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Report: ESPN Adding Women’s Fantasy Basketball for 2022 Season
Basketball fans will have an opportunity to expand their fantasy horizons later this year as ESPN plans to launch women’s fantasy basketball for the upcoming 2022 season, according to Kendall Baker of Axios.
The new addition to ESPN’s fantasy lineup will mark the first time that a season-long, full-scale fantasy game has been dedicated to a major women’s sports league. The game is expected to debut in April ahead of the season opener in May, per Baker.
ESPN’s decision to release a women’s fantasy basketball experience comes shortly after the WNBA experienced a significant increase in viewership during the 2021 season. ESPN announced that last year’s WNBA Finals were the league’s most-viewed since 2017.
Following up on the success of last season, Disney networks will broadcast 25 nationally televised regular-season games during the 2022 WNBA season. A record-tying nine games will air on ABC.
The 2022 WNBA season will tip-off on May 6.
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Zach Koons is a programming editor at Sports Illustrated who frequently writes about Formula One. He joined SI as a breaking/trending news writer in February 2022 before joining the programming team in 2023. Koons previously worked at The Spun and interned for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He currently hosts the "Bleav in Northwestern" podcast and received a bachelor's in journalism from Northwestern University.