During the 2015 WNBA season, Isiah Thomas, President of the New York Liberty, met with The Player’s Tribune to discuss the first of its kind media partnership, which would leverage unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to the Liberty organization with The Players’ Tribune’s world class editorial and creative team, to create an immersive multimedia experience.
Facing a media landscape that offers limited opportunities for WNBA players to share their perspectives as female professional athletes, trailblazers, and role models, the Liberty saw in The Players’ Tribune a chance gain exposure and start to shape a national conversation about women in sports.
In order to achieve this, The Players’ Tribune embedded editors, photographers, and a video production team with the Liberty during practices, team meetings, home games, road trips, and off the court activities, to provide a complete perspective of life for a WNBA athlete and what makes each member of the team unique, including personal interests, history, and social activism.
The result was a wealth of content that included a three-part video series, “1440: New York Liberty,” player features and interviews, and compelling photo essays that shone a light on every aspect of the professional athlete experience.
This successful partnership demonstrated not only what can be achieved through an innovative approach to the creative process, but also how receptive media and fans can be to stories about powerful female athletes.
- 1440: New York Liberty (Trailer)
- 1440: New York Liberty-Episode 1
- 1440: New York Liberty-Episode 2
- 1440: New York Liberty-Episode 3
- I Do This For A Living (Swin Cash, Tanisha Wright, Essence Carson)
- “Full Circle” by Candice Wiggins
- Watchlist: Kiah Stokes
- “Making It Out” by Sugar Rodgers
- “The Five Toughest Players I Ever Guarded” by Candice Wiggins
- “Growing Up” by Brittany Boyd
- “The Way In” by Tanisha Wright
