Inside Google’s Partnership With The WNBA And ESPN

The WNBA announced Monday that the fourth company to become a designated Changemaker has joined the group, and it’s a big one: Google

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Both the contours of the deal and the fact that it is with both the WNBA and ESPN matter a great deal when evaluating just how significant this is for league growth.

“When we launched our WNBA Changemakers platform at the beginning of 2020, we issued a call to like-minded companies to join us in elevating women’s sports, and Google has answered that call,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in the announcement. “We are incredibly grateful to Google for becoming the latest WNBA Changemaker and for their platform of helpful products for everyone. Google’s support will be instrumental in driving our business transformation forward and demonstrates a commitment to the values we both stand for – including building sustainable equity.”

Google joins Nike

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, AT&T and Deloitte among the companies with this designation. But the world’s leading technology company, working in conjunction with the WNBA’s television broadcast partner here, helps to shore up what has long been an area of relative weakness for professional women’s basketball: reach.

Start with Google’s participation in what is being billed “25 for 25”: getting 25 WNBA broadcasts on the ESPN networks to commemorate the 25th WNBA season. But it extends beyond that: Google is now a major new sponsor for things like the ESPN documentary series 30 for 30, which will hopefully supercharge more women’s sports angles within those documentaries, and is the presenting partner of the WNBA playoffs.

To get a sense of how corporate might makes a difference when it comes to how much ESPN prioritizes women’s basketball, look no further than AT&T’s recent insistence that the WNBA draft be aired on ESPN, not ESPN2.

To put it simply: Having a major sponsor with a vested interest in helping to push ESPN to more comprehensively cover the WNBA is a significant leverage point for a league that has often had to wait for what ESPN can provide.

Then there is the power of Google itself, which will become “the official trends and insights partner” of the WNBA. This can only help the WNBA continue to find new and more advanced ways of reaching its fans, a critical part of Engelbert’s vision from the moment she took the job as commissioner of the league.

“For too long now, women’s sports have been underrepresented in the media. The WNBA has worked tirelessly to change that and has been at the forefront of progress for gender equity, racial justice, and sport. We are proud to partner with the WNBA and ESPN over the coming years to continue the charge and deliver on our commitment to gender equity and the future of women,” said Lorraine Twohill, CMO, Google. “It’s important to us that our product experiences are equitable for all genders and we want to make sure our media spend is equitable too, bringing more women’s content to television. With the WNBA and ESPN, we can help ensure women athletes get the recognition and media time they deserve, so that the world can see their incredible talents.”

The results will speak for themselves. But with this collaboration, a major player in the corporate world, well-positioned to change the status quo, has spoken with its wallet.