Major New WNBA Broadcast Partner Rumored Due To Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese's Success

ESPN has broadcast the WNBA Finals exclusively since 2003 and has exclusively aired the WNBA playoffs since 2016.

That may be changing.

A bombshell report from Sports Media Watch on Wednesday noted that ESPN, “sees ‘upside’ in having other broadcasters involved in carrying the WNBA Finals.”

Per the report, ESPN president of content Burke Magnus indicated “the (WNBA) Finals will continue to be ‘a component’ of ESPN’s deal, but suggested that alternating years with other rightsholders would be “a good thing for the ultimate continued growth and development and interest in the league.”

The report also suggests a new big-time broadcast partner will likely be interested in taking over the WNBA Finals due to the surge of interest in the league created by the arrivals of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.

"Yet given the number of viewership records the WNBA has set just in Caitlin Clark’s first six weeks in the league, it seems reasonable to expect the WNBA postseason to become a much more desirable property in the near-to-medium term," the report writes.

“John Ourand of Puck reported earlier this month that NBC is poised to pick up a ‘significant’ WNBA package in the new deal,” it adds.

In other words, the WNBA boom that Clark and Reese have created may have made NBC a future WNBA Finals broadcaster.

Related: ESPN Makes Controversial WNBA Finals Decision Amid Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese's Success

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