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The latest WNBA rookie phenom is also now a centerpiece of a sports media overhaul underway in Dallas.
As the Dallas Wings selected UConn star Paige Bueckers with the first pick of Monday’s WNBA draft, the choice also confirmed a viewership influx likely coming to KFAA-TV, a Tegna-owned television station in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The Wings and KFAA agreed to a rights deal in February, providing the over-the-air station with all of the team’s games not designated for national broadcast.
The agreement represented the latest in a wave of deals for every major pro team in the Dallas area, the No. 4 U.S. media market, with the exception of the NFL’s Cowboys, that turned away from traditional, cable-based local media models in favor of broadcast, streaming, and hybrid approaches.
Bueckers may not have quite the massive mainstream popularity of Caitlin Clark, but she is a highly accomplished star, including leading the Huskies last week to an NCAA title, and she marks the latest wave of top-tier talent reaching the WNBA.
KFAA is poised to see a sizable bump in viewers as the Wings are currently slated to have 28 of their 44 games in 2025 on the local station. That presence is being supplemented by additional local-market agreements elsewhere in Texas, including in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio.
“We’re just really excited for the game, the eyes on women’s basketball,” said Wings GM Curt Miller after making the Bueckers pick. “As someone that’s been in the game 35 years, I’ve always been very bullish that our product is outstanding, but now, we have more fandom. We have more eyes on our game than ever. Our product’s always been tremendous. We just needed a spark to get more eyes on our game, and we have it now.”
The arrival of Bueckers in Dallas also generated welcome messages from the other pro teams in the area, including MLB’s Rangers, the NHL’s Stars, the NBA’s Mavericks, and the Cowboys.
