WNBA on NBC
Debut: June 21, 1997
Ended: August 31, 2002

NBC showed Women's National Basketball Association games from 1997 to 2002 as part of their NBA on NBC coverage before the league transferred the rights to ABC/ESPN. A more rock-oriented variant of John Tesh's theme, "Roundball Rock" introduced by NBC to coincide with the debut of the WNBA. On June 27, 1996, NBC Sports was announced as the WNBA's first national broadcaster. The WNBA soon, also had television deals in place with the Walt Disney Company and Hearst Corporation joint venture channels, ESPN and Lifetime Television Network, respectively. At the time, NBC didn't pay television rights fees to the league's teams. NBC nationally televised the very first WNBA game on June 21, 1997. The game featured the New York Liberty facing the Los Angeles Sparks in Los Angeles. For NBC's final season with the WNBA in 2002, they again began their season's worth of coverage on Memorial Day weekend with the Liberty and Sparks. NBC would proceed to televise WNBA games on Saturday and Sunday afternoons culminating in the Championship game on August 30. NBC's halftime report was sponsored by Lee Jeans.

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