When Sunday Night Baseball moved from ESPN to NBC this year, it left a gap in ESPN’s lineup that had provided consistent Sunday-night programming for much of the year. In its place, the worldwide leader in sports unveiled a theme of Women’s Sports Sundays.
And even though the calendar is shifting from summer to fall, Women’s Sports Sundays aren’t going anywhere.
Throughout the spring and summer, ESPN has used Sunday nights to spotlight women’s sports, including the WNBA, NWSL, and AUSL.
This fall, ESPN will air a mix of collegiate sports, the new women’s TGL series, and even a boxing matchup. It will also feature playoff action from the WNBA and NWSL.
“Beginning Sunday, Sept. 13, 11 consecutive weeks of women’s sports programming will air live on ESPN and the ESPN App with an applicable ESPN subscription. Social coverage will be led by espnW, the leading women’s sports and culture brand on social media, generating more total engagements and reaching more followers than any other brand in the space,” the ESPN announcement states.
However, college volleyball will carry most of the fall lineup. Ten games are scheduled to be a part of the Women’s Sports Sundays franchise, beginning with the championship game of the Paradise Invitational on September 13 and running through the NCAA Volleyball Selection Special on November 29. Thankfully, all of those games should be indoors and won’t run into the issues that we saw at Wrigley Field this past weekend.
The timing has certainly worked for ESPN to launch the new franchise with women’s sports viewership surging across the board in both college and pro sports. Of course, Caitlin Clark always helps ratings, but women’s sports growth goes beyond the Indiana Fever. ESPN hopes its investment in Women’s Sports Sundays will continue that upward trend.
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