ESPN’s Ryan Ruocco didn’t anticipate sticking with the WNBA: ‘I was naive to how wonderful the league is’

ESPN’s Ryan Ruocco has been the voice of the WNBA since 2013, but admits he didn’t foresee the long tenure because of his own preconceptions.

Ruocco is a guest on the latest episode of The Awful Announcing Podcast, which will be released in its entirety Friday, May 19. During the interview, Ruocco was asked about already being an NBA announcer when he joined ESPN’s coverage of the WNBA in 2013, and whether he thought it would be a long-term fit.

“No, I never thought I would be doing it as long as I am,” said Ruocco, who continues to be the WNBA’s lead announcer on ESPN. “Because, I was naïve to the gem of a project it is to work on from a broadcasting standpoint. And I was naïve to how wonderful the league is and how incredible the basketball is.”

“When I was first asked about it, and I’ve been honest about this, I kind of was like, ‘OK, that’s cool, but I’m already doing NBA. Why is this such a great gig for me?’ And there were people inside ESPN…who said, ‘Trust us, you’re going to love this. You’re going to love working with Rebecca Lobo, and this league is awesome to work on.’”

“They were 100 percent right,” Ruocco admitted. “It did not take me long to appreciate how awesome the basketball is. How incredible it is to work with Rebecca [Lobo] and Holly [Rowe], which, working with them is one of my favorite things in life, not just work. And then there’s how much I enjoy being a part of this growing league. I love feeling like we’re all on the same team, we’re all invested in this league, and we all truly believe that it has an atmospheric rise still to go.”

When Ruocco signed on to call WNBA games for ESPN in 2013, he was already calling NBA games. But after being around the WNBA for over a decade now, Ruocco says comparing the league to the NBA is unfair. Despite many uninformed narratives, the WNBA is the most competitive professional sports league in the world, with just 144 roster spots available.

“This is something Sue Bird talks about a lot,” Ruocco said. “How much differently things would be framed when evaluating the WNBA if you weren’t comping it to the NBA. And it really isn’t a fair comp or a relevant one…for whether or not this one is a successful business right now.”

Ruocco aspires to call big games, and he gets that opportunity every year with the WNBA championship and in college basketball, calling the women’s Final Four on ESPN. After he didn’t initially envision calling WNBA games for the long term, Ruocco now says there’s no end in sight for his tenure with the league, recognizing the growth its enjoyed in the last decade and the immense untapped potential that remains.

“People used to love to use the WNBA as a punchline, as a joke,” Ruocco said. “Now people understand the value, first and foremost of the basketball, and also of these women and how incredible they are as leaders in our society.”

[Awful Announcing Podcast]