Angel Reese is one of the most admired players today. The Chicago Sky forward’s popularity is slightly below Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark. However, it appears that no one notified ESPN, as the network has not broadcast any of the Sky’s games, causing the ire of fans.
Reese made her official WNBA debut Wednesday night against the Dallas Wings. Reese’s followers and WNBA fans were looking forward to the game. Instead, the network decided to broadcast the NHL’s postseason games.
The decision did not leave fans very happy, especially after the extensive coverage that ESPN gave to Clark and the Fever’sdebut on Tuesday the 14th against the Connecticut Sun. Not only that, the network also didn’t air any of Reese’s preseason games.
The lack of television coverage of the game between Chicago and the Minnesota Lynx attracted fans to a live stream from a fan via X, formerly Twitter. The stream generated 500,000 total views, but ESPN remained unfazed.
Fan’s critics
As soon as it became clear that ESPN would not broadcast Sky-Wings, fans flocked to social media to launch bitter criticism against the broadcaster.
“ESPN trippin for not finding a spot for Angel Reese debut,” complained one user on X. “WNBA gone give Caitlin Clark ESPN and give Angel Reese debut non televised on Twitter lol see how they play it,” claimed one more.
“Dawg, why is the Chicago Sky game not on ESPN wtf… they tryna charge me 35 for a league pass on YOUTUBE? Angel Reese and Kamila (Cardoso) have both carried teams to chips, how they not getting ESPN…” commented another fan.
“People would tune in on this Angel Reese game if it was on ESPN.. smh guess ima buy the WNBA pass bc I’ll support, but this game needs to be on ESPN!!” another follower warned.
The WNBA season is only in its early days, so there is still time for ESPN to resolve its scheduling conflicts. Fairer coverage of the different women’s professional basketball teams would end up benefiting everyone.