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2024 Connecticut Sun Media Information

Please read through the following updated media protocols for the Connecticut Sun ahead of the 2024 WNBA season. All protocols are subject to change due to league and team guidelines.

2024 Game Day Credential Information

2024 CONNECTICUT SUN MEDIA CREDENTIAL REQUEST PROCESS

  • Credential Requests for the 2024 season are NOW OPEN!
  • Media interested in attending a Connecticut Sun game at Mohegan Sun Arena will be asked to request a credential at least 72 hours in advance of the desired game.
  • Requests can be made by completing this form HERE or linked in the Media Credential Request button found on our media relations page.
  • If you are interested in attending all of the Connecticut Sun home games, please select each game at the time of requesting your first credential.
  • You will receive an email regarding approval or denial within 48 hours of each scheduled contest. Credential approval is on a game-to-game basis.
  • Please note:
    • Priority for media credentials will be given to outlets that regularly cover the Connecticut Sun and/or the WNBA.
    • Due to limited floor space, photographers working for reputable media outlets will be given priority. No freelance photographers or player personal photographers will be credentialed.
    • Credential approval is on a game-to-game basis. Just because you have been approved for one game, does not guarantee approval for the entire season.
    • The Connecticut Sun reserves the right to revoke media access privileges if a media member acts in a threatening or combative manner to players or staff. Please respect Sun PR decision-making and assume positive intent.

 

MEDIA AND PHOTOGRAPHER SEATING

  • Print media will have designated spots with name tags at the baseline tables in front of Sections 11, 12 and 28 (adjacent to the Connecticut Sun bench).
  • Photographers issued a floor spot will have a designated photo lane with a name tag on the baselines of the court. Only photographers with a floor spot will be permitted on the court during the game.
  • Additional seating for print media and overflow photographers will be located at the top of Section 27/elsewhere in the arena when needed.
    • Photographers with an overflow spot are NOT permitted on the court during the game but are allowed to shoot on the court during pregame and postgame
  • If you cannot find your designated spot, please contact Sun PR for assistance.

 

PHOTOGRAPHERS

  • General Media photographers and camera operators will resume traditional baseline quadrant procedures and sit up to a minimum of 6 feet from the court. As a reminder, camera operators and photographers are generally prohibited from entering escape lanes during play, and thus their seating locations may not block escape lanes.
  • Additionally, rubber lens hoods must be on all lenses for still photographers, broadcasters, and news and entertainment video and film crews who are authorized to shoot WNBA game action. Photographers using telephoto lenses – which are permitted for both near court and far court photography – may store their cameras on their laps when using another camera, but not next to them or in front of them. Media requesting baseline locations must provide agreement that a rubber lens hood will be used. Each photographer will be permitted to use one monopod – but no tripods – at courtside.
  • Only metal-less, hiking-type photographer seats (e.g. no rolling seats, no swivels, no legs) will be permitted for photographers or television camera operators seated around the perimeter of the court. All other types of seating must be approved in advance by the WNBA. Additionally, no stand-alone remotes or ancillary equipment and accessories (e.g., batteries, lenses, tapes) are permitted on the court at any time. No laptop computers may be used while a photographer is seated courtside for any purpose (e.g. transmitting game photos).
  • Any camera mounted to the front game/shot clock (whether 4-sided or transparent) cannot cross the plane of the backboard glass. The number of still cameras permitted to be mounted on backboards shall be limited to two (2) per backboard. One (1) camera position per backboard (2 total) shall be reserved for use by NBA Entertainment. One (1) camera position shall be reserved for a pool feed such that the images will be accessible to all media (and NBA Entertainment will designate for each game one of the wire services to operate such pool feed; and one (1) camera position shall be reserved for a national sports media outlet, if in attendance, in an order of priority to be determined by NBA Entertainment or, if not in attendance, to a media outlet to be determined by the home team.

 

PARKING/ENTRANCE/CREDENTIAL PICK UP:

  • There will be NO parking under the arena for photographers or television stations.
  • All parking at Mohegan Sun is free to the public. The closest garage to the box office and arena entrance is the Riverview Garage.
  • Members of the media should enter Mohegan Sun Arena through the Earth side entrance and pick up their credential at the first window of the box office beginning 2-1/2 hours prior to tipoff.

 

MEDIA DINING

  • Media dining is located in the backstage café back of house. Media will be instructed to use section 27 to enter the back of house. Once you are back of house, take a right down the hallway and the café will be on your left.

 

2024 Media Availability Policies

*We ask that all media members interested in participating in any media availability (in person or on zoom) RSVP at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled availability*

 

PRACTICE MEDIA AVAILABILITIES

  • On Monday morning of each week, Sun PR will provide to their media list and to WNBA Communications a tentative schedule of media availabilities for that particular week, including for practice days, shootarounds, and game days.
  • Media will be allowed into practice during the last thirty (30) minutes of practice (to be defined as a period of on-going team drills).
  • Immediately upon the conclusion of practice all players must remain on the floor for a minimum of 20 minutes up to a maximum of 30 minutes for media interviews. If media are still present and engaging in interviews with players and/or coaches, the session must extend to the full 30 minutes. In such cases where media are present beyond the 20-minute mark, there cannot be the excuse that coaches/trainers/staff want to start a film session/treatment/etc. early; a 30-minute window is to be set in place and the full 30 minutes is to be used in instances such as that outlined above.
  • Once per week teams must, on the day of a practice, make two players available via zoom; players should be rotated and must include one starter and one key contributor. Game-day pre- or post-game sessions are separate and do not count toward this requirement.
  • Sun home practices:
    • Mohegan Sun Arena: Members of the media should enter Mohegan Sun Arena through the Earth side entrance no earlier than the designated time specified in the weekly schedule. A member of the Connecticut Sun staff will be there to escort you in.
    • Tribal Practice Facility:
      • Address: 13 Crow Hill Road, Uncasville, CT 06382
      • Additional directions: Continue up to Mohegan Community and Government Center, circle around to the back entrance and check in with the security desk to sign a waiver for first-time entry. A Connecticut Sun staff member will be near the entrance to escort you in within the last 30 minutes of practice.
      • Your name will need to be added to a list to be given to the employees at the Tribal Building Practice Facility, so please RSVP as soon as possible if you will be attending practice in person.

 

GAME DAY SHOOTAROUNDS

  • Any organized shootaround- required or optional- with at least five (5) players present must have a 15-minute media availability session associated with it for in-person media.
  • Shoot-arounds will be open to media for viewing 15 minutes at either the beginning or end of shoot-around.
  • In addition, two (2) key platers are required to be available jointly for in-person and Zoom media during the media availability window. However, media planning to attend the shootaround zoom will be required to RSVP to team PR 24 hours in advance of the scheduled zoom; if less than three (3) media people RSVP, the team may cancel the zoom. Exceptions would be made in the event of significant, breaking news affecting the team within that 24-hour period.
  • All other players and coaches must be available for a 15-minute interview session in a designated interview area on the court either immediately prior to or immediately following shoot-around.
  • If a team opts to NOT have a shoot-around for a particular game, there will not be any required media session.

 

** Please note that Game Day availabilities are to take the form of “scrum” sessions. One-on-ones should not be expected on game days. For specific requests, media must coordinate with Team PR. **

 

PREGAME MEDIA AVAILABILITY

  • Players are required to be available for interviews with in-person media on or in the vicinity of the court during the 90-to-60-minute window prior to the announced start time of the game (EX: 6:30-7:00 p.m. for an 8:00 p.m. game). Each player must be available to media for a minimum of 15 minutes at a predetermined time within the 30-minute window. Teams will be responsible for designating – in their weekly media schedule issued each Monday and in each edition of their Game Notes – the 15 minutes within the window that each player will be available. If requested for an interview during their designated 15-minute period , players must make themselves available.
  • Players who are not available to play in a particular game due to injury or other reason, are not required to be available for pregame interviews.
  • Each participating head coach must be available in the press conference room jointly for zoom and in-person media. Team PR will work with one another to schedule their respective head coaches so that they do not overlap with each other. Any session with a head coach taking place prior to the pregame media availability with players much conclude no later than 95 minutes prior to the announced start time of the game so that media are given time to access the court for interviews with players. Similarly, any session with a head coach taking place after the pregame media availability with players may begin no sooner than 55 minutes prior to the announced start time of the game so that media are given time to move from the court to the interview room. In the event both head coaches request the same time window, priority will be given to the home team.

 

*All Media (including TV and photographers) may not congregate in the corners of the court and must be aware of their surroundings so as not to interfere with players’ pre-game workouts.*

 

POSTGAME MEDIA AVAILABILITY

  • Postgame media availability will be a combination of in-person access and Zoom access. Home and road teams will utilize two separate press conference rooms that can accommodate in-person media and the Zoom component.
    • Postgame interviews with a team’s head coach and select players will take place in a designated interview room. In lieu of interviews in the locker room, postgame requests by in-person media with additional players – defined as those not taking part in the interview room press conference – will take place in a suitable, alternate location.
  • No later than 10 minutes following the game, each head coach and two players (leading scorer and key contributor) per team will be available in separate press conference room for in-person and zoom media.
  • Home Team PR will issue a note to in-person and virtual media no later than with three minutes on the game clock indicating the names of the players for both teams to be made available in the interview room(s). These lists are subject to change in the event of late-game developments.
  • After the conclusion of the presser (per team) with head coach and two key players, any additional players requested by in-person media ONLY (through team PR) are required to be available for interviews in a suitable, alternate location such as the interview room or hallway outside the locker room. There is no zoom requirement for the additional requested players outside of the press conference. ALL players are required to remain in the building (whether requested or not) until all media obligations are met.
  • During Sun home games:
    • The Sun postgame press conference will be held in the multi-purpose room across from the Sun locker room.
    • The visiting team postgame press conference will be held in the press room located behind the backstage café.

 

CONNECTICUT SUN MEDIA CONTACTS

Alexandra Maund, Manager of Communications: (860) 705-9649, amaund@connecticutsun.com

Caroline O’Keefe, PR Specialist: (860) 823-7561, cokeefe@connecticutsun.com