see her jersey retired after the Storm defeated the Mystics. Her jersey was the first to be put in the rafters by the Seattle Storm. ==Draft==