WNBA on NBC

WNBA on NBC is an American television sports presentation show broadcast by NBC. It aired from June 21, 1997 to August 31, 2002. The consist of branding used for presentation of Women's National Basketball Association.

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 seasons	6
Production
Executive producer	Dick Ebersol[1]
Producer	Molly Solomon[2]
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	120 minutes+
Production company	NBC Sports
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	June 21, 1997 (1997-06-21) – August 31, 2002 (2002-08-31)
Related
WNBA on ABC NBA on NBC

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] Coverage of the WNBA on NBC is set to return in 2026 following along with the return of the NBA on NBC.^[9][10]

History

On June 27, 1996, NBC Sports was announced as the WNBA's first national broadcaster.^[11] 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^[12][13] to the league's teams. A more rock-oriented variant^[14] of John Tesh's theme, "Roundball Rock" introduced by NBC to coincide with the debut of the WNBA.

NBC^[15] nationally televised the first^[16] WNBA game on June 21, 1997. The game featured the New York Liberty facing the Los Angeles Sparks^[17] in Los Angeles. For NBC's final season with the WNBA in 2002,^[18] they again began their season's worth of coverage on Memorial Day weekend^[19] with the Liberty^[20] and Sparks.^[21] NBC would proceed to televise WNBA games on Saturday^[22][23][24] and Sunday^[25] afternoons culminating in the Championship game on August 30.^[26][27]

On July 23, 2024, NBC parent company Comcast confirmed in a conference call with its investors that NBC Sports had secured an agreement with the WNBA on an 11-year media rights deal beginning in the 2026 season, marking the WNBA's return to NBC after a 24-year absence.^[9] An official announcement of the agreement was released by the NBA and NBC the following day, alongside other deals with incumbents ABC/ESPN and Amazon.^[28][29] The agreement will see games broadcast on NBC, USA Network and streamed on Peacock.^[30][31] NBC will also gain exclusive broadcast rights to seven WNBA semifinals series and three WNBA Finals series.^[29]

Ratings

NBC Sports' broadcast of the inaugural WNBA game between the Liberty and Sparks received a 3.8 overnight national rating.^[32] This would also serve as NBC's highest rated WNBA game.^[33] Although NBC's end-of-season average^[34] for 1999 was even with 1998's average, viewership had actually increased from 1,540,000 households in 1998^[35] to 1,607,000 in 1999. On the same token however, Nielsen ratings for NBC broadcasts of WNBA games slipped^[36] from 2 million households reached in 1997—the WNBA's inaugural season—to 1.5 million in 1999.^[37]

The average rating for the first 9 of the 10^[38] WNBA games NBC carried in the 2001 season^[39] was only 1.1, compared to a 2.0 rating its first season.^[40]

WNBA Finals coverage

See also: List of WNBA Finals broadcasters

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, which would be NBC's last WNBA telecast to date until 2026. NBC will gain exclusive broadcast rights to three WNBA Finals series in 2026, 2030, and 2034.^[29]

Announcers

See also: List of current Women's National Basketball Association broadcasters

During the WNBA's first season on NBC, the primary announcing team consisted of Hannah Storm^[41] calling the play-by-play^[42][43] with Ann Meyers doing the color commentary and Lisa Malosky assuming the role as sideline reporter.^[44] The following year, Storm receded her lead play-by-play duties to Tom Hammond,^[45] who would call NBC's coverage of the WNBA Finals with Ann Meyers in 1998^[46][47] and in 2000. For the 1999 season and 2001 seasons, NBC used Mike Breen^[48] 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.

• Bruce Beck^[49] (sideline reporter)
• Mike Breen^[50][51] (play-by-play)
• Tom Hammond (play-by-play)
• Dan Hicks^[52] (studio host)
• Marion Jones^[53][54] (sideline reporter)
• Andrea Joyce^[55] (sideline reporter)
• Ann Meyers^[56] (color commentary)
• Lisa Malosky (sideline reporter)
• Ahmad Rashad^[57] (studio host)
• Summer Sanders^[58][59] (sideline reporter)
• Beth Ruyak^[60] (studio host)
• Hannah Storm^[61] (play-by-play,^[62][63] studio host)
• Paul Sunderland^[64][65] (play-by-play)
• Al Trautwig^[66] (sideline reporter)
• Chris Wragge^[67][68] (sideline reporter, studio host)