WNBA Live

The Opportunity

In 2022, the WNBA was looking to create something new around All-Star Weekend: its first fan festival designed to bring basketball, culture, entertainment, brands, and the community together in one place.

I had recently joined Emerald's Xcelerator group to develop and launch new businesses, and this was exactly the kind of opportunity I had hoped to work on. We weren't taking over an established event. We were starting with an idea and figuring out what it could become.

I also knew early on that we needed the right production partner. I brought BAAM Productions into the project, a relationship I had developed while working on Outdoor Retailer. Their experience producing major sports and consumer experiences gave us the creative and production capabilities we needed to bring the vision to life.

What We Built

Together with the WNBA, BAAM, Freeman, and our team at Emerald, we developed WNBA Live from the ground up. That meant everything from the business model, sponsorship strategy, budget, and venue to programming, activations, talent, branding, and the overall fan experience.

After a long contracting and planning process, we had roughly three months to actually produce the event.

WNBA Live debuted during All-Star Weekend in Chicago with brand partners including AT&T, Mountain Dew, and U.S. Bank, with Chance the Rapper headlining. Thousands of fans, families, and young athletes came through the experience over the weekend.

What I remember most is the energy. Women's basketball was entering a new chapter, and you could feel that something bigger was beginning to happen.

The Legacy

WNBA Live continued beyond the event we launched in Chicago, with the WNBA taking the experience forward as part of future All-Star Weekends.

I'm proud that we helped create the first one.

For me, its legacy is also a reminder of what can happen when you bring the right people together around an idea, build trust quickly, and aren't afraid to create something that hasn't existed before.