WNBA on NBC

Last updated
WNBA on NBC
Genre WNBA basketball telecasts
Starring Bruce Beck
Mike Breen
Tom Hammond
Dan Hicks
Marion Jones
Andrea Joyce
Ann Meyers
Lisa Malosky
Ahmad Rashad
Beth Ruyak
Summer Sanders
Hannah Storm
Paul Sunderland
Chris Wragge
Theme music composer John Tesh
Opening theme"Roundball Rock"
No. of seasons6
Production
Executive producer Dick Ebersol [1]
ProducerMolly Solomon [2]
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time120 minutes+
Production company NBC Sports
Original release
Network NBC
ReleaseJune 21, 1997 (1997-06-21) –
August 31, 2002 (2002-08-31)
Related

The WNBA on NBC is the branding used for presentations of Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) games produced NBC Sports and broadcast on the NBC television network in the United States.

Contents

NBC showed Women's National Basketball Association games from 1997 to 2002 as part of their NBA on NBC [3] [4] coverage before the league transferred the rights [5] to ABC/ESPN. [6] [7] [8]

Background

On June 27, 1996, NBC Sports was announced as the WNBA's first national broadcaster. [9] The WNBA soon also had television deals in place with the Walt Disney Company and Hearst Corporation joint venture channels, ESPN and Lifetime Television Network, respectively. At the time, NBC didn't pay television rights fees [10] [11] to the league's teams.

NBC [12] nationally televised the first [13] WNBA game on June 21, 1997. The game featured the New York Liberty facing the Los Angeles Sparks [14] in Los Angeles. For NBC's final season with the WNBA in 2002, [15] they again began their season's worth of coverage on Memorial Day weekend [16] with the Liberty [17] and Sparks. [18] NBC would proceed to televise WNBA games on Saturday [19] [20] [21] and Sunday [22] afternoons culminating in the Championship game on August 30. [23] [24]

Music and segments

A more rock-oriented variant [25] of John Tesh's theme, "Roundball Rock" introduced by NBC to coincide with the debut of the WNBA. NBC's halftime report was sponsored by Lee Jeans.

Ratings

NBC Sports' broadcast of the inaugural WNBA game between the Liberty and Sparks received a 3.8 overnight national rating. [26] This would also serve as NBC's highest rated WNBA game [27] . Although NBC's end-of-season average [28] for 1999 was even with 1998's average, viewership had actually increased from 1,540,000 households in 1998 [29] to 1,607,000 in 1999. On the same token however, Nielsen ratings for NBC broadcasts of WNBA games slipped [30] from 2 million households reached in 1997—the WNBA's inaugural season—to 1.5 million in 1999. [31]

The average rating for the first 9 of the 10 [32] WNBA games NBC carried in the 2001 season [33] was only 1.1, compared to a 2.0 rating its first season. [34]

WNBA Finals coverage

The first WNBA season concluded with what was at the time, a single championship game. The following year, the finale series into a best-of-three games series, with NBC airing the first two games and ESPN airing the decisive third game. In 1999, ESPN aired the first game of the championship series while NBC covered the following two. Come the year 2000, Lifetime temporarily assumed ESPN's role as the WNBA's cable outlet for the WNBA Championship. Like the year prior, Lifetime broadcast the first game while NBC covered the second and ultimately decisive game between the Houston Comets and New York Liberty. This marked Houston's fourth consecutive WNBA Championship.

ESPN returned to the fold in the year 2001, broadcasting the first game with NBC airing the second and decisive game between the Los Angeles Sparks and Charlotte Sting. For NBC's final year of coverage in 2002, ESPN2 this time, broadcast the first game with NBC again covering what would become the second and ultimately decisive game. The Los Angeles Sparks' 69–66 victory over the New York Liberty on August 31, 2002, would therefore, prove to be the final broadcast of the WNBA on NBC.

Announcers

During the WNBA's first season on NBC, the primary announcing team consisted of Hannah Storm [35] calling the play-by-play [36] [37] with Ann Meyers doing the color commentary and Lisa Malosky assuming the role as sideline reporter. [38] The following year, Storm receded her lead play-by-play duties to Tom Hammond, [39] who would call NBC's coverage of the WNBA Finals with Ann Meyers in 1998 [40] [41] and in 2000. For the 1999 season and 2001 seasons, NBC used Mike Breen [42] as their primary play-by-play announcer. For the WNBA's final season in 2002, Paul Sunderland worked with Meyers for their coverage of the WNBA Finals.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's National Basketball Association</span> Professional womens basketball league in the United States

The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is the premier women's professional basketball league. It is composed of 12 teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association (NBA), and league play started in 1997. The regular season is played from May to September, with the All Star game being played midway through the season in July and the WNBA Finals at the end of September until the beginning of October.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoenix Mercury</span> American professional basketball team

The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). One of eight original franchises, it was founded before the league's inaugural 1997 season began.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Angeles Sparks</span> Womens basketball team

The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded before the league's inaugural 1997 season began. Like some other WNBA teams, the Sparks have the distinction of not being affiliated with an NBA counterpart, even though the market is shared with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York Liberty</span> Basketball team in Brooklyn, New York

The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as part of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was founded in 1997 and is one of the eight original franchises of the league. The team is owned by Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai, the majority owners of the Brooklyn Nets. The team's home games are played at Barclays Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teresa Weatherspoon</span> American basketball player and coach

Teresa Gaye Weatherspoon is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played for the New York Liberty and Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA and served as the head basketball coach of the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters. Weatherspoon was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010, and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019. In 2011, she was voted in by fans as one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history. In 2016, Weatherspoon was chosen to the WNBA Top 20@20, a list of the league's best 20 players ever in celebration of the WNBA's twentieth anniversary.

The WNBA Finals are the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. Since 2016, Verizon is the official sponsor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tina Thompson</span> American basketball player (born 1975)

Tina Marie Thompson is an American former WNBA professional basketball player and coach. Most recently, she served as the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball team from 2018 to 2022. Thompson was inducted into both the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van Chancellor</span> American basketball player and coach

Van Winston Chancellor is an American former college and professional basketball coach. He coached University of Mississippi women's basketball, Louisiana State University women's basketball, and the professional Houston Comets. He was named head coach of the Lady Tigers on April 11, 2007, replacing Pokey Chatman. In 2001, Chancellor was elected to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was enshrined as a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September 2007. Chancellor currently serves as an analyst for Southland Conference games on ESPN3.

<i>NBA on NBC</i> US television program

The NBA on NBC is the branding used for presentations of National Basketball Association (NBA) games produced by the NBC television network in the United States. NBC held broadcast rights from 1954 to 1962 and again from 1990 to 2002. During NBC's partnership with the NBA in the 1990s, the league rose to unprecedented popularity, with ratings surpassing the days of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the mid-1980s. Although the main NBC network no longer airs NBA broadcasts, NBA games currently air on the NBC Sports Regional Networks in the form of game telecasts that air on a regional basis, featuring local NBA teams that each of the regional networks have respective broadcast rights to air in their designated market.

Nationally television broadcasts of National Basketball Association (NBA) games first aired on ABC from 1965 to 1973. In 2002, NBA games returned to ABC as part of a contract signed with the league, along with cable sister network ESPN. After the ABC Sports division was merged into ESPN Inc. by parent company Disney in 2006, broadcasts have since been produced by ESPN, and have primarily used the NBA on ESPN branding and graphics instead of the NBA on ABC branding.

Mwadi Mabika is a retired Congolese-American basketball player. She was an All-Star in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michele Tafoya</span> American sportscaster

Michele Tafoya is a freelance reporter and retired sports broadcaster and advisor. She hosts the podcast Sideline Sanity. From 2011 to 2022, she was a reporter for NBC Sports, primarily as a sideline reporter for NBC Sunday Night Football. She currently works as a conservative political advisor and makes television appearances on talk shows discussing the state of American politics and culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penny Toler</span> American basketball executive and former player

Virginia Marlita "Penny" Toler is an American basketball executive and former player who served most recently as the general manager of the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Toler holds the distinction of scoring the first field-goal and the first free throw in WNBA history.

The WNBA on ABC is the branding used for presentations of Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) games produced ESPN and broadcast on the ABC television network in the United States.

The USC Trojans women's basketball team, or the Women of Troy, is the collegiate women's basketball team that represents the University of Southern California, in the Big Ten Conference. The team rose to prominence in 1976, at which time scholarships became available to female basketball players. They were the first Division I team to give these scholarships.

As the national broadcaster of the NBA, CBS aired NBA games from the 1973–74 until the 1989–90 season, during which the early 1980s is notoriously known as the tape delay playoff era.

As the national broadcaster of the NBA, CBS aired NBA games from the 1973–74 until the 1989–90 season, during which the early 1980s is notoriously known as the tape delay playoff era.

<i>WNBA on Lifetime</i> American TV series or program

The WNBA on Lifetime refers to the presentation of Women's National Basketball Association games on the Lifetime television network.

References

  1. ↑ Kent, Milton (June 28, 1996). "Deal to televise Women's NBA shows NBC as bold yet pragmatic". The Baltimore Sun.
  2. ↑ Sole, Mel (March 19, 2015). "WOMEN AT THE HELM. #1 MOLLY SOLOMON MAKES GOLF HISTORY". Golf Chats.
  3. ↑ Swayne, Dodds, Linda E., Mark (August 8, 2011). Encyclopedia of Sports Management and Marketing. SAGE Publications. p. 1662. ISBN   9781452266480.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ "Gender in Televised Sports: 1989, 1993 and 1999" (PDF). la84.org.
  5. ↑ Penner, Mike (December 18, 2001). "NBC Exit Strategy Begins NBA Spin". Los Angeles Times.
  6. ↑ Miller, Shales, James Andrew, Tom (May 24, 2011). Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN. Little, Brown. ISBN   9780316125765.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ Reynolds, Mike (June 16, 2002). "ESPN's Come a Long Way, WNBA". Multichannel News.
  8. ↑ "Stern Talks Smack With Rome: TV Deal And WNBA Profitability". Sports Business Daily. June 5, 2002.
  9. ↑ Araton, Harvey (May 13, 2016). "The Formation of the WNBA". WNBA.com.
  10. ↑ "We Got Next!". National Women's History Museum. October 1, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Salary Doesn't Pay in WNBA". Los Angeles Times.
  12. ↑ Gustkey, Earl (May 29, 2000). "As W.N.B.A. Opens Its 20th Season, Key Figures Recall the First Game". The New York Times.
  13. ↑ Voepel, Mechelle (June 16, 2016). "Twenty seasons later, a look back at the WNBA's first game". ESPN.
  14. ↑ Lopez, Steve (June 30, 1997). "THEY GOT NEXT TIPPING OFF TO LARGE CROWDS AND GREAT EXPECTATIONS, THE HYPER-HYPED WNBA FELL SHORT ONLY ON THE COURT". Sports Illustrated.
  15. ↑ Robbins, Lenn (May 24, 2002). "LIBERTY TIP OFF THEIR SEASON ON LONG, WINDING ROAD". New York Post.
  16. ↑ "Three Former Longhorn Basketball Players Assigned to WNBA Teams". Big 12 Sports. April 26, 2002.
  17. ↑ Howell, John (March 29, 2002). "LIEBERMAN SEES A WNBA TOWN". Hartford Courant.
  18. ↑ "Starzz release schedule". Deseret News. February 1, 2002.
  19. ↑ Johnson, L.C. (July 23, 2001). "HARRISON IS NOT THE ONLY WNBA BEAUTY". The Orlando Sentinel.
  20. ↑ Robb, Sharon (June 18, 1998). "A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN". South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
  21. ↑ Levin, Gary (June 27, 1997). "WNBA scores big in ratings". Variety.
  22. ↑ WNBA on NBC Promos / 1998 & 2001 on YouTube
  23. ↑ Burris, Joe (June 19, 1997). "Lobo center of WNBA's attention". Boston Globe.
  24. ↑ Gustkey, Earl (June 18, 1997). "Ball Is in Their Court : WNBA Takes Its Turn on Basketball Stage Starting Saturday". Los Angeles Times.
  25. ↑ The WNBA on NBC Theme Song on YouTube
  26. ↑ "NOW WHO WOULD'VE GUESSED THIS? WNBA TIP-OFF GETS 3.8 RATING". Sports Business Daily. June 23, 1997.
  27. ↑ Lewis, Jon (May 12, 2024). "The 10 most-watched WNBA games". Sports Media Watch. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
  28. ↑ Lopiano, Dean (December 13, 1999). "WNBA's remarkable 1999 blows the vultures out of the sky". Sports Business Daily.
  29. ↑ Shaprio, Leonard (June 18, 1998). "WNBA Has All the Angles Covered". Washington Post.
  30. ↑ "A Dud of Their Own". Forbes. November 29, 1999.
  31. ↑ Petrecca, Laura (October 9, 2000). "HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?". Ad Age.
  32. ↑ "PLUS: BASKETBALL; W.N.B.A. Releases 1998 Schedule ..." The New York Times. January 16, 1998.
  33. ↑ Isidore, Chris (August 17, 2001). "WNBA: lovable money loser". CNN Money.
  34. ↑ "Catching On If Nothing Else, Wnba Is A Hit With Its TV Exposure". The Spokesman-Review. August 12, 1997.
  35. ↑ The Inaugural WNBA Game on YouTube
  36. ↑ Gill, Suzanne (June 15, 1997). "HANNAH STORM CALLS THE SHOTS". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 6, 2023.
  37. ↑ Siegal, Rachel (June 21, 2011). "Storm hails WNBA's first 15 years". ESPN Front Row. Retrieved October 6, 2023.
  38. ↑ "Women at Liberty to play basketball on TV". Post Bulletin. June 20, 1997.
  39. ↑ 2000 WNBA WCF GM 2 COMETS @ SPARKS HIGHLIGHTS on YouTube
  40. ↑ "Retro: Western Washington, Sat. Aug 29th, 1998". Radio Discussions. April 7, 2012.
  41. ↑ 1998 WNBA Championship Game-2 on YouTube
  42. ↑ 1999 WNBA Finals Game 2 - Liberty at Comets on YouTube
  43. ↑ "Bruce Beck". NBC New York. October 21, 2008.
  44. ↑ "Episode #124: Mike Breen". Brandon Steiner. July 24, 2018.
  45. ↑ Sandomir, Richard (June 5, 2016). "Mike Breen Becomes N.B.A. Finals Play-by-Play Fixture". The New York Times.
  46. ↑ Brown, O'Rourke, Robert S., Daniel J. (2003). Case Studies in Sport Communication. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 30. ISBN   9780275975302.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  47. ↑ Schlosser, Joe (June 6, 2001). "Marion Jones on NBC's WNBA team". Broadcasting & Cable.
  48. ↑ Johnson, L.C. (June 8, 2001). "DAVIS' DOUBLE DUTY DRAWS BIGGER PROFILE". Orlando Sentinel.
  49. ↑ "ANDREA JOYCE". NBC Sports Pressbox.
  50. ↑ Meyers Drysdale, Ann (May 15, 2012). You Let Some Girl Beat You?: The Story of Ann Meyers Drysdale. Behler Publications. ISBN   9781933016870.
  51. ↑ "2000 WNBA Finals - Game Two: New York Liberty v Houston Comets". Getty Images. August 26, 2000.
  52. ↑ "Summer Sanders - Beg, Borrow & Deal 2". NBA.com.
  53. ↑ "Summer Sanders". ESPN.
  54. ↑ Johnson, L.C. (June 30, 2001). "JONES MAY LOOK TO WNBA FOR FUTURE". The Orlando Sentinel.
  55. ↑ Kaplan, Don (August 3, 1999). "STORM BREWING – WILL NBC SPORTSCASTER FIT GUMBEL'S GLASS SLIPPER?". New York Post.
  56. ↑ Hirsley, Michael (November 26, 1997). "NBC'S NEW NO. 1 TEAM IS COSTAS, THOMAS". Chicago Tribune.
  57. ↑ "NBC's Storm to Work the W.N.B.A." The New York Times. May 15, 1997.
  58. ↑ Hoffarth, Tom (February 2, 2012). "TOM HOFFARTH on MEDIA: Sunderland pushes forward in post-Laker career". Los Angeles Daily News.
  59. ↑ Stickney Jr., W.H. (June 16, 2001). "Notebook: After slow break-in, Johnson getting the hang of pro game". Houston Chronicle.
  60. ↑ Bracht, Mel (June 19, 1997). "Olbermann Remark Was No Conn Job Anchor Leaving ESPN to Live in New York". The Oklahoman. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  61. ↑ Barron, David (June 3, 2001). "TV/Radio Notebook: No surprise as Comets draw national exposure". Houston Chronicle.
  62. ↑ "Chris Wragge". CBS News. February 20, 2008.
Preceded by
League created
 WNBA network broadcast partner
1997–2002 		Succeeded by
ABC
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.