The WNBA has made huge strides in recent years. With demand for the sport growing the supply of easy access has become a key topic of conversation.
In March, ESPN announced that it will be highlighting the 27th annual season with 25 national broadcasts of regular season games across its family of networks, as well as the playoffs. The deal ends in 2025.
On April 20, the WNBA inked yet another multiyear television deal, this one with Ion. The network plans to televise Friday night regular season games.
The Athletic reported that, while terms and details were not disclosed, the contract is in direct line with their current TV rights deal through ESPN and will also end in 2025. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Englebert declined to reveal the value, but said it's "a significant rights fee."
Here's what you need to know about the deal, as well as what this means for the league and the benefits it'll bring.
WNBA's new TV deal, explained
The plan between the WNBA and Ion to televise Friday night regular season games equates to 44 games over 15 weeks, starting after opening weekend, between May 26 to Sept. 8.
Ion, which was bought by E.W. Scripps in 2020, is still new to the world of national sports television rights, having just launched its sports division in December. Ion is the fifth largest network in the country according to CEO Adam Symson. The network reaches 103 million homes through a connected TV and has 79 million paid subscribers.
The format is based on how the NFL does their beloved Sunday afternoons: a national game will be broadcast across the country as the week's biggest matchup.
"If I were to ask somebody like me like, ‘When’s the WNBA on ESPN next?’ (there would be silence),” Symson said.
“But I can absolutely tell you because it’s been proven from the rise and power of what the NFL has done with broadcast that creating a franchise night dedicated to that game through the season creates a lot of momentum."
"So the WNBA spotlight on Ion will be that focus.”
3 reasons why the WNBA's new TV deal with Ion is a win
Appointment Viewing
The growing interest in women's sports, especially women's basketball, has made the WNBA a hotspot for growth. Symson told The Athletic several reasons why the network decided to scribe a partnership, the biggest one being that its fans ultimately deserve better.
I think it's time for women's sports to be showcased in a way that its fans deserve. It's time for the league, the owners and the players to have a platform where they can showcase the athleticism and the drama that is the WNBA. More than half of the American audience is female, ... it's time for them to be able to see on television themselves competing at the highest level.
The partnership is aiming to achieve this through appointment viewing. They want to make viewing the WNBA on Friday nights on Ion a habit that people come to favor as they do with other leagues.
It'll be like how the NFL orchestrates its beloved Sunday afternoons and the NBA has become synonymous with Thursday nights on TNT. There will be scheduled broadcasts, allowing fans to know what to expect and at what times so they can literally add it to their calendar.
Sure, ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC will be carrying 25 national broadcasts and running playoff coverage, but there is no consistency behind the schedule in place. Right now, it's not stated which teams will fill those 25 slots and when.
Wider brand exposure
The consistency of the schedule because of the deal will lead to exposure. Which is what fans have been pushing for since day one. It also helps that Ion already exists in over 100 million homes.
If my math is correct (and I didn't major in math so bear with me), the increase in broadcasts will increase access and in turn open the door for many people who haven't given a second thought to the WNBA before. It will put the WNBA on a higher platter, closer to where the top men's leagues reside.
Ion's deal allows the WNBA to not put all of its eggs in a singular basket, either. Before, they were solely relying on what one broadcast giant could do for them. Now, they have two in their corner, balancing the scales.
Proof of Concept
This deal is a great demonstration for proof of concept, showing the world that, hey if you invest in the WNBA, it'll be feasible and in turn, it could even invest back in you.
Remember when people said the NFL's Thursday night football proposal would fail? Now Amazon has jumped on the bandwagon giving them a gross amount of money.
MORE: NFL's new TV rights deals, explained: What $100 billion package means for fans in 2023 and beyond
The WNBA will be able to take this package they created with Ion, a completely separate entity from its package with ESPN, out to market in 2025 and, therefore, make a completely different stream of revenue that will impact its future decisions.
The amount of exposure and level of consistency turn the proof of concept into something that could actually change the way the league has been portrayed through its first quarter of a century.
The much-needed spike in revenue could lead to better salaries and benefits for the players so that Diana Taurasi is making paychecks a step closer in equivalency to Stephen Curry.
And who knows, maybe we could see new teams in the coming years because of this deal — Englebert told hinted that the league will be working on its next deal in roughly the next year and a half and expansion remains at the forefront of the conversation.
The passing of the baton from people like Sue Bird and Sylvia Fowles, who have retired, to Taurasi and Candace Parker, who are at the peak of their careers, to A'ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, who are stirring up talk online with their banger performances, to rookies like Rhyne Howard and Aliyah Boston, who are emerging from their cocoons, will create a whole new family of fans that value what the league brings to the table.
It's one thing to create these stars, but with this new TV deal in place, the WNBA is hoping even more people can see them.