Women’s Sports Sundays: ESPN's Bold New Franchise

ESPN says “Women’s Sports Sundays” was years in the making - and the demand is already there.

During a recent panel titled “Building a Franchise: Women’s Sports Sundays”, ESPN executives outlined how the network is approaching its newest programming initiative, demonstrating it's not a short-term experiment, but the next major ESPN franchise. Women’s Sports Sundays debuts this summer, replacing the traditional slot held for decades by MLB.

The conversation — featuring ESPN EVP of Programming & Acquisitions Roz Durant, Disney Advertising VP of Revenue & Yield Management Jacqueline Dobies, and ESPN VP of Women’s Sports Programming & espnW Susie Piotrkowski — repeatedly returned to one central idea: the rise of women’s sports is no longer theoretical. ESPN believes the audience is already there, advertisers are fully invested, and now the company is building the infrastructure and presentation to match.

“This was not reactive,” Piotrkowski explained. “This was not something that we kind of just came to impulsively.”

Instead, executives described a strategy that has been developing for years across ESPN and Disney. It is focused on creating premium programming windows, expanding revenue opportunities, and continuing to mainstream women’s sports throughout ESPN’s ecosystem.
That larger vision led naturally to the creation of Women’s Sports Sundays, as Piotrkowski declared, “We do franchises better than anybody else and it’s our time for a franchise.”

Much of the panel focused on the business realities driving this. Dobies explained that advertiser demand around women’s sports has continued accelerating even as ESPN has dramatically expanded its programming inventory.

“What you rarely see is as supply has grown, the demand has not only kept up with the surge in supply for women’s sports, but it’s continued to outpace the growth of supply,” Dobies said.
A visibly enthusiastic Durant emphasized that ESPN’s long-standing commitment to women’s sports is finally aligning with broader audience behavior and marketplace demand.

“We take great pride in being the leaders in women’s sport,” Durant said. “Consumer demand didn’t always meet our passion.”

Now, she argued, the conversation has fundamentally changed.

“Everybody watches women’s sports,” Durant said, referencing the now-ubiquitous slogan appearing on shirts and across social media. “Because everybody *is* watching women’s sports.”

That shift, executives explained, is also changing how ESPN and advertisers approach sports programming overall. Dobies noted that in some categories — particularly college basketball — advertisers increasingly buy the sport itself rather than separating men’s and women’s inventory.

“It’s about the quality of the content and the audience,” she explained. With Piotrkowski summing up the impact of this evolving paradigm shift as “Best matchup wins.”

But beyond scheduling and advertising strategy, the panel repeatedly emphasized presentation and intentionality. Executives described Women’s Sports Sundays as a fully built franchise effort involving more than 70 people across ESPN and Disney working on branding, music, promotion, scheduling, and visual identity.

“It matters how we talk about it,” Durant explained. “It matters what music you choose. It matters the color combination you choose.”

For Durant, the effort is not about creating a novelty or side initiative. Instead, she stressed that ESPN is treating these athletes and broadcasts with the same level of care the company would give any of its premier properties.

“This is about amazing athletes who happen to be women who are deserving of this franchise,” Durant said. “Treat them right and give them the same intentionality, the same thoughtfulness that we would for any other significant franchise.”
Piotrkowski echoed that philosophy while comparing the initiative directly to one of ESPN’s most iconic brands.

“When people sit down to Monday Night Football, we want them to feel the same thing when they sit down to watch Women’s Sports Sundays,” she said.

And with the full promotional reach of both ESPN and Disney now behind the effort, Piotrkowski believes the company is positioned to make that vision resonate at a much larger scale.

“When you have the full power of the Walt Disney Company, when you have the full megaphone that is ESPN behind it…” she said, “you make magic.”

The panel also highlighted the scale of ESPN’s current investment in women’s sports, including more than 35,000 hours of programming last year, an additional 85 hours added year-over-year across ESPN and ABC, and a continued increase in women’s sports coverage on ESPN.com.

Still, executives made clear that Women’s Sports Sundays is being viewed internally as a beginning rather than a culmination.

“The fans suggested that there was an appetite for more,” Durant said. “So what do we do? You give them more.”