Enjoy Eight More Years Of The WNBA On ESPN

Big weekend for the WNBA, and boy, there's a sentence. (Well, independent clause, actually, but you get the point.) First off, the WNBA All-Star Game was yesterday. Bless their heart, the intrepid folks at WNBA.com live blogged the whole thing. Hope nobody kicked them out of the press box for that.

In more vital news, though, the league signed an eight-year deal with ESPN/ABC to keep their games on the network(s); their current contract was slated to run out next year. The deal obviously is David Stern-orchestrated; it's clear at this point that the NHL would have just been better off if they just served itself up as some sort of affiliate league of the NBA. (Plus, it would let us see Sebastian Telfair on skates.)

We know it's quick and easy to make fun of the WNBA, but, frankly, we have no major problem with this deal. We don't hate the WNBA as much as apparently everybody else does; jeez, would you rather watch a WNBA game or a two-hour special of "Who's Now?" highlights? Well, we suppose you could just shut off the television and go outside, but it's scary outside.

League Has New Contract With ESPN/ABC [Women's Hoops]