Napheesa Collier will not play in the WNBA Finals from tonightbut his shadow will be everywhere in Phoenix and Las Vegas. It was one thing for a player with Collier’s resume — a perennial WNBA All-Star, successful startup creator with Unrivaled and college champion at UConn — to complain about the state of her league. It’s an entirely different proposition when such a player publicly denounces her sports league on multiple issues, concluding that the WNBA has the “worst leadership in the world.»
As part of that scorched-earth comment, Collier said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told her this about viewer unicorn Caitlin Clark: “Caitlin should be grateful that she made $16 million off the court, because without the platform the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t win anything.” (Engelbert responded in part in a statement: “I am disheartened by the way Napheesa has characterized our conversations and the direction of the league, but even when our perspectives differ, my commitment to the players and to this work will not waver.”)
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If Patrick Mahomes had made such a comment about NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, ESPN would probably create an extra hour in the day so it could have a 25-hour news cycle to discuss it. They would also be right to do so. Tim Corrigan, senior vice president of sports production for ESPN and head of production for ESPN’s WNBA coverage, recognized the story’s obvious importance. He said he sees it as something that needs to be discussed before games — and then you judge whether it happens during games based on the play.
“When you’re covering live events, it’s a story until something else happens beyond the field or the next possession,” Corrigan said. “It has to be on everyone’s mind, that’s for sure, but we’re not going to try to make it a bigger deal if it doesn’t play out during the show itself.”
“I don’t think we’re trying to shy away from talking about it,” said Rebecca Lobo, ESPN’s senior women’s basketball analyst. “Ryan (Ruocco) talked about a lot of these topics in a podcast with Sue Bird. I’m ready to talk about it. I think in-game it can get a little tricky. Like Game 5, for example, with the Fever-Aces. I’m about to talk about the fifth call to Aliyah Boston, which I don’t think was a serious mistake. So I’m about to go, and Kelsey Mitchell comes down, and it’s a different story. Unless it’s the right time in a game, I don’t know if we’ll have time to dedicate to a topic that maybe deserves more than 10 or 15 seconds of thought. None of we’re hesitant to share our opinions, but I think during the match it’s really going to be dictated by the action.
Corrigan said the league never asked him to avoid discussing the referees or the commissioner.
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The focus of the WNBA Finals will rightly be on A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young, Chelesea Gray and company returning to the finals in Las Vegas, and the Big Three (Alyssa Thomas, Satou Sabally and Kahleah Copper) of a Mercury group. ESPN has a huge opportunity during this series to prove that it is more than just an advertising tool for women’s basketball.
The goal of this year’s WNBA Finals coverage should be to transform the discussion of what appears to be a great series with talking pieces about what Collier has brought to the forefront. What she highlighted is an issue that impacts the league well beyond this series, which begins at 8 p.m. ET Friday night in Las Vegas, airing on ESPN.
Here is the full schedule from ESPN TV:
The league arrives with audience dynamics. ESPN said Game 5 of the Las Vegas-Indiana series averaged 1.8 million viewers, the most-watched semifinal game in 27 years. The 2025 semifinals were up 57 percent from last year, and the entire WNBA playoffs to this point have averaged 1.1 million viewers, up 15 percent from last year.
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The biggest change for ESPN/ABC this year is that the Finals expanded to a best-of-seven series. What will be the same is the longtime main broadcast team of Ruocco, Lobo and reporter Holly Rowe. Lead producer Ian Gruca and lead director Adam Bryant return to their roles. ESPN Deportes will provide exclusive Spanish-language coverage of the final with Julia Headley providing play-by-play and Antonio RodrĂguez providing analysis.
“I love the way Ryan, Rebecca and Holly feel through a game, and they’ve built this catalog of experiences that they’ve had collectively while doing this,” Corrigan said. “I just can’t imagine a better group to call these games, more prepared and more passionate.”
As for studio programming, “WNBA Countdown” will be present at every game, with Elle Duncan hosting alongside Chiney Ogwumike and Andraya Carter. A one-hour pregame show will air before each game, providing more time for storytelling and features.
ESPN’s daily basketball show, “NBA Today,” will air for the first time since the WNBA Finals. ESPN’s Malika Andrews will host from the site, alongside Monica McNutt and Ogwumike. ESPN’s YouTube channel will feature a closing show featuring Sam Ravech, Ari Chambers, Carolyn Peck, Taylor Tannebaum, Courtney Cronin and Maria Marino. The proximity between Las Vegas and Phoenix offers everyone much more convenience.
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As for production elements, coverage will feature 20 cameras and the usual standards, such as in-game audio, end-of-quarter player interviews and advanced tools including a shallow depth of field camera, telestration and virtual graphics. For the first time, ESPN will debut 3-point shot distance technology for coverage of the WNBA Finals, allowing viewers to see the distance of attempts beyond 26 feet, similar to the technology used on ESPN’s NBA broadcasts.
“Whether it’s the men’s or women’s game, it’s so impressive to see how easily these people shoot from that distance,” Corrigan said. “I hope it reminds people watching it that the next time you’re near a court, measure 26 feet from the basket and tell me how easy it is for you to put the ball in the hoop. It’s so much further than you think, and it’s a testament to the level of skill, strength and coordination of these professional athletes.”
Corrigan did not name specific people who might appear in ESPN’s coverage. Diana Taurasi, with whom the company has a long-standing relationship, given her career and work in the audiovisual field, would be an obvious choice.
“There are a bunch of people that are under consideration, and of course, how could you not consider Diana Taurasi,” Corrigan said. “We have so much respect for her and have been able to document her career from the moment she arrived on campus in Storrs (Conn.) to her fabulous professional Hall of Fame career.”
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Anyone who has watched ESPN/ABC NFL Draft coverage in recent years knows you’ll find more softball being played during a Mike Greenberg. Goodell interview than in Central Park in New York on a summer Sunday. (We won’t even get into Fox Sports when it comes to questioning anything about FIFA, because that production might as well be an arm of the world football body.) The game on the pitch will sell itself.
Among other things, ESPN should make an effort to interview Englebert during the finale and press her on important topics. The company deserves all the credit for contributing to the development of the sport, but this is the moment where it can separate itself as the broadcast entity covering the league.
This article was originally published in Athletics.
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