Why isn’t the WNBA more successful?
The league needs — and deserves — fan support, revenue
This may come as a bit of a surprise to some of you, but the Women’s National Basketball Association has come to the end of what might have been the best regular season in league history — great players, great teams, sublime performances, wonderful stories — and the playoffs begin this week.
By all accounts — and I agree, having seen a handful of games on TV and read many great dispatches from excellent reporters and writers — the game has never been better on the court.
But while that has translated into more popularity and an increase in casual fans, the league still struggles.
The pay is too low, the travel too arduous, the crowds too sparse, the sponsorships too lacking despite all the stories like Canada’s own rookie Kia Nurse along with Natalie Achonwa and Kayla Alexander, Liz Cambage in Dallas, Lindsay Whalen in Minnesota, the dominant Seattle Storm and races for playoff seeding that went down to the final day of the regular season.
As you know, I am a big fan, and I think it’s an important league with players who are the best in the world at their craft and are significant role models for a segment of youth that needs them. So, why can’t they get paid better? Travel better? Not have to flee North America weeks after their seasons are over to make more money playing in Europe or Australia or Russia? Why aren’t the crowds bigger? The sponsorships greater? The media more mindful? I was chatting with a friend who has a great interest in the league one day last week — mostly because I had lamented that Nurse has to go to Australia to play in the winter because she can’t make a livable year-round wage in the WNBA — and the conclusion was “I get that it’s not fair, I just don’t know how to fix it.”
And there’s the conundrum. None of the teams turns much of a profit, and I don’t think too many ever have made consistent money that can be turned back into salaries. They can’t seem to piggyback on NBA sponsorship deals deeply enough — the national ones they do have are because of ties with the NBA, the same with the national broadcast deal — and it’s a complex, perplexing problem.
It makes no sense that it’s not consistently successful everywhere. I know people at the high end of the league, the NBA, and league “partners” keep trying to figure it out and, hopefully, they can before it’s too late.
And I wonder what more we can do in markets where there are no teams but much interest in women’s basketball.
I think we could probably run more stories over the course of season on players and issues. I’ve long held that no one is going to miss some out-of-market wire service baseball story once or twice a week, and replacing it with a WNBA feature might even garner us a few more eyes. And I know that my eyes glaze over at any “who is going to be Team X’s starting NFL quarterback” story that appears at this time of year. So, yeah, maybe we could be better; maybe more casual fans could pony up the minuscule cost for a season of live-streaming to add something to the financial pot.
Having painted what might be seen as a glum picture about the finances of the league, I will still contend that the good burghers over at MLSE should be seriously investigating the chance of a WNBA team for Toronto. I would trust that the league will eventually figure things out, I don’t think there’s any denying that women’s sports are more popular today than they have ever been, and bringing the first franchise to Canada is a thing that needs to happen. I’m not suggesting anyone buy anything that is guaranteed to lose them substantial sums of money over the years, but I am suggesting someone should be able to make it work in a city and market this size at this time.
But as my buddy said, it’s complicated.
Anyway, do yourself a favour starting this week and check out a playoff game or two. You’ll come away pleasantly surprised, I’m sure.