ESPN's Sara Gaiero: Broadcasting the WNBA In Its 25th Season Is A Great Responsibility New season will open in REMI workflows with hopes of getting more resources to site throughout the year By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Friday, May 14, 2021 - 1:32 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
It's a milestone year for the WNBA. Heading into its twenty fifth season, the WNBA and its broadcast partners at ESPN, CBS Sports, and NBA TV are ready for a year of not only celebration but significant momentum for the league.
The WNBA tips off with four games on Friday evening but, for ESPN, the year begins with a nationally-broadcast doubleheader on ABC on Saturday afternoon (Chicago Sky visits the Washington Mystics at 1 p.m. ET followed by Las Vegas Aces at Seattle Storm at 3 p.m. ET).
The Worldwide Leader has been side-by-side with the WNBA since the league first debuted in 1997 and for those working on those game broadcasts today, its an opportunity that the crew behind the scenes relishes.
It's an awesome moment for all of the people here that work on the WNBA, says Sara Gaiero, senior managing producer, ESPN. It's tremendous to think that for 25 years, we've been part of bringing this sport to our fan base. To see the growth of the sport and to see how the athletes have evolved and become so strong and powerful with their voices on and off the court has been truly amazing to watch over the 25 years. It's just an honor. It's a great honor and I take great responsibility in doing right by the W and this sport and finding ways throughout the season to celebrate this league through our production. It's just a great responsibility to be leading this initiative this year.
ESPN will open the season relying largely on REMI (or at home ) production workflows with live games being cut from either of ESPN's facilities in Bristol or Charlotte. That includes the Live from Home model that allow on-air announcers and analysts to call games from their own set ups at their homes.
There's plenty of familiarity there as WNBA has been produced this way for many years at the network, but Gaiero says that as COVID vaccination rates increase/COVID-19 cases decline and more arenas across the league open up, the goal is to ramp up those on-site resources.
It's our intention to get our crew out to site, she says, but we are keeping health and safety in the forefront of all of our decision making. We're still very mindful of what's going on around us. I think this provides us the opportunity to make enhancements that we can roll it out where it makes sense and learn from what we've done and then make improvements upon that. I do think that it'll be different come September, October.
ESPN also has plans in place to develop a slate of features and interviews to celebrate the first 25 years of the WNBA. One date on the schedule that Gaiero says to keep an eye on is the showdown between the New York Liberty and the Los Angeles Sparks on June 20. Its a meeting of the two teams that played in the very first WNBA game nearly 25 years to the date on June 21, 1997. We're earmarking that as our ultimate celebration of everything that has happened in the 25 years of this league, she says.
When reflecting on the 25 years of the WNBA one would be ill-advised to neglect the impact of ESPN's Vice President, Women's Sports Programming and Acquisitions Carol Stiff. A veteran of ESPN for more than 30 years, Stiff leads the networks's efforts in the WNBA and NCAA women's basketball and played a critical role in first bringing women's basketball to the national television masses. She is also slated to be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame as a part of its 2021 class.
[Carol] was there Day One that this league started and it's her advocacy of this league and of this sport and her constant persistence to push for visibility that have made such a huge difference, says Gaeiro. All of that is why we're here celebrating 25 years. She's been an amazing person behind the scenes for this league and we wouldn't be here if she wasn't who she is. She is truly a legend and I'm so grateful to be able to work with her.
The WNBA season at ESPN begins with a doubleheader on ABC this Saturday. Chicago Sky visits the Washington Mystics at 1 p.m. ET followed by Las Vegas Aces at Seattle Storm at 3 p.m. ET.
North America Stories
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming infrastructure, and Akamai, the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business onli...
04/06/2026
American Underground (AU), the Startup Hub of the South and a community of mor...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
NVIDIA and Microsoft Reinvent Windows PCs for the Age of Personal AI
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
RTX Spark - a 1-Petaflop Superchip, the Full...
04/06/2026
Inside the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man Grade
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
Simone Grattarola discusses shaping the look in DaVinci Resolve...
04/06/2026
Cine Gear Expo Announces 2026 Awards of Excellence Recipients
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
Ed Lachman ASC, Caleb Deschanel ASC, and M. David M...
04/06/2026
St. Vincents Live with Orchestra Tour to Feature Berklee Alum Ruby Plume Berklee alumni St. Vincent and Ruby Plume will appear on the same bill across seven d...
04/06/2026
June's forecast with GeForce NOW: 100% chance of gaming.
GeForce NOW is lining up new adventures for the month, from big-name blockbusters to quirky indies...
03/06/2026
SES and Viva, Mexico's ultra low-cost airline, have launched multi-orbit satellite inflight connectivity on Viva's Airbus aircraft. A total of 60 A320s ...
03/06/2026
The College Football Playoff, ESPN, and TNT Sports have announced kick times and...
03/06/2026
RED Digital Cinema will exhibit at Cine Gear Expo 2026 (Booth 33, June 5-6, Universal Studios Lot), hosting three panels and hands-on product demonstrations.
P...
03/06/2026
Roku has announced the Soccer Zone, a dedicated hub for FIFA World Cup 2026 content available across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argent...
03/06/2026
Liverpool FC and Wasabi Technologies have announced a multi-year extension of their partnership, with Wasabi continuing as the club's official cloud storage...
03/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced that Australian News Channel (ANC), operator of Sky News Australia, has deployed Grass Valley AMPP as part of the relocation of its n...
03/06/2026
The Riedel Group has announced the appointment of Gudrun Scharler as CEO of Riedel Networks. She succeeds Michael Martens, who has led Riedel Networks since 201...
03/06/2026
Clear-Com has announced the deployment of its intercom solutions at Itaka Arena ...
03/06/2026
Scott Coker has announced six senior executive appointments for his new global MMA promotion, which launched earlier this year with $60 million in financing. Ad...
03/06/2026
Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the FIFA World Cup 2026, has announced its digital and social media programming for the tournament, running Ju...
03/06/2026
The Bundesliga has announced the launch of Captain, an AI assistant built into t...
03/06/2026
Anthony James Partners (AJP) is serving as technology consultant for a moderniza...
03/06/2026
Audio-Technica has announced the recipients of its annual sales rep firm awards for the 2025-26 fiscal year. The awards were presented by Jim Schanz, Executive ...
03/06/2026
iodyne will exhibit at Cine Gear Expo 2026 alongside RED Digital Cinema and Adob...
03/06/2026
The broadcaster will deploy 39 cameras for game coverage, six cameras for studio...
03/06/2026
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is providing a great opportunity for not only Fox Sports...
03/06/2026
Sony Electronics is introducing the SRG-AS10, a 4K 60p compatible PTZ Auto Framing camera that uses Sony's proprietary AI to automatically recognize and tra...
03/06/2026
Game Creek Video's Flagship A, B, C, and D unit will wind up its first year ...
03/06/2026
According to Caretta Research, the sports-rights market may be hitting the brake...
03/06/2026
Retrieval still courtesy of Tribeca.
By Jessica Herndon
This year, the Tribeca...
03/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/06/2026
For more than three decades, Re-recording Mixer Andrew Wilson, AMPS, CAS, has helped bring the natural world to the screen with exceptional audio enjoyed by mil...
03/06/2026
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will showcase its latest innovations for modern AV production environments at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N...
03/06/2026
DPA Microphones will present a comprehensive portfolio of integrated audio solutions designed to meet the evolving needs of today's professional AV environm...
03/06/2026
Lightware announces the GVN-HC-TX220AP, a new transmitter in the Gemini GVN 1G AV-over-IP family that introduces full-featured USB-C for professional 1Gb AV-ove...
03/06/2026
Evergent, the customer management and monetization leader for streaming and digital subscription businesses, and Minno, the global leader in faith-based content...
03/06/2026
Alfalite, Europe's only LED display manufacturer, has completed a new broadcast installation with the deployment of two UHD Finepix 1.5 MATIX AlfaCOB LED di...
03/06/2026
Broadcast Solutions, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is completing a contract to build eight...
03/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
ESPN's Sara Gaiero: Broadcasting the WNBA In Its 25th Season Is A Great Responsibility New season will open in REMI workflows with hopes of getting more resources to site throughout the year By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
