{"id":625784,"date":"2026-05-05T23:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T23:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/625784\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T23:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T23:57:08","slug":"hannah-storm-returning-to-wnba-coverage-as-espn-studio-host","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/625784\/","title":{"rendered":"Hannah Storm returning to WNBA coverage as ESPN studio host"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WNBA coverage will have many new faces this season as the league adds new broadcast partners, but returning studio host Hannah Storm may be the most prominent.<\/p>\n<p>Storm will be one of the anchors on\u00a0ESPN\u2019s WNBA Countdown this season, marking a full-circle moment for the former NBC Sports host and women\u2019s basketball fans. Storm was the play-by-play announcer for the first-ever WNBA game, and also anchored studio coverage for NBC during the first several years of the league\u2019s existence.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/espnpressroom.com\/us\/press-releases\/2026\/05\/espns-wnba-coverage-returns-for-landmark-30th-season-with-expanded-studio-presence-and-industry-leading-commentator-team\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">ESPN announced this week<\/a> that Storm will rotate as a host for\u00a0WNBA Countdown and contribute reported features to the pregame show and\u00a0SportsCenter.<\/p>\n<p>The network is shuffling its WNBA coverage this year following a handful of departures, including top studio host Elle Duncan. To replace Duncan, the Worldwide Leader is broadening Malika Andrews\u2019 role. Storm will seemingly fill in as Andrews\u2019 backup.<\/p>\n<p>ESPN also lost veteran announcer Pam Ward to <a href=\"https:\/\/awfulannouncing.com\/espn\/longtime-broadcaster-pam-ward-retires.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">retirement<\/a> and veteran game and studio analyst LaChina Robinson to <a href=\"https:\/\/awfulannouncing.com\/nbc\/finalizes-wnba-broadcast-team-courtside-reporters.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NBC<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/awfulannouncing.com\/amazon\/prime-video-wnba-broadcast-talent-roster.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Prime Video<\/a>. In their place, ESPN announced that Tiffany Greene and Carolyn Peck will slot in on the No. 2 broadcast team, with Beth Mowins and Debbie Antonelli working \u201cselect assignments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/awfulannouncing.com\/wnba\/everything-we-know-broadcast-teams-national-network-partners.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Worldwide Leader will broadcast 30 WNBA games this regular season<\/a>, a slightly pared-back schedule as NBC, USA Network, and Prime Video join as national partners, as well as a handful of playoff games. For the first time since 2002, ESPN will not air the WNBA Finals, as NBC\/Peacock and USA Network join forces to air the 2026 championship series, which will rotate throughout the league\u2019s new broadcast rights deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WNBA coverage will have many new faces this season as the league adds new broadcast partners, but returning&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[270926,99,434,167702,8376],"class_list":["post-625784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-hannah-storm","tag-sports","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-countdown","tag-wnba-on-espn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}