ESPN's Sara Gaiero: Broadcasting the WNBA In Its 25th Season Is A Great Responsibility
14/05/2021
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.
LINK: | https://www.sportsvideo.org/2021/05/14/espns-sara-gaiero-broadcasting-... |
See more stories from svg |
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet Appoints Santiago Solanas as CEO to Lead Next Era of Growth and Innovation
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet and Veritone Reach Agreement to Distribute, Transact and Monetize Media Archives
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
28/04/2024
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with URSA Broadcast G2
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with U...
25/04/2024
Peacock Subs Jump 55% YoY to 34M in Q1 2024
PHILADELPHIA Comcast beat earnings estimates in its Q1 2024 financial report, as streaming losses continued to decline and Peacock's paid subscribers spiked...
25/04/2024
Seattle Kraken Inks Deals with Tegna and Prime Video
SEATTLE The Seattle Kraken have inked new multi-year agreements with Tegna and Prime Video that will expand access to their games over broadcast stations and st...
25/04/2024
Opinion: charting a cloud driven future
M2A Medias Matt Hughes asks, is it time for news broadcasting to shift to the cloud? By Contributor Published: April 25, 2024 M2A Media's Matt Hughes ...
25/04/2024
Cintel Scanner G3 HDR+ Restores Egypt's Cinema Treasures to Their Former Glory
Cintel Scanner G3 HDR Restores Egypt's Cinema Treasures to Their Former Glo...
25/04/2024
Sinclair Names Kevin Coskren Chief Meteorologist at KTUL Tulsa
Sinclair Broadcast Group said it named Kevin Coskren chief meteorologist at KTUL, its ABC affiliate in Tulsa, Oklahoma....
25/04/2024
Attend The Business of TV News Event in D.C. on May 2
The Business of TV News, a new one-day event featuring Martha Raddatz, Shannon Bream, Glenn Kirschner and other major figures in television news, happens at Hot...
25/04/2024
Problematic FCC Conditions On Station Sale Could Create Detroit Drama
Conditions put on the proposed sale of WADL Detroit, to Mission Broadcasting have created a potential drama in the Motor City....
25/04/2024
TelevisaUnivision 1Q Loss Widens But DTC Business Expected To Turn Profit in Second Half
TelevisaUnivision reported a $52 million loss in the first quarter, up from $3 m...
25/04/2024
Comcast Earnings Flat As Video, Broadband Sub Losses Continue
Comcast reported flat first-quarter earnings as it reduced the red ink at Peacock but continued to lose video and broadband customers....
25/04/2024
Vevo Brings Music Videos To Telly's Dual Screen TVs
Music-video network Vevo said it launched its app on Telly, the company offering consumers free dual-screen TVs in return for data about what they're watchi...
25/04/2024
Future Today Redesigns Streaming App Interfaces
Future Today said it has introduced a redesigned user interface for about half of its 300 streaming apps, including Fawesome, HappyKids and iFood.TV....
25/04/2024
Czech mates
The writer and director of a hit Czech series tell Robert Shepherd about their approach to portraying real-life Pakistani kidnappings on the small screen, while...
25/04/2024
Molinaire Creative Group opens new Liverpool facility
Notorious DIT will work with the Liverpool Film Office to increase opportunities for regional talent By Matthew Corrigan Published: April 25, 2024 Notorio...
25/04/2024
Deutsche Telekom Powers New MagentaTV Service With Broadp...
Broadpeak , a leading provider of content delivery network (CDN) and video streaming solutions for content providers and pay-TV operators worldwide, announced t...
25/04/2024
Lightware Enhances Microsoft Teams Rooms with Powerful BY...
Lightware Visual Engineering, a leading manufacturer of connectivity solutions for the professional integrated systems market and a pioneer in signal management...
25/04/2024
Net Insight secures collaboration with DMC Production to...
Net Insight has entered into a collaboration with DMC Production that positions Net Insight at the forefront of sports broadcasting in the Nordics. Net Insight ...
25/04/2024
GlobalM and scoopa announce strategic partnership to faci...
GlobalM has announced a strategic partnership with scoopa, the specialists in broadcast-quality content distribution, offering a complementary service for live ...
25/04/2024
DDish TV LLC Chooses PlayBox Neo Channel-in-a-Box for Bro...
PlayBox Neo announces the completion of a new multichannel playout system for the DDish direct-to-home satellite television network in Mongolia. Based in the na...
25/04/2024
Legendary Producer Garth Richardson Chooses PMC Monitors...
Canadian music producer and engineer Garth Richardson also known as Gggarth due to his stutter - has embraced immersive audio by installing a PMC monitoring s...
25/04/2024
Televisa transforms its broadcast ecosystem with proven t...
Leading video software provider Synamedia today announced that Televisa, the Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company, has chosen Synamedia as its pa...
25/04/2024
OTTera partners with ThinkAnalytics to enhance personaliz...
OTTera, a leading provider of end-to-end OTT and FAST channel solutions, proudly announces its strategic partnership with ThinkAnalytics, a global leader in adv...
25/04/2024
Perfect Weather Forecast for American Tobacco Events Tonight and Saturday
The American Tobacco Campus will be hopping with activity tonight and this weekend with two fun events! Durham Night Market At last! The Durham Night Market i...
25/04/2024
Qurate Launches The Big Dish on The Roku Channel
WEST CHESTER, Pa. Video commerce provider Qurate Retail Group has launched The Big Dish, a new culinary-themed FAST channel on The Roku Channel....
25/04/2024
HPA Opens Submissions for 2024 HPA Engineering Excellence Awards
LOS ANGELES The Hollywood Professional Association has announced that submissions for the 2024 HPA Engineering Excellence Awards are now being accepted. This re...
25/04/2024
DV Earns MRC Accreditation for CTV Viewability
NEW YORK The digital media measurement and analytics firm DoubleVerify has announced that it has received Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for Video Vie...
25/04/2024
DAZN FAST Channels to Launch on Tubi
SAN FRANCISCO Fox Corp.'s ad-supported streaming service Tubi has announced a licensing agreement with the sports platform DAZN that will see DAZN Ringside ...
25/04/2024
IAB Makes Three Appointments to Its Leadership Team
NEW YORK In the runup to the 2024 IAB NewFronts, the IAB has announced three key appointments to its leadership team....
25/04/2024
Epic Games releases Unreal Engine 5.4 with new Motion Design Mode, Unreal VCam for Android, and more
Epic Games releases Unreal Engine 5.4 with new Motion Design Mode, Unreal VCam f...
25/04/2024
Content Creation, Production, Distribution Is In a State of Flux
Content Creation, Production, Distribution Is In a State of Flux Andy Marken April 24, 2024 0 Comments My empathy is creeping towards what I would de...
25/04/2024
Capitol Broadcasting Company to Air Carolina Panthers Games on Triangle's Strongest Broadcast Signal
The Carolina Panthers and Capitol Broadcasting Company (CBC) announced they have...
25/04/2024
Berklee Student Riko Sasaski Named 2024 Yamaha Young Performing Artist
Berklee Student Riko Sasaski Named 2024 Yamaha Young Performing Artist The accomplished saxophonist secured a spot among the elite winners of this year's ...
25/04/2024
Local News Close-Up: St. Louis Born and Bred
Stations everywhere take pride in having a main anchor who comes from the market they represent. That applies in St. Louis, too, but it also pertains to general...
25/04/2024
Edward Moody Joins WBTW Myrtle Beach Anchor Team
Edward Moody is joining the WBTW Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, anchor crew, and will anchor the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts alongside Trish Williford. He comes f...
25/04/2024
MTV Moving VMAs To New UBS Arena in New York
MTV said the 2024 Video Music Awards will return to New York and take place at the new UBS Arena....
25/04/2024
Offbeat Comedy The Outlaws' Returns to Prime Video Next Month
Season three of comedy The Outlaws premieres on Prime Video May 31. Stephen Merchant co-created the show, and stars. There are five episodes....
25/04/2024
Bidders Interested in Buying Bounce, Says Scripps CEO Adam Symson
The E.W. Scripps Co. is evaluating offers for Bounce, its multicast channel for African-American viewers, according to a report from CNBC....
25/04/2024
Paramount Plus Renews Dora'
Paramount Plus has ordered a second season for Dora, the animated preschool show based on Dora the Explorer. The show, featuring Dora on a rainforest adventure ...
25/04/2024
Let the Pleasure Begin: Doctor Climax' and Its Steamy Q&A Column Debut June 13
Back to All News Let the Pleasure Begin: Doctor Climax' and Its Steamy Q&A...
25/04/2024
Netflix Joins 'The Thursday Murder Club'
Back to All News Netflix Joins The Thursday Murder Club Entertainment 25 April 2024 Global Link copied to clipboard Writer, Director: Chris Columbus Prod...
25/04/2024
IBM Transforms the Storage Ownership Experience with IBM Storage Assurance
LONDON, UK, April 25, 2024 IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced new storage capabilities that give clients choice and control in the data center to maximise perfor...
25/04/2024
Socio-ecological impact through reuse of IT hardware
Social and Ecological Impact through Reuse of IT Hardware Social & green IT: Arvato Systems and AfB Securing three jobs for people with disabilities Savings...
25/04/2024
Prison Journalism: Understanding recidivism in South African prisons
Prison Journalism: Understanding recidivism in South African prisonsDean Mashimbwe, a Zimbabwean migrant residing in Cape Town, was incarcerated at Pollsmoor Co...
25/04/2024
Prison Journalism: A glimpse inside Barberton Prison
Prison Journalism: A glimpse inside Barberton PrisonJean-Pierre Le-Roux is a divorced father of two beautiful children. He was incarcerated for 20 months for po...
25/04/2024
Riverside Studios presents world premiere of MOFFIE' stage play
Riverside Studios presents world premiere of MOFFIE' stage play MOFFIE delves into toxic masculinity and trauma in post-apartheid South Africa, reflecting...
25/04/2024
Tonight on Skeem Saam: Kobus assigns Pretty a big case
Tonight on Skeem Saam: Kobus assigns Pretty a big caseDon't miss Thuresday, 25 April's riveting episode of South African soapie Skeem Saam on SABC 1 on ...
25/04/2024
AMATEUR DRAMA TAKES CENTRE STAGE AS RT ALL IRELAND DRAMA FESTIVAL LAUNCHES IN THE ABBEY THEATRE
Amateur drama took centre stage as the All Ireland Drama Festival was officially...