New International Television Deals Expand WNBA’s Global Presence as 2000 Season Tips Off

The 2000 Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) season tips off on Monday, May 29 with 45 telecasters signed on to broadcast WNBA games and programming to 158 countries in 23 different languages, it was announced today by Heidi Ueberroth, Executive Vice President of Global Media Properties and Marketing Partnerships, NBA Entertainment.

The WNBA is expanding its international presence for the 2000 season, up from last season’s programming which aired in 127 countries.

‘We attribute the increasing international television exposure of the WNBA to the rising popularity of basketball on a global basis,’ said Ueberroth. ‘We plan to provide fans around the world with exciting WNBA action all season long through regular season games, special programming and post-season play.’

These numbers mark the largest global audience the WNBA has ever reached and includes first time deals completed with several overseas networks such as Meridiano Televison in Venezuela, Eurosport France and NTA in Nigeria, the largest regional broadcaster in its country.

The new multi-year agreements with Meridiano Television and NTA include rights to regular-season matchups and postseason contests, the WNBA All-Star Game on July 17 in Phoenix, and the League’s championship series. The networks will also air ‘WNBA Action,’ a weekly half hour game-highlights program and two WNBA specials, including a season preview and a post-season review. Eurosport France’s deal consists solely of rights to ‘WNBA Action.’

As of Wednesday, May 24, there are 47 international players on WNBA training camp rosters, and five of the 16 first-round draft picks in the recent WNBA draft were foreign-born players. This year’s top draft pick, Ann Wauters, who was selected by the Cleveland Rockers, is a native of Belgium.

The WNBA is currently in its fourth season and has three national broadcast partners in the United States – NBC, ESPN and Lifetime – which each carry a live, prime-time game-of-the-week during the season. The league has experienced dramatic and continued growth during its existence – starting with eight teams in its first season (1997), expanding to 10 teams in 1998 and 12 in 1999. In 2000, the WNBA has expanded by four additional teams for a total of 16. The new teams are the Indiana Fever, Miami Sol, Portland Fire and Seattle Storm.

For further information please contact:

Laura Traynham; WNBA
Tel: 212-407-8095
E-mail: ltraynham@nba.com