{"id":775961,"date":"2026-07-21T14:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T14:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/775961\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T14:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T14:14:11","slug":"dicks-life-in-the-w-wnba-documentary-premieres-on-espn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/775961\/","title":{"rendered":"Dick&#8217;s Life In the W WNBA documentary premieres on ESPN"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods is expanding its push into original sports storytelling with Life In the W, a six part documentary series following WNBA stars A\u2019ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier and DeWanna Bonner. Produced by the retailer\u2019s in house studio, Cookie Jar &amp; A Dream Studios, and co produced with UNINTERRUPTED, the series premieres July 24 on ESPN2 as the WNBA celebrates its 30th season.<\/p>\n<p>The project follows Cookie Jar &amp; A Dream Studios\u2019 first documentary production, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sgieurope.com\/retail\/dicks-launches-nickelodeon-sports-surprise-show\/118127.article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">released in November 2025<\/a>, as part of DICK\u2019S stated strategy to build a longer term content operation rather than treating documentary storytelling as a one off marketing exercise.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>Women\u2019s basketball is the growth play<\/p>\n<p>Life In the W arrives one year after DICK\u2019S expanded its partnership with the WNBA, becoming both the league\u2019s Official Sporting Goods Retailer and Official Marketing Partner through 2028 while also adding a partnership with the Jr. WNBA youth basketball initiative.<\/p>\n<p>The documentary follows three of the league\u2019s most recognizable players during the second half of the 2025 season and the subsequent offseason. Wilson, Collier and Bonner already feature prominently in DICK\u2019S marketing initiatives, while the retailer also sells Wilson\u2019s signature Nike A\u2019One and A\u2019Two basketball shoes.<\/p>\n<p>A growing content strategy<\/p>\n<p>Cookie Jar &amp; A Dream Studios was created to develop original sports stories that complement the retailer\u2019s broader brand and partnership activities. In announcing Life In the W, DICK\u2019S executives emphasized the opportunity to showcase players\u2019 lives on and off the court.<\/p>\n<p>The shift toward athlete centered storytelling in sports marketing is not new. What is new is that retailers are now embracing it, not just brands.<\/p>\n<p>In women\u2019s sports, brands, media companies and athlete organizations are increasingly investing in documentaries and episodic content designed to deepen fan engagement between competitions. Nike has supported several WNBA focused productions, while the WNBPA and Under Armour have also invested in athlete led storytelling projects. Life In the W is ultimately less about launching another documentary than about strengthening DICK\u2019S position within women\u2019s sports, now that competition among brands to occupy this space is growing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"picture\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"life-in-the-w Dick\u00b4s x ESPN\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/60785_lifeinthew_s1_keyart_16x9_177034.jpg\"   loading=\"eager\" class=\"lazyloaded\" width=\"1400\" height=\"788\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods is expanding its push into original sports storytelling with Life In the W, a six&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":775962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-775961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775961","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=775961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}