At the time, NBC didn't pay television rights fees[12][13] to the league's teams.
A more rock-oriented variant[14] of John Tesh's theme, "Roundball Rock" introduced by NBC to coincide with the debut of the WNBA.
[9] An official announcement of the agreement was released by the NBA and NBC the following day, alongside other deals with incumbents ABC/ESPN and Amazon.
[30][31] NBC Sports' broadcast of the inaugural WNBA game between the Liberty and Sparks received a 3.8 overnight national rating.
During the WNBA's first season on NBC, the primary announcing team consisted of Hannah Storm[41] calling the play-by-play[42][43] with Ann Meyers doing the color commentary and Lisa Malosky assuming the role as sideline reporter.
[44] The following year, Storm receded her lead play-by-play duties to Tom Hammond,[45] who would call NBC's coverage of the WNBA Finals with Ann Meyers in 1998[46][47] and in 2000.