The WNBA set several presence and popularity records during its normal year, as Caitlin Clark led a marked course of rookies-turned-stars. The group will then look to keep its momentum while airing alongside the NFL, the biggest interest hog in American sports.
All four first-round line will begin this Sunday, with Clark’s Indiana Fever facing the Connecticut Sun at 3 p. m. ET on ABC. While the Iowa striking has developed a national—if never international—audience, it’s worth noting that the Indianapolis Colts play the Chicago Bears at 1 p. m. Sunday. The NFL’s 4 p.m. ET stone, which features a roughly regional spread of the Dallas Cowboys hosting the Baltimore Ravens with Tom Brady in the hall, may clash with the Fever-Sun affair’s earlier rounds.

Up to 13 WNBA playoff game could be played against professional football competition depending on how all of the line play outside.
In component, the NFL has become virtually essential, with game spread across Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays. ESPN’s sites, however, are swamped with college basketball on Sundays. Another pastimes—from the World Series to political debates—have contorted themselves to prevent competing with professional pigskin, but many individual factors contributed to the WNBA’s scheduling decisions.
For one thing, this year’s Olympic break extended the postseason by more than a week, but it also provided that its champion would be crowned before the start of the NBA regular season ( the NBA owns 50 % of the WNBA ). There will be a solitary moment between the end of the season and the start of the men’s promotion if the WNBA Finals get a whole five games.
The best prospects for ESPN to win subscription on its sister spread network, ABC, have also been provided by weekends. A report 3.44 million people tuned into July’s All-Star Game on ABC on a Saturday, for instance.
ESPN’s head of professional baseball and fight sports programming and mergers, Matt Kenny, said,” We think Sunday is our best chance to showcase the WNBA playoffs on broadcast.” There is a strong argument that there could be a random effect this year, more so than ever, when you have so many people in front of screens at a specific time.
The rest of the Fever’s first-round matchup is scheduled to take place on Wednesday and Friday ( if necessary ), avoiding marquee counterprogramming.
In the finals, but, game two is slated to air on the same Tuesday as the U. S. Vice Presidential debate and the first day of MLB playoff actions, one of the limited times not overrun with sports.
Viewers are likely to remain finding the game despite the attention-spending war that has dominated the WNBA this year. Each game will begin at various periods, giving viewers the opportunity to watch the action from all angles.
” We start talking about the postseason windows in certain a time in enhance,” Kenny said. ” We collaborate with the WNBA to actually find the best possible plan across broadcast and cable while navigating one of the busiest days of the activities timeline.”

With brand development and a new collection of media agreements likely to change the varied process, the group will have options to further study with its playoff schedule in the upcoming years.
Across 24 games, ESPN’s regular season WNBA games averaged 1.2 million viewers this year, up 170 % from 2023.
Last year’s WNBA Finals, including two Sunday games, averaged 728, 000 viewers, making it the league’s most-watched championship series in 20 years.
” There clearly is greater demand than ever before”, Kenny said. ” And so we’re not afraid of competition, we embrace competition. We want to use the biggest megaphone to the fullest extent possible to raise awareness for the WNBA.
The first two games of each of the four first-round series game times and TV channels were made available on Thursday night by the WNBA and ESPN…
Sunday, Sept. 22Atlanta Dream@New York Liberty, 1 p. m. ET ( ESPN)
Indiana Fever@Connecticut Sun, 3 p. m. ET ( ABC )
Phoenix Mercury@Minnesota Lynx, 5 p. m. ET ( ESPN)
Seattle Storm@Las Vegas Aces, 10 p. m. ET ( ESPN)
Tuesday, Sept. 24Atlanta Dream@New York Liberty, 7: 30 p. m. ET ( ESPN)
Seattle Storm@Las Vegas Aces, 9: 30 p. m. ET ( ESPN)
Wednesday, Sept. 25Indiana Fever@Connecticut Sun, 7: 30 p. m. ET ( ESPN)
Phoenix Mercury@Minnesota Lynx, 9: 30 p. m. ET ( ESPN)