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- ESPN to air 12 games over nine weeks
- MLB deal ben restructured for this season
- WNBA and NWSL audiences are growing league-wide and on ESPN
ESPN will air live games from the National Women’s Basketball Association (WNBA) and National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in a primetime Sunday night slot on its main linear channel during the summer.
‘Women’s Sports Sundays’ will air across nine consecutive weeks and feature 12 live games. It fills a schedule gap left by Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Sunday Night Baseball and is designed to elevate interest in both leagues as well as ESPN’s wider women’s sports programming.
“Women’s sports are experiencing continued momentum, and Women’s Sports Sundays is ESPN’s next step in meeting that demand,” said Rosalyn Durant, ESPN executive vice president of programming and acquisitions.
“This franchise is about more than showcasing games — it’s about building a consistent, high-profile destination that reflects the passion, excellence and cultural impact of women’s sports today, while giving athletes and leagues the stage they deserve.”
The upcoming 2026 WNBA season is the first to be covered by new media rights deals that form part of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) 11-year US$75 billion contracts with Amazon, ESPN, and NBC.
All three broadcasters have WNBA games as part of their package, with the value of these games believed to be US$2.2 billion – or US$200 million a year. ESPN will air a minimum of 25 regular season contests, eight semi-final series and five WNBA finals over the lifetime of its contract.
Meanwhile, the Disney-owned pay-TV broadcaster will embark on the third year of a four year pact with the NWSL this summer. ESPN and ABC will air 36 live games during 2026, including all eight matches held on ‘Decision Day’, the league’s final round of the regular season. It will also air two quarterfinals and one semi-final in the postseason.
SportsPro says…
ESPN’s decision to create a dedicated programming block for North America’s two biggest women’s sports properties is partly the result of necessity given it gave up the rights to Sunday Night Baseball.
But it also reflects the rising value of women’s sport to its portfolio and the fact that the NWSL and WNBA are considered to be popular enough to replace America’s pastime in a prime slot on the main ESPN network.
In 2025, the WNBA recorded its most watched regular season since 1998, with an average of 969,000 viewers for nationally-televised games, with ESPN and ABC combining for an average of 1.3 million – an annual increase of six per cent. Meanwhile, viewership for the NWSL quadrupled in 2025 with ESPN recording a 72 per cent increase in its audience.
Wider exposure and more broadcast resources will help drive these figures even higher.
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