More Than Game
Hey everyone,
Did you know that the WNBA All-Star Game was last weekend? Did you know that Sabrina Ionescu broke the Three-Point Contest by hitting 25 out of a possible 27 shots in the championship round? Did you know that Brittney Griner is leading her team in points, rebounds, and blocks in her return to dominating the WNBA after her stint in a Russian prison? Do you know what WNBA team Ionescu or Griner play for? If you answered “No” to any of these questions, then this newsletter is for you.
It’s time we had a serious talk about the WNBA.
When the WNBA held its inaugural season in 1997, I tuned in out of curiosity. I was enamored with the initial dominance of the Houston Comets, winning the first four championships in WNBA history. Led by future Hall of Famers Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, and Tina Thompson, the Comets quickly established the league’s first dynasty and set a very high bar for what a successful WNBA franchise looks like. I was shocked when the Comets ceased all operations in 2008 and dispersed their players to other teams in the league. It was hard to fathom a team in an association completely folding like that as opposed to relocating, and it was an even harder pill to swallow considering how crucial the Comets were to the legacy of the league. The league was off to a rough start.
From the league’s inception in 1997 to 2002, the WNBA and all of its teams were owned by the NBA. After the USA men’s and women’s teams won gold at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, NBA Commissioner David Stern threw the full support of the NBA behind creating the WNBA. As a result of the NBA’s involvement, each WNBA team played in the same city and shared an arena with their NBA neighbor. The NBA season would run from October to June each year, and the WNBA season would run from May to September. However, things began to change in 2002 when the NBA decided to sell its ownership stake in the WNBA teams to the ownership groups of the NBA teams.
With the NBA no longer propping each team up, the NBA ownership groups looked to either cut costs or sell WNBA teams to new ownership groups. This led to several franchises closing their doors for good and several others relocating to new markets and severing their ties with the NBA. This included inaugural franchises such as the Cleveland Rockers, Charlotte Sting, and the aforementioned Houston Comets. Most franchises began to downsize their arenas from the NBA ones they typically used, instead preferring to operate in smaller venues normally reserved for college basketball or NBA G League teams. Despite all of these efforts, the WNBA still lost on average $10M a season and according to current NBA commissioner Adam Silver, the WNBA has not had a single profitable season.
Because of their NBA ownership, the WNBA also adheres to the same local blackout rules. Meaning that if you live in a city that has a WNBA team, you’re unable to watch the game without a local cable subscription. After the hype and buzz surrounding the WNBA All-Star game, I was saddened to learn that I’m unable to watch any Atlanta Dream games since I don’t have cable. Usually, you can get around local blackouts if your team sells out its arena, but the Dream, along with the rest of the WNBA, struggle to do so. The Dream finished second in the league with eight sell-outs out of a possible 18 home games at Gateway Center, the 3,500-seat arena that they share with the College Park SkyHawks of the NBA G-League. It seems counterproductive to play in smaller arenas limiting the number of people that can attend in person while simultaneously restricting who can watch your televised games at home. How does the league expect to turn a profit?
In 2022, the WNBA raised $75M in capital investment from various partners and sponsors, and as a result, raised the salary cap for each team. For the current season, the WNBA salary cap is $1,420,500. The average salary for a WNBA player is $113,295, which isn’t bad for five months of work for an organization that has never turned a profit in its entire existence. However, many players feel that this isn’t good enough and have asked to receive 50% of all revenues generated by the WNBA, similar to the revenue-sharing deal that the NBA has with their male counterparts. We’ll have to wait and see how successful the WNBA players are in these negotiations, but I digress.
According to NBA Commissioner Silver, the largest demographic for the WNBA currently is “older men who like fundamental basketball.” They see the WNBA as a place where more offenses include solid principles and ball movement as opposed to the isolation-heavy offenses primarily found in today’s NBA. However, this demographic of hardcore basketball fans doesn’t seem capable of carrying the WNBA to a financial windfall anytime soon. In contrast, the NBA’s core audience seems to embrace the fact that their league is not built on the foundation of fundamental basketball and instead has leaned into embracing the entertaining aspects of the sport.
Having said all of this, I think the WNBA has an existential crisis on its hands, and it needs to answer one important question.
Is the WNBA meant to be entertaining for casual fans?
Is the WNBA meant to be a league for hardcore basketball enthusiasts, or is it meant to entice the casual fan looking for entertainment? Is the league going to try to capture all fans from all walks of life, or is the league going to continue to wade into divisive topics that have the potential to alienate new fans? Is the league going to start promoting its LGBTQ stars and Black stars the same way that it goes out of its way to promote its white heterosexual players? And will the WNBA ever consider lowering its rims to increase the number of players that can dunk? The WNBA seems to be trying to do all of these things at once, and its track record shows that this plan is not working.
The slogan of the current NBA season is “More Than Game”. They’re focusing on the lives of players, both on and off the court, and the league seems to be forcefully trying to connect with younger women that could potentially be fans. However, my problem with this slogan is that it implies that the WNBA game is good the way that it is and doesn’t need to be changed. In my opinion, the WNBA should go in one of two directions. They can either sprinkle in some league modifications that aim to improve the entertainment level of the sport, or they can double down on their current approach of being the go-to option for basketball enthusiasts. And whatever decision they decide, they should be able to live with the financial consequences of that decision.
In the spirit of the inaugural slogan, it’s time to prove that the WNBA finally has next.