• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, July 17, 2007

Despite some teams continuing to lose money and experts questioning the long-term viability of the league, ESPN will continue to carry WNBA games for the next eight seasons through 2016.

It's unclear whether the deal is related to ESPN's recent re-upping of its NBA rights arrangement, which runs for the same time period. ESPN may have been able to exchange a willingness to carry the lower-rated WNBA for some extras in the NBA deal.

ESPN will offer WNBA games on ESPN2 and ABC (two regular-season games). It also gets the rights to stream games on new-media outlets, such as broadband hub ESPN360.com and mobile devices.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

ESPN has carried the league, where multiple teams are bleeding money, since it debuted in 1997. It has been trying to draft off the success of the 1996 USA women's team at the Atlanta Olympics. ESPN.com recently published an in-depth piece about how American players abroad can make far more money than in the WNBA.

The new deal, however, likely ensures the WNBA will continue through at least the duration of the ESPN deal. A Washington Post writer recently commented that the league is now a plank in NBA commissioner David Stern's legacy, so he is likely to fight tooth and nail to keep it going.

"ESPN is committed to being the leader in women's sports coverage and is delighted to partner with the WNBA as we continue to help grow women's basketball," said top ESPN content executive John Skipper.