SportTechie’s Athletes Voice series features the views and opinions of the athletes who use and are powered by technology. SportTechie spoke with Los Angeles Sparks power forward Chiney Ogwumike about her growing media career with ESPN and the evolution of the WNBA.
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After winning the 2014 Rookie of the Year award with the Connecticut Sun, and receiving her first All-Star nod, Chiney Ogwumike signed to play for Italian team Famila Schio in the 2014-15 EuroLeague Women. The EuroLeague Women season runs during the WNBA offseason, and, according to Ogwumike, players can make as much as 10 times their WNBA salaries by playing overseas.
But while playing with Famila Schio, Ogwumike hurt her right knee and needed microfracture surgery. She sat out the entire 2015 WNBA season to rehab. When she returned in 2016, she averaged 12.6 points and 6.7 rebounds per game for the Sun. Ogwumike then again ventured overseas to play in China, and again suffered a serious injury—a torn achilles—that kept her sidelined for another entire WNBA season.
Time spent away from the court allowed Ogwumike to launch a media career. Mohegan Sun Arena, where the Sun plays its home games, is about an hour’s drive east of ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Conn. When ESPN launched SportsCenter Africa on Kwesé Sports in 2017, Ogwumike was hired part-time to host the show.
In May 2018, ESPN promoted her to the role of full-time basketball commentator. Ogwumike started 31 of 34 WNBA regular season games for the Sun that year. In April, the Sun traded her to the Los Angeles Sparks, where she will reunite with her older sister Nneka, and continue to work with ESPN on the side.
Chiney and Nneka grew up in Cypress, Texas, as children of Nigerian immigrants. They played two years together at Stanford University, and were both drafted No. 1 to the WNBA, in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Nneka is now the president of the Women’s National Basketball Players Association, with Chiney serving as a vice president.
This offseason, the WNBA secured a jersey sponsorship deal with AT&T and a major broadcast TV deal with CBS Sports. Over the past few months, digital media outlets such as The Athletic, SB Nation, Overtime, and SLAM have all launched WNBA verticals or expanded their WNBA coverage. Twitter will once again livestream 20 games during the season. The 2019 WNBA regular season tips off today.
Basketball and Broadcasting
“I have more balance now since getting traded to Los Angeles. The past three or so years I’ve had a really crazy schedule. Waking up around 3:30 a.m. and being at ESPN in Connecticut around 5:30 a.m. Working at ESPN until about 2:30 to 3:00 p.m. Then hustling on various programs, I’ll be on SportsCenter, Jalen & Jacoby, Get Up!, now I’m mixing in First Take and NBA: The Jump when I’m in LA.”
“[I’m] on my way home around 2:30 to 3:00 p.m., then I work out. Then I try to take a power nap for like an hour. Then I’m up watching games, I’m logging the games for plays to talk about tomorrow from like 7:00 p.m. to 2 a.m. Then back at it at like 3:30 a.m., on and off. It’s been a crazy schedule, pretty much working and working out. It’s also been a great opportunity for me as a platform with ESPN and the WNBA.”
Athlete Influence
“I love all the variety of ways athletes can use their platform. I think what we’ve seen is athletes using their platform for power, change, positivity, and for their passions. I worked with Uninterrupted when it first started and I still work with Uninterrupted. I worked with The Players’ Tribune when it was just starting as well. Athletes can now take control of their own brands. You see Steph [Curry], LeBron [James] launching their own production companies to not only tell their story but sharing other people’s stories.
“I think sports has now become a platform. They always say sports is a unifier and it totally is. It’s now also a platform to not only share your best self as an athlete and competitor but also to show the world what you care about. Athletes that do that understand we have a responsibility as leaders in our communities, as people that people look towards to create change. Not just be entertainers but to also do something impactful outside of their sport.
“A lot of times people wanted athletes to be the summation of their stats. Like okay, that player always gives you a double-double and that’s it. That player is the best three-point shooter or has the most touchdowns. But we’re human-beings first and foremost. When society has issues, people look to us. By nature of being an athlete, we’re brave, not afraid, and taught to face our fears and push for success. That makes us comfortable to take those things in society head on.”
WNBA Growth
“This is the right time to bet on women and invest in women because there’s a lot of people who speak on women’s sports without even knowing it. There’s a lot of people who are ignorant to the values and the strides women’s sports are making. Once you understand that value, it’s easy to make the decision to support. ESPN has been a longtime partner, CBS coming back on board is huge. Twitter is always looking for content. I know TJ [Adeshola] who’s running Twitter Sports. He’s Nigerian and me being Nigerian-American we connected. People are now seeing value in what makes people different and unique. We’re not the NBA, we’re the WNBA, and we’re the best at what we do.
“Having partners is huge, and having partners separate than what the NBA’s partners are is extremely important because the NBA is its own league. What is the WNBA? What does that brand look like? What is the most authentic version of our product? Because our product is the best in the world and it’s about time we start showcasing that to the world. That starts with ESPN, CBS, Twitter. Tidal has done some things with us. Facebook should pick things up. They’re always looking for content, why not let it be content that’s about to explode like the WNBA and women’s sports?”
The Future of the League
“We’re all really excited about AT&T and CBS coming forward. But it’s interesting because with all these strides we’re making, we are also in a fight where we’re trying to show our value to our own business. These are all positive key indicators of growth, why not double-down, triple-down on your investment in women’s sports when you have key partners making commitments to us? That’s the frustrating part. We see a lot of these great things happening, what’s the value of that? How is that advancing our business strategy, team strategy, and player strategy to make sure we have a viable league? That’s the question I raise.”
“The WNBA has been on auto-pilot for awhile. We’re the only women’s league that has never folded and we’re very proud of that, but at the same time I feel we’ve been in a very comfortable stage and we need to push boundaries. We have women that are playing for years back-to-back, no months off, not seeing their family or friends, and being in different places away from home.
“We have to wake up everyone and educate everyone to say ‘Hey, despite what people say when you throw WNBA in the search bar or Twitter mention or something like that, we’re the best at what we do. We’re the best product of women’s basketball.’ We have to invest like it and create a fan experience like it is.
“We understand that women’s sports do not make nearly as much as men’s, but there’s still revenue happening. You have to invest in the players. Players that have to take other jobs to find other sources of income. They do that not because they want to, they do it because they have to.”
Analytics in the NBA and WNBA
“Analytics gives you a lot of feedback. I’ll know how successful I am going right, which means I’ll need to start working on my left. How good am I off the dribble, you may not even realize you’re a better shooter off the dribble. Those little things can make you a more efficient player and teach you what your weaknesses are.”
“[But analytics] has totally changed the way the game is played. If you look at the NBA, it’s all dunks and threes. That’s all they want. They say mid-range is dying, the lost art of the mid range. I totally miss it, it’s such an essential part of the game, but analytics has changed the game. The way we play [in the WNBA] is different. There’s not as much fouling, not as much contact on the perimeter which allows shooters to shoot better. You add that to the analytics that say a three-pointer is better than the long two, that’s why you see the points explosion in the NBA. I like it, but at the same time the best advantage you can have is being as skilled as possible. You can’t live and die by the three. As much as we rely on analytics, when it comes down to one possession, you have to make a play. That’s what games are determined on.”
“For us in the WNBA, I would say it’s about being more strategic on plays. Meaning end of shot clock, going for 2-for-1s. Our analytics are more focused on defensive strategy and scouting versus offense. I don’t know how much NBA players adhere to scouts in an 82-game season, maybe in a playoff series more.
“In a 34-game WNBA season, scouts matter because you’re only seeing a team or player twice sometimes. I would say analytics matters most to us defensively whereas in the NBA it matters most offensively. I know when I’m facing Elena Delle Donne maybe once or twice this year, I know which way she likes to go off the dribble. That matters so much more to us than it would to an NBA player who’s facing Anthony Davis seven times, or whatever it is.”
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