WNBA on ESPN

WNBA on ESPN
Format	Sports
Starring	Doris Burke Pam Ward Nancy Lieberman
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	120 minutes+
Broadcast
Original channel	ESPN2 (2002 - present) ESPN on ABC (2007 - present)

The WNBA on ESPN refers to the presentation of Women's National Basketball Association games on the ESPN family of networks. Under the title of WNBA Tuesday, games are broadcast throughout the WNBA season on Tuesday nights on ESPN2 and Saturday afternoons on ABC.

Announcers

Play-by-play broadcasters for WNBA coverage on ESPN include Dave Pasch, Terry Gannon, Mark Jones and Linda Cohn. Pasch called the 2006 WNBA Finals for ESPN2, with lead analyst Doris Burke. Nancy Lieberman, the lead studio analyst, worked in the regular season with anchor Pam Ward, and in the Finals with Linda Cohn. Sideline reporters include Tina Dixon, Stephanie Ready, and Heather Cox.

Wired

One unique aspect of WNBA coverage on the ESPN family of networks is that many of the participants wear live microphones^[1]. Staring with the 2003 WNBA All Star Game (which aired on ABC), most games televised have involved coaches, players and referees being wired for sound. On some occasions, the sound of players and coaches talking will overlap with commentary; also, on several occasions, ESPN has had to mute the sound because of expletives.

Controversy

During the 2006 WNBA Finals, Detroit Shock head coach, and former ESPN NBA analyst, Bill Laimbeer became irritated^[2] by ESPN's coverage, quoted by the Detroit Free Press as saying:

Laimbeer banned ESPN from the Shock locker room for Game 4 of the series, and also refused to wear a live microphone for that game (as had been the custom throughout the regular season and the playoffs).

References

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