May 7, 2026
MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for joining our USA Sports WNBA season preview media conference call.
We're joined by some members of our broadcast team here, and a couple of Basketball Hall of Famers in Tamika Catchings and Chamique Holdsclaw. Tamika's going to be a game analyst for us while Chamique is going to be working in the studio.
We've also got our lead play-by-play voice, Kate Scott, with us, as well as Ted Ballard. Ted is our coordinating producer and director for our WNBA coverage. He has an incredible production career in basketball and a long history with the Heat, and we're so thrilled that he's our steward for both producing and directing for the W this year.
This is our inaugural season of covering the WNBA, and the WNBA is a top priority for our company. USA Sports broadcasts more professional women's sports hours than any other network and the W is a pillar in that, with more than 50 games this season, including the WNBA Finals. Barring a sweep, the champion will be decided on USA Network in 2026 and that's something we're really thrilled about.
Our first game is this upcoming Sunday, May 10th at 6 p.m. Eastern, when the defending champion Las Vegas Aces visit the LA Sparks. Kate's going to be on the call for that. Chamique is going to be in studio there. Then, Wednesday, May 13th, is the first of our many Wednesday night doubleheaders this season for the WNBA on USA Network.
Wednesday's gonna be a tentpole night for our WNBA coverage, that will be beginning with the Aces at the Connecticut Sun and then we head back out west to Los Angeles for Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever visiting the Sparks.
We'll start the call with some opening remarks from each of our speakers, then we'll open it up to some questions for each of you. We will start with Kate Scott.
KATE SCOTT: Hi everybody, thank you so much for joining. We appreciate you taking the time this afternoon to just learn a little bit more about USA Sports and our coverage of the W. I am so incredibly excited to get back to women's basketball.
I imagine at least a few of you on this call know that I cover all the sports. The main gig right now is the play-by-play voice of the Philadelphia 76ers here in Philly, but I'm not here calling the MNBA. I'm not covering the NFL and all the other sports I do without women's basketball.
I played it when I was younger. I fell in love with it at the professional level with these legends who I am so excited to be teammates with. And then, really my play-by-play career took off when I was lucky enough to cover the incredible Pac-12 women's basketball conference for so many years, and it's so cool for me to see so many of the stars that I covered then be stars now in the W.
So, I'm not covering all the sports that I have for the past number of years without women's basketball, and I always hoped that I would get an opportunity to come back to it. But, it had to be the right opportunity with the right group of people at the right time and, as Jamie already said, we are coming in hot. So many games, 5 of the 7 Finals games.
Another question I had before saying yes was, who are my teammates going to be? And they said, we're going after people who have not gotten as many broadcasting opportunities as I think they should have in the past, including Tamika and Chamique. We're going after greats. This game, this league deserves these talents, and we all deserve to hear their voices.
Even the behind the scenes, with Ted and our producers and directors, I got to hear everybody that was coming on board and all of us are so grateful to get this opportunity at this moment, in this league's time.
The new CBA, year 30 of the WNBA, so many superstars who I know we will talk about. But, the crew we're doing it with? We're going to be the new kids this year, and we know that we're going to make some mistakes, and we hope you'll grant us some grace, but we're not coming in to just be a part of things. We're coming in to be the best broadcaster of the WNBA as soon as we can.
So yeah, thanks all for being here. And as you can tell, again, those of you who know me, I'm easily excitable, but just Tamika and Chamique. I got to meet them in person for the first time a few weeks ago, and I was freaking out because, yes, I’m 42-year-old play-by-play announcer Kate Scott, but I'm still 14-year-old Kate back in Clovis in ‘97 when the league launched, just freaking out seeing these two finally get to play professional ball in the States. Yeah, it's going to be a great season.
MODERATOR: Well said, Kate, thank you so much. Alright, we'll pass it over to Tamika to share some thoughts just about the start of the season.
TAMIKA CATCHINGS: It’s hard to follow Kate, right? Right. Y'all know I bring the excitement, too, and I am. The last 9 years I've done college basketball, so it's been fun to now see the players that I had in college making their way to the WNBA.
I’m super excited to join this team. This is my first year covering the WNBA in this form so it's good to be back. I did front office for a few years after I finished playing and needed to take a break, so now I am back and excited to be with my teammates as well.
When I look at the season, we had a practice game, Chicago vs. Atlanta, and really, I'm excited about this upcoming season. I love the player movement in the offseason. Of course, Kate mentioned the CBA and just what that meant, but now seeing players moved around in the offseason.
I went to the Fever-Dallas game a couple nights ago last week. Dallas looked good, right? So, I’m kind of looking at a couple of the teams – Dallas, Vegas, can they get the repeat with A’ja back?
We saw a little bit of the preseason Dallas-Vegas game, but I think every team right now has too many players. We'll get to the final rosters on Thursday, moving into the season, and so I'm looking at that, but I think the biggest thing right now is which team can gel the fastest.
With so much movement, so many players, see the stars moving around. I'm excited to kind of be in the midst of that and be able to have a little bit of the behind the scenes with our teammates here, and being able to watch that.
Between the CBA, player movement, those three teams that I mentioned, of course you know I live in Indiana so the Fever right now, I’m kind of trying to see what they can do this year, coming back with all the injuries from last season. How will they come back? How will Caitlin be? How will we get Lexi back on the floor, Sophie's back and a lot of the mix, like Raven Johnson with this team, so it's a lot of excitement around the W, and we will see what happens so, stay tuned.
They asked me who I predicted to be in the final, do not ask me that, because I cannot answer that question until we know what the final rosters will even look like, so ask me on Friday. Once the rosters are in, and we get a chance to kind of see a couple of the teams, give me a couple weeks and ask me that question a little bit later.
Thank you, guys. Thanks for coming, and thanks for being here.
MODERATOR: I know Kate and Tamika will be working the games, in many instances, together, side by side, but then we're going to have Chamique back in the studio for a number of those games, alongside the likes of Elle Duncan, Renee Montgomery, and others. Chamique is going to be in studio this Sunday and Wednesday as well to kick things off. Chamique will now pass it over to you.
CHAMIQUE HOLDSCLAW: First of all, I'm just grateful for the opportunity to be in a position to show up, as I would say, as my authentic self and bring the energy and the perspective when I'm on the air.
It's been great during our boot camp to be in the studio with Elle and Renee. It was instant chemistry. I felt like we all have a connection and a tie. I spent time living in Atlanta and I knew Elle and was friends with her sister, so that was a connection. And Renee has just always been around, doing her thing and so I've had many moments to kind of bond with her.
It was just great being there with them but, when I look at the league, I hear Tamika really pumping up the Fever over there. Exciting, exciting. I just want Caitlin to stay healthy. I think that's going to be something that's big.
I feel right now, there’s just a lot of competitive energy in the air. There's a lot of parity and I feel like, on any given night, anybody's going to be able to win, and I think that creates great basketball but also creates a great story. This is what it's about, good storytelling, because these women are phenomenal. It's culture. It's communities. It's identity. It's just so many things. Resiliency. So, I'm just happy to be a part of it, and being that person that can help bridge the gap between the audience and the athletes.
Thank you for being here, and I really appreciate it.
MODERATOR: Awesome. Thank you, Chamique. Now to include our coordinating producer and director, Ted Ballard. No small feat to pull together the entire technical and production puzzle that is the entire WNBA season of coverage on USA Network. So, I'll pass it over to Ted. I want Ted to give a little insight into everything that's gone on and that we're doing from a production standpoint that the viewers will see at home this season.
TED BALLARD: I'm still stunned when I hear that Tamika and Chamique have not been on a WNBA broadcast before. It honestly baffles my mind but, as they say it’s better to be lucky than good and we've got them both and we are so excited to have them, along with the person I feel is the game's best play-by-play out there in all sports, Kate Scott leading the way.
When we considered this endeavor back in July and our executive producer Jeff Behnke brought me on board, our goal was to be great from day one and he and (USA Sports Presidet) Matt Hong have committed the resources to doing that. We're certainly not tiptoeing our way into this endeavor. We're coming with a ton of resources, we are doing full on-site productions, we're putting more cameras than any broadcaster in the regular season. We're not waiting for the postseason.
We're doing everything that the league deserves and has deserved for a long time from adding post-game shows and from the talent that we've assembled, which was all done with great intention going after really amazing people first, to just the support that we've put behind our very thoughtful and intentional technical plan for what we're doing. We're excited. We're really excited to go out and showcase this league at this time. It's an amazing honor to be part of it.
MODERATOR: Well said. Thank you, Ted. We've got some time for some questions here.
QUESTION: You guys mentioned it about the 30th season and I just wanted to understand, how has the W helped shift women's sports in the 30 years that it's been around?
CATCHINGS: I think when you look at the landscape, I mean, I'll go back to when I was in seventh grade. My first goal was to play in the NBA and that was because the W wasn't around, right? It didn't shift until my freshman year, which is Chamique’s junior year, that the W came and my goal shifted to be in the WNBA.
When I look at just the four years of college, coming in, torn ACL my first year, and then getting into the mix of it, that was a dream, you know? It was a dream but I think, even then, a lot of people didn't think the W would stay around so there was doubt and insecurity and all the ups and downs and trials and tribulations that we had to deal with early on in the WNBA. Now, you look at it 30 years later and we look back at what we've gone through. More and more girls are playing and there’s excitement.
I remember just being so upset at NBA All-Star Games, and even at WNBA All-Star Games, we were carrying all the NBA team’s jerseys and they never had WNBA jerseys, they never had that accessible. Now you're seeing girls and boys wearing those jerseys all around. I mean, I've been around the city here in Indianapolis the last week or so just prepping to get ready for opening tip this weekend with the Fever, and the amount of people that are just so excited, the energy that's around.
I look at those so many things that have happened, the legends that came before us that, even for me, have allowed me this opportunity. I remember when Chamique got drafted and came back to Tennessee, I'm like tell me what I need to do to be successful! Immediately my mind shifted because I wanted to be a professional and I wanted to play in the WNBA, and these young girls have the opportunity to now look and watch, and we always say if you can see it, you can be it and that's where we are right now.
HOLDSCLAW: To piggyback off what Tamika said, the great thing is I feel like the lens has widened. Social media isn't just showing one dimension of these young ladies, they're showing their lives, motherhood, beauty, grace. It's out there.
My son is a little boy and he's very much into soccer and the NBA, but he loves Caitlin Clark. We watch the games and he's like she's the best, she's the best. Then I look at my daughter and the players that pull her are Angel Reese and the A’ja Wilson because she thinks they're like Barbie dolls. I say that to say there's something for all, every kid out there, something for every adult.
It's just not like back in the day, like Tamika was saying, when we first started. The league was promoted, but it was one or two players that they really got behind. Now it's just a variety of so many great talents that we get to really, I say, go into their homes. We get to really see who these women are, and I think that leads to great storytelling and brand recognition in a way.
SCOTT: To tack on to what these two said, I think the WNBA today, as we saw just a couple of days ago at the Met Gala - which is so out of my league and range - they are the culture setters these days, right? They remind me of the MNBA in the early 2000s, with Allen Iverson creating this culture that a lot of us didn't know about, and this is how cool people dress. This is the great music we should listen to, right? And the WNBA, in my opinion, is doing that now.
If we pull back and just look from a business perspective, I cover the NWSL and I have friends that have covered women's hockey as well. It's great to see women's hockey taking off on a professional level, but the WNBA itself is a trendsetter for how to successfully run a women's sports league in the United States. Those are very specific things, but they are also very difficult things, because of all the men's leagues in the United States that had 30, 40, 100-year head start on women's leagues. So, the W, I think, has always been a trendsetter when it comes to women's professional sports.
I think it is phenomenal timing that we have this great new CBA just in time for year 30, because now all the talk is that these women are getting the money that they deserve. They're getting the recognition they deserve and then, on top of that, all the women who are in the league right now, they're like, we've been ready for this. We're going to the Met Gala and we know you're not excited to see the actors, you're excited to see the female athletes of the WNBA who are here tonight showing out, right?
It was everywhere, it was crossing over. I was getting notes from friends who do not follow sports whatsoever, saying, did you see what A’ja Wilson was wearing? Oh my gosh, Paige Buecker's suit? So, trendsetters, culture setters.
There is consistent, deliberate growth of this league. They've done a great job expanding just when the moment is right.
QUESTION: One, Ted, I'm curious, can you walk us through the involvement of Sophie Cunningham? What attracted the network to utilize her as a player, analyst-type role? And Catch, there's so much that you and your peers can do to help inform this new audience that has come over from college about your history, the league's history, and just learn about the game in general. How do you hope that you guys can help convey that to the new and younger audience?
BALLARD: With Sophie, I think that as we were thinking about our talent team, we just thought wouldn't it be great to have all these people who know the league, and who knows the league better than a person who's actually playing in it right now.
Having Tamika and Chamique, the Hall of Famers, provide their expertise is a gift and a blessing for us. But, I do think that the league itself right now is in a really unique, transcended spot where the last 3 or 4 or 5 years have been different, so I thought it was really important for us to have a voice that could reflect that.
We thought about who that might be and Sophie just popped out for obvious reasons. She's engaging, she has that cross between Pat McAfee and Draymond Green. I think it's really unique for us because she has some broadcast experience and, if you listen to or watch her podcast, she's very genuine in everything that she does and obviously has a huge following.
So, it all just seemed like a natural fit and then we had some conversations and she was all in. We couldn't be more excited to give her a larger platform and include her.
CATCHINGS: From my standpoint, when you look at the opportunity, the only game that I have called in the W was the Commissioner's Cup two years ago, Minnesota at New York, and I had a blast. Three-man crew, three-woman crew and that was really the only touch that I had.
This off season, when you look at the CBA, you look at the 30th year, you look at 6 different media partners this season, that’s huge for the WNBA and huge for the growth. So, having the opportunity to be with USA Sports, go through the interview process, and meet the team. as Kate said so well. Once they told me who I was going to be working with and the people that were coming on board, it really was like, this is a great opportunity to continue to talk about the game.
For so many of us, being able to see W players on the sideline, whether in the coaching roles, obviously you look at the Fever and most of the assistants are my teammates, former teammates are all around the league, players that I played with against USA Basketball, so many different dimensions. I think with this era of players being able to still talk about the game, and being able to look at, because of players like me, because of the players that came before us, we have this opportunity.
We also have a responsibility to continue to talk about the game and to continue to grow the game. Now there's so many new fans that are coming into the W, we also have to re-teach the game and, from my perspective, that has always been something that I've loved, is just kind of watching the game, observing.
Last nine years, as I said, working in the college game has given me an opportunity to really kind of touch up my skill in a way that now coming to the WNBA and having the opportunity to work alongside these amazing women and many more, and we do have one man, Carlan (Gay). So, I think just having that opportunity, this is the right time.
Then, definitely for me, I want to do this and I love that I'm in this space with USA Sports and with this team to be able to do that.
QUESTION: We have two Rookie of the Year winners here who will be covering the game, so I'm just curious if any of the incoming rookies that you guys have an eye on that you think will have some pressure coming in, or you guys are interested in covering once they come into the W.
CATCHINGS: I don't know if there's just one. Honestly, of course, you want to look at the number one pick in Fudd and see what she does in Dallas, and Dallas was one of the teams that I talked about, right? But, right now you look at it and, I mean, I was going through the transactions last night, all the players, even the last 3 years.
I was surprised about Hailey Van Lith but then when you look at Natasha Cloud coming in, you kind of understand a little bit of it, right?
So, I am excited personally. I'm excited about watching all of them and just to see, not just this year but even last year's rookies that came in, the ones that are still standing, how do they do?
HOLDSCLAW: Well, I agree, there's so many great players, first-year players coming in but I live in New Jersey so I'm really excited to see how Olivia Miles does.
I think she's a tough kid, just an amazing player. I really loved watching her at Notre Dame and TCU, so I think, if she continues to play like she has in the preseason games with that toughness and team play, we could possibly see her getting that Rookie of the Year award at the end of the season.
QUESTION: This one is for Ted. Obviously, USA Sports, fairly new, WNBA first season. Can you go into a little bit of the technology that you guys will be using for the shows, and I guess working with your operations team to make sure everything's ready to go for the first game and the first season?
BALLARD: Yeah, I mean, we could go the whole call talking about this one. We might have to offline, but we're excited, and again, I'll go back to, you know, we've had the support. I think the first decision we made was kind of like who we wanted to go after, and Kate was at the head of that list, but then the second decision was, how do we want to do these games?
And so we decided that we wanted to unequivocally do all the games on-site. We enlisted Mobile TV Group as our vendor and we flew out to Denver, we met with them, and just talked about the scope of our shows and what we wanted to do. And really, we have just not stopped since that day. We have been just completely devoted to coming up with both a technical and a production plan. I mean, everything from we have original music, we have an amazing graphics package, animation package, and the resources.
We're not running away from the fact that most shows in the WNBA up until this point have put out five to six cameras. We're putting out 11 manned cameras on a majority of our shows. We have above-the-rim defining looks. We have four cameras. We'll have super slo-mo, not just one. We will have RF cameras, we'll have little Osmo cameras that we can take around and get atmosphere. You know, we continue to look for ways to give this league everything that it deserves, and again, I said it earlier, but we're not waiting until the postseason to do that. We feel like fans deserve that right from the start, so we're hoping that it's the tide that lifts all boats. We hope that what we do and what you go out there is a trendsetter. There's six other national broadcasters, and I'm sure they'll be watching, and we hope it's a competitive balance where what we do lifts them as well.
We have some really unique elements in our broadcast. We have a fashion focus, believe it or not, on some of our elements that pays tribute to everything you see at the Met Gala. We understand how important it is. We have a clever little thing we're doing called At the Line, where our score bug will showcase - as people take free throws many of us, we know, get distracted during that time and you wonder, maybe a talent has to read a promo and they don't know – but we have this thing that is keeping track with some little clever technology like whether they made one of two, or two of three, and things like that that you might take for granted, but we feel like the score bug was new when people first put it in back in Fox in 1994, and then it became a standard. So, you know, I think we're a combination of trying to add some new things, but also keeping the main thing the main thing, and being really good from day one, and we know that the people we have, both behind the scenes and behind the mic, are gonna help us do that.
SCOTT: I'm sure that was boring to a lot of people, but thank you for the question just because I think it is important to point out, as somebody who covers all the different sports here in the U.S, the ‘who’ I was going to be working with was a big part of saying yes, but the ‘how’ we were going to be covering this league, not just this year for the years moving forward, was also a big reason I said yes. Because oftentimes, women's sports don't get the 11 cameras. They don't get the coverage they deserve, because companies are not willing to put that much money and those resources behind them. And USA said we are coming in hot, we are doing that from the jump.
This is year 30. This league deserves it. We are lucky to be joining the league as it is exploding, and we want to give the league, in every game that we bring to you all, the coverage and respect that it deserves.
BALLARD: And just to tag that real quick, I don't think I'm going out on a limb or saying anything that anyone on this call doesn't know to say that, but for many of the years, people covered this league because they had to, you know what I mean? It was part of another deal. We're covering this league because we want to, so I think that that impacts our approach.
Question: For Tamika and Chamique. I'm curious, there's a lot of veteran players who are going to be stepping into big money for maybe the first time in their lives, with the benefit of hindsight and now in these post-playing careers, what kind of advice do you have for them financially as they do this?
HOLDSCLAW: You just have to make great decisions and get a great team around you. I'm always an advocate of having financial management and just making sure you have somebody who's a professional at it, but you're also learning as you go. Because I've had some players reach out to me over the years and ask me questions. I'm like, you've been doing this all by yourself? Because it's a fear. It's a fear when you don't know about money, and I would say there's a majority of young ladies who may be the first person in their family making this type of money, and so they need someone to educate them on it, so never be afraid. I always tell them, never be afraid to ask questions. You know, knowledge is power.
CATCHINGS: And I would agree with Mique in just finding the right people. Not everybody is the right fit for you, right? I think even when I got - I'm an example of not knowing the beauty of a financial advisor until one of our practice players was like, wait, you're just leaving in the bank? I'm like, yeah, that's what everybody does, and got into that and then ended up finding the financial advisor that I'm with now, but knowledge is power. Ask questions. Don't spend it on purses and cars, and, you know, I think a lot of it, too, is right now we're in this fashion industry, right? They're building the culture and trendsetters and all of that, and you feel like you have, to right off the bat, kind of up your game a little bit, but I'm not saying you don't need to do that, I'm just saying be wise. Especially for the older players that you're - Cassandra, you asked - that are now stepping into that type of money, what do you do? I think you be smart and really look at you're probably closer to retirement than you are to the beginning years, so just really being smart with your money.
HOLDSCLAW: Right, and I will say that the WNBA has just done a great job, because, Tamika, you can remember when we would have rookie orientation, they would always have someone speak from a company. I think most of the time it was Fidelity or whatever, but as time goes on and years pass, it's important to have players come back who are in those industries, because they've lived through it, they've had teammates ask them to borrow money. So it is great, the league now uses Nakia – Nakia Sanford Lawson, who's a former teammate of mine – to kind of share their journey and what she's experienced. So, I think that's been great for them listening and giving the players what they need.
Question: This is for all of you but especially for Chamique and Tamika. You mentioned that, when the league was built, there was uncertainty and now, with the new CBA, that removed that uncertainty that hovered around the off-season, right? So, how do you see the league for the future? As Kate said, it's a trend-setter.Wwe see players at the Met Gala, so what's the future now? Maybe expansion? We want to see players abroad, maybe Mexico?
CATCHINGS: Sky is the limit. You know, honestly, when you look at it, I mean, there will be three more teams added, right, by 2030, so look at the expansion there. I think you'll see more players getting into – who would have thought the Met Gala, first off? Like, when I was playing, I don't even know if I really knew what the Met Gala was. I mean, we showed up in the game. Fashion was not a thing, getting introduced. I am one of those people that is like, hey, we gotta win games. I don't care what you wear, as long as you're winning games, right?
That had become the trend, and that had become a big part of the game, so like what Mique said just about her daughter, you know, and her daughter and her son, like, the difference in what they're looking at for players. Each player that comes into the league, we used to say 144, and now we've added three teams since the 144, and, you know, now it continues. Now we have developmental players. So each player comes in with a different story and different interests, and I think that the cool part about the W is, with social media and just the way that the W is able to cover that you'll see a lot of different avenues, and of course, you'll see the Met Gala and things that are huge, but then you'll also probably see, like, fishing. You know, the men are into fishing and so you see them and farming and all these different things. So I, I mean, I would just say, I think the sky is the limit. We don't have a bar holding us down.
HOLDSCLAW: Right, right. And in the CBA, also, I feel like it speaks to the total athlete, you know? When you talk about a woman, you have to think about, you know, pregnancy, you think about family, you think about mental health. So I think for once, like, the league is really, like, ‘Here, I'm here, I'm gonna support you women, across the board,’ and it was really, really great, because I feel like whenever you have an organization or a company or anything, you want to take care of the people. You know, the people want to feel good going to work and I think that's when you get the best product, so I'm excited to see what happens in the future.
MODERATOR: Awesome, awesome, well said, you guys. I know we obviously had Kate and we had Tamika and Chamique here. We've got an amazing crew of talent that are gonna be part of our coverage here. Kate's one of our play-by-play folks, along with Meghan McPeak and Carlan Gay, who we shouted out earlier.
Tamika's one of our incredible game analysts, along with the likes of Sarah Kustok, Amy Audibert, Leah B. Olsen, Edona Thaqi.
Edona's going to be on the courtside as well with Paris Lawson, Terrika Foster-Brasby, and then we've got Chamique in studio with Elle Duncan. Paris will do some hosting there, Amy and Edona are going to hop in there too, and then, of course, you're going to have Elle, Chamique, Renee Montgomery, and you're going to have Sophie Cunningham popping in from time-to-time on our studio coverage as well.
So, it's really an awesome group, and thrilled to have Ted leading us as our producer, but I want to let everybody know our whole group because we've got a really strong group of commentators and we're really proud of the group that we've assembled, so wanted to thank everybody for taking the time. If you have any follow-ups, please reach out to me, and we're happy to make those happen.
Again, our coverage begins this upcoming Sunday, 6 p.m. E, LA hosting the defending champion, Las Vegas Aces, and then we've got the doubleheader on Wednesday, the Aces at the Sun, Caitlin Clark and the fever out in LA. Hope you all tune in, and thanks for joining us today.
