Deb Boulac is an award-winning, groundbreaking TV producer. So it’s fitting that she’ll lead a historic broadcast Saturday when CBS airs the Fever-Sky game at the United Center — the first regular-season game in WNBA history to air on broadcast TV in prime time.
“I’m honored to be able to be part of this, and I think that women’s basketball is getting the stage they deserve,” said Boulac, who has been at CBS since 1998. “I think when you celebrate these athletes, you’re celebrating obviously women’s basketball but all of women’s athletics and the rise that they are on right now.”
In 2020, Boulac became the first woman to produce a prime-time NFL game. Two years before, she was the first woman in more than 20 years to produce an NFL game on network TV. She has worked Super Bowls, golf majors and NCAA basketball tournaments. And she has been producing WNBA games since CBS took on that job last season.
The increased interest and coverage of the WNBA is gratifying to Boulac, who was an athlete herself at Notre Dame, where she played softball. Her father, Brian, played tight end for the Irish and was a member of the football coaching staff in the 1970s and early ’80s.
“I’ve always been a fan of the WNBA. I’ve watched it since it started,” Boulac said. “My favorite sport to play when I was little was basketball, and it was my favorite sport to watch because I could sit in the stands and watch a Notre Dame basketball game with my dad. So that bond I had with him was more so through basketball than football because I could sit next to him.”
For the game Saturday (7 p.m., CBS 2, 670-AM), Boulac will sit in the CBS production truck outside the United Center alongside director Cory Fishman, with whom she came up through the ranks. Though Fever star Caitlin Clark is expected to miss the game with a strained quadriceps, Boulac said she’ll still figure in the broadcast.
“She’s somebody that embraces the team atmosphere,” Boulac said. “People are showing how involved she is in coaching up her teammates and cheering on her teammates whether she’s on the court or off the court. We need to highlight that aspect.”
Jordan Kent will call the action with analyst Isis Young and reporter Tiffany Blackmon. Kent, who’s in his fourth year calling basketball and football at CBS, is the son of former Oregon basketball coach Ernie Kent, a Rockford native. He’ll be in the stands for the game.
Jordan called CBS’ first WNBA game of the season May 24 between the Liberty and Fever. A fan of the league himself, Kent wants this broadcast to continue the WNBA’s ascent.
“What we’re seeing right before our eyes is the transformation of a league,” he said. “It’s no secret that the numbers and the engagement have gone through the roof over the last couple of years. And so in an opportunity like this, you want to showcase what makes this league so special — the pace of play, the playmaking, the competitiveness.”
CBS also will launch its first WNBA pregame show, which will air at 6:30 p.m. Saturday with host and former DePaul star Sarah Kustok and analysts Renee Montgomery and Dawn Staley, South Carolina’s women’s coach.
Remote patrol
The Cubs-Tigers game Friday will air exclusively on Apple TV+. Rich Waltz, Ryan Spilborghs and reporter Tricia Whitaker will call it.
Fox Chicago Plus (WPWR-Channel 50) and Marquee Sports Network will air Athletes Unlimited Softball League games starting this weekend.
