With this being the week of WNBA All-Star 2024 in Phoenix, many of our friends at other W sites are likely beginning their weeks planning how they will cover this year’s midseason festivities.
Those sites likely will have previews of the upcoming game, midseason grades for our 12 teams and other cool All-Star related content (as will we!).
But, we are starting All-Star week a bit different – because today’s WNBA is very different than the one we have become accustomed to over the years.
There is more media attention on the WNBA than ever before – and when one looks at the Phoenix radio landscape, there is one radio station that appears to rule the sports roost in Arizona.
That station is KMVP-FM Arizona Sports 98.7. The station happens to be the flagship radio station of several of Arizona’s professional sports teams. Those include the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks and NCAA’s Arizona State Sun Devils.
Here and there, they may also give the Phoenix Mercury a bit of coverage.
Here is our message. When WNBA All-Star rolls into a city as will be the case this week in Phoenix, this also means a plethora of media will also be coming into one’s city (including us).
The reality is that many WNBA media outlets operate and shoestring budgets and All-Star is one of the few events on the W’s calendar that many are able to attend.
But this year appears to be different in terms of coverage. There are plenty of mainstream media outlets that claim that they want a piece of the W, but nine times out of ten when they do, Caitlin Clark is the only player they seemingly can name.
A lot of us – ourselves included – will be closely following how Arizona Sports 98.7 approaches WNBA All-Star because, yes, Clark will be part of the game itself and will likely be part of other All-Star related festivities as well. One of those could be the 3-point contest, but we will know this week from the W itself who will be part of All-Star Friday.
It may be tempting for mainstream outlets like 98.7 to center much of their coverage on Clark, but hopefully they remember that there are three from the Mercury that will be part of the All-Star Game – all on Team USA. Those three are Kahleah Copper, Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi – who, for all we know, may be playing her final season in the WNBA.
Our message to Arizona Sports 98.7 is to not make the same mistake many other mainstream outlets on the national level have made this year when they have attempted to talk WNBA. Do not be so distracted by the glitzy name that is Clark (who is having an outstanding rookie season this year for the Indiana Fever) that one neglects the other players taking part in All-Star festivities – especially the names from your hometown team.
Jeff Metcalfe does an outstanding job covering the Mercury for the Arizona Republic and AZCentral.com. But there will be plenty of national media that will be descending upon Phoenix this week that will be deep in the All-Star mix.
Many of them know more than the one Fever player who is making a strong case for Rookie of the Year. And many of them also have deep insight into the three Mercury players that not only will be playing for Team USA at this year’s All-Star Game, but also will be wearing the red, white and blue at the upcoming Olympics in Paris.
We are sending out this message to potentially telegraph what 98.7’s coverage plans could be (if the radio station has any coverage plans at all for All-Star. Because we believe our media brethren like Erica Ayala, Myles Ehrlich, Khristina Williams and Terrika Foster-Brasby (if given the chance to appear on programs like those of 98.7) can offer worthwhile insight into the WNBA that go beyond a rookie who is having a great season.
Cover Clark all one wants. But also – cover Copper and Taurasi and Griner. Also – cover A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart and Alyssa Thomas and Jewell Loyd and Angel Reese and Arike Ogunbowale too. That’s what sports radio stations do when they cover a big event in their city like…a big event. Right?
