\n<\/p>\n
The decision makers for the docuseries \u201cFull Court Press\u201d chose wisely when selecting which women\u2019s college basketball players they would follow for an entire season.<\/p>\n
They recruited Caitlin Clark, whose long-distance shots at the University of Iowa made her a lucrative draw. Kamilla Cardoso, a Brazilian attending the University of South Carolina, could provide an international perspective. Kiki Rice, from the University of California, Los Angeles, would be the talented but reserved young prospect.<\/p>\n
Those selections proved fortuitous when each player advanced deep into the N.C.A.A. tournament. Clark and Cardoso competed in the most-watched women\u2019s championship game in history<\/a> before becoming two of the top three picks in the W.N.B.A. draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way that it turned out, it\u2019s like, \u2018This is not real life,\u2019\u201d said Kristen Lappas, the director of the four-part ESPN series that will air on ABC on Saturday and Sunday. \u201cThat just doesn\u2019t happen in documentary filmmaking.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Interest in women\u2019s basketball is surging because of young talent. Clark, Cardoso and other top rookies like Angel Reese and Cameron Brink are providing the W.N.B.A. a vital infusion of star power, quickly obliterating one record when 2.4 million viewers<\/a> watched April\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n Now the league, whose media rights package expires in 2025, must capitalize by making sure fans can easily follow the players they grew to love during their collegiate careers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The W.N.B.A. ensured that Clark, who scored the most points in Division I history, would get precious real estate by putting 36 of the Indiana Fever\u2019s 40 regular-season games on national television, including her May 14 debut on the streaming service Disney+.<\/p>\n But although it aired Clark\u2019s first preseason game on its mobile app, it did not broadcast a preseason game between the Chicago Sky and the Minnesota Lynx the same night, preventing fans from watching Cardoso and Reese. When a spectator inside Target Center in Minneapolis livestreamed that game from her phone<\/a>, it received more than 600,000 views.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Nancy Lough, a sports management professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said the misstep showed that the league underestimated the heightened interest.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s clear that the product has been suppressed by the marketplace, and now what we\u2019re seeing is the fans are driving a new business model,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Clark\u2019s emergence as a national sensation<\/a> has changed all calculations. She recently appeared on \u201cSaturday Night Live,\u201d and many W.N.B.A. teams have relocated their games against the Fever to larger venues to accommodate the increased ticket demand.<\/p>\n In one episode of \u201cFull Court Press,\u201d Clark said she accepted being a catalyst for the sport.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s never something I am trying to do, it\u2019s just because of how I play and the way I act toward people,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not anything I shy away from, and if that\u2019s what\u2019s going to help move our game forward, then I embrace that.\u201d<\/p>\n To prepare for the influx of talent into the W.N.B.A., the league\u2019s chief marketing officer, Phil Cook, said the organization increased its visibility by buying television ads near the N.C.A.A. tournament. In February, the W.N.B.A. cross-promoted a 3-point-shooting competition between Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu during the weekend of the N.B.A.\u2019s All-Star Game. The event drew 5.4 million viewers<\/a>, and was considered by many observers as the highlight of the three-day spectacle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Lough said that although the W.N.B.A. had increasingly provided appointment viewing \u2014 such as Thursday night games on Amazon Prime Video \u2014 there was still a need for stronger messaging about how to watch games. Broadcasts are scattered across ESPN, ABC, CBS, Prime Video, NBA TV and ION, a television channel owned by Scripps Networks.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fans of women\u2019s sports have become adept at searching and finding it \u2014 it\u2019s like they\u2019re detectives,\u201d Lough said. \u201cThat shouldn\u2019t be the case.\u201d<\/p>\n She added, \u201cI should be able to walk into a sports bar and see the W.N.B.A. on, passively, just like any other sport.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Last year\u2019s W.N.B.A. season was its most watched in two decades. And documentaries like \u201cFull Court Press\u201d that give fans behind-the-scenes looks at their favorite players, Lough said, may further drive interest and lead to sponsorship investments that fortify the W.N.B.A.\u2019s media ecosystem.<\/p>\n The docuseries was produced by Omaha Productions, the media company started by the former N.F.L. quarterback Peyton Manning, and Words + Pictures, a studio founded by Connor Schell, an executive producer for the acclaimed ESPN documentaries \u201cThe Last Dance\u201d and \u201cO.J.: Made in America.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In a testament to their confidence that \u201cFull Court Press\u201d has broad appeal during this surge in women\u2019s sports, Disney executives decided to premiere the docuseries on network television instead of its narrower ESPN platforms. It was a common-sense decision, said Brian Lockhart, the senior vice president of original content at ESPN.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew there was a rising tide,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n