ESPN announced this week that the channel will be replacing its regular Sunday baseball programming with hours devoted to women's sports for nine weeks this summer. The news was widely welcomed by fans of such sports, but plenty of people also couldn't help but note that the channel could have made this swap at least a few years ago.
ESPN has broadcast "Sunday Night Baseball" on Sundays for the last 35 years. The timing of the broadcast means that viewers will now get to watch WNBA and NWSL matches instead, and as noted by Variety, indicates the network is solidly investing in women's sports. Susie Piotrkowski, vice president of women’s sports programming and espnW recently said Sunday is when many of the best women's sports matches take place, and the move offers the opportunity to transmit those games to more fans.
Variety also noted the network is potentially interested in extending this sort of programming to other times of the year when there are especially important games in women's sports.
ESPN's change is welcome, but overdue
While there's no denying that the change at ESPN will be a positive one for women's sports, it's long overdue — and that's something plenty of fans and experts are talking about. As Jane McManus put it, ESPN has owned the rights to the WNBA and NCAA women's sports for 15 years, and there have been plenty of people in that time who pitched shows like what will be on the channel this summer and wanted to see them on the air.
To their credit, it sounds as if people at ESPN have also been pushing for more women's sports programming. Piotrkowski also told Variety that 60 people who work for the company have held regular meetings to come up with exactly how the new programming should be rolled out. The idea began to take shape after ESPN opted out of its deal with Major League Baseball last year and created a new deal instead; suddenly, there was a little more room to try something new.
Though it will take time to know if the change is a positive one for women's sports, odds are that it will be. More programming means more opportunities for fans to enjoy games and also more opportunities for new fans to join the women's sports world. Ultimately, that's what sustains the sports and what will keep athletes on our screens — and that's what really matters the most.