The Wrongful Villainization of The WNBA Pt 2
Introduction:
Sports in general have become such a passionate part of people’s lives, when you live and breathe the game you love, the lows are just as much of a discussion as the highs, if not more. Events like the Super Bowl or the Stanley Cup series final being regarded as highly as any other holiday. It is most definitely safe to say sports are the world to a grand number of individuals. But even with all that capacity to spend time, stay passionate, and even love a competitive ball game, the topic of women’s basketball is left to be desired, but why? When concerning the WNBA, there is an assortment of what is to blame for both its undedicated fanbase and its own failures as a league. I believe that the issues the WNBA faces are good ones to have because they all point to a goal of success that interconnects them one at a time. In other words, the WNBA just needs to find this domino effect to come into play. The good news is the ball on it has been rolling, the bad news is the fans who haven’t noticed, and the great news is it can all be just a matter of time!
The Problems at Hand
There are issues taken with the WNBA from all directions. There are some extreme takes on it with some viewing basketball as a man-only sport. But there are also more eccentric and credible opinions involving politics and it’s on more than the game of basketball. There are issues that are more out of their control like being such a young league in general. And just to list a few more, there can be a debatably negative look involving women’s rights, skill level, and how entertaining is the women’s league really? But almost all problems are associated with either money or likability. Who watches a sport they have negative connotations with? How can that sport make money without being viewed in a bright light?
The Big Money Problem
While there is a plethora of different people disliking the game for different reasons it all leaks back to the income as a league entirely. Money has looked like an uphill battle for the WNBA since the beginning so let us talk about it. In some shape or form, nearly every source I have used to prepare for this paper has mentioned how the WNBA is a league that is simply not making enough money to see profits. Upon studying the article, Why the Women’s National Basketball Association is a failing league and what should be done to improve it, they open up the intro explaining their biggest gripe as a league is financial. “The biggest reason for nearly all of its problems? Money. The WNBA simply does not earn enough profit to be a functional professional sports league” (Mannen, 2021). Amid the 2022 season, the women’s league only raked in around 60 million according to a 2023 article written by Richard Janvrin whereas the NBA brought in approximately 10.02 billion for their own ‘21-’22 season (Gough, 2023). With a league making so much less than the NBA while also trying to imitate the same production value, it can create a lot of issues in its own.
When analyzing a problem, it is only appropriate to dive into the roots. For a league that is simply trying to be the female side of the pro basketball scene, what gives? Why the huge gap in success comparing the two leagues? Now where the league truly falls short--especially for the sake of money-- compared to the NBA is something they just cannot help. Which is being founded less than thirty years ago April 24th, 1996 (WNBA, 2023). Being significantly younger than the NBA, a league that is now 76 years old (NBA, 2023), This explains things such as the WNBA having just over one million dollars to spend on marketing per year and the NBA can spend virtually hundreds of that value (Costabile, 2022). It creates a lot less credibility not only in the aspect of money but also in many other ways like history and its image overall. Being around for so much longer the NBA has come up on generational wealth that the WNBA simply has yet to strike.
The Results of said problem
It has been stated that being a spawn of the NBA itself and not having the funding on its own, can be troublesome in the marketing department. With that the NBA does a lot for its female league counterpart but it can only go so far. “According to Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, one of the biggest issues is the demographics of supporters. The marketing of the league is geared towards young females, but the league is generally supported by older men” (Bridge, 2019). With a situation such as that, a lot of money toward an audience can slip through the cracks. Another issue the WNBA has in conclusion is cutting corners on their already not so great game coverage. Fans and players alike have not enjoyed the experience of even searching for a game to watch in previous years. Sue Favor, a blogger on all things women’s basketball takes a few player sources to express their frustrations. Favor explains that the first thing that needs addressed is making games easier to watch. Aces guard, Kelsey Plum has a couple thoughts sampled, “I would like to see the league make it easier and more accessible for fans...For me personally, it’s so interesting when people are…tuned in, (and ask) ‘where can I watch the game?’ and I’m like, ‘well, you’ve got to download this app, then you got to put this in and oh, it’s blacked out, so you’ve got to go to this place” (Favor, 2022). Plum also goes on to explain when people actually do manage to find the game, they thoroughly enjoy the product. Since then, the WNBA app itself has been making improvements since.The buck does not stop there when thinking of how the league can do a better job in exploitation. In the same article, other issues in that vein of publicity are the lack of preparation the WNBA plagues their athletes with at times and how their merch is also hard to access. They explain how merch can only be accessed online or at games when most other major sports teams have their merch at every local airport and Walmart. And as for preparation there was a lot of emotion taken with the women’s all-star game a couple seasons ago. Due to the very last-minute announcement of the game being in Chicago, they had to come up with a makeshift court for the skills competition which would have been originally held at Wintrust Arena. The game itself was successfully played there. But in cases where this is an issue, how can it be taken seriously as a pro league?
Naturally, this breeds other problems the association currently has. Including the most notorious and heated debates around it which is player pay. And how it compares to the contracts of their male counterparts. But no matter in the possible discussion, whether it be price matching contracts or overall percentages it is all only a sub plot to the ten million dollars they lose per year (McCormick, 2023).
The Big Bad Reputation
From a combination of every last problem the WNBA has had, it positions the sports league in a light that should be found most costly. In more ways than one, the WNBA has trouble being liked as a sport at all. And when you are a sports league, having fans is more important than most anything else. All across the internet there are various vendettas against the league. Some hate hearing athletes demanding more pay. Others dislike the political stances that are meshed with sport such as BLM and women’s rights. Also, many claim that the gameplay is no good because the physical intensity found in the men’s league is not there. All in all, the main point is there are a lot of negative opinions around the WNBA and the sad majority has nothing to do with basketball.
Upon knowing this is the dangerous double edge sword that are the aggressive advocates for the WNBA that end up making it a more heated scene. Often giving the impression that watching women’s basketball is more owed than enjoyed. This exact situation has been exercised through another source taking up its own deal with a Sports Illustrated article celebrating the 25th anniversary of the WNBA. The source states how it comes off as more condescending toward the non-watchers instead of being congratulatory of the league. Making an example out of quotes such as “no excuse not to watch” and “Why it’s time to buy in on the WNBA (and why the reasons you haven’t are flawed)” which for obvious reasons can be taken as really annoying and almost pushed as an obligation (Thornsburg, 2021).A statement made in that exact article can summarize how most haters of the league feel. “All this does is create a never ending cycle that allows the WNBA to repeatedly play the victim complex while doing nothing to actually change” (Thornsburg, 2021). Statements like this being treated as fact in people’s lives, it can be hard to imagine how the league can turn away from something like this. Being over hated and underpaid truly feels like being between a rock and a hard place. But the best thing that can be said about the situation is how interconnected all these problems are, everyone could be aggravated with each other during a flood, but once a patch is sealed then things can start working together.
Simple Solution, Hard Execution
With all these problems sounding so unfathomably concerning, the WNBA has trended in a good direction lately. It almost seems like the league has found a solution, but it is now a matter of repeating what is being done right. Early last year, the largest capital raise ever for a women’s sport was made after seventy-five million dollars were contributed to the WNBA. Cathy Engelbert, WNBA commissioner has stated this blessing as a great opportunity to make a big push in the right direction. Also running with all the other things the WNBA has recently carried on their back as a real attribute to their promotion. Engelbert states, “... drive the league’s brand as a bold, progressive entertainment and media property that embodies diversity, promotes equity, advocates for social justice, and stands for the power of women. Having just completed our historic 25th season, with this access to additional capital, we are setting the WNBA up for a successful future...” News like this should only be seen as nothing but good things to come. Not to mention it is really happening at a time when the league itself is really heating up with entertaining competition with the past offseason being such a wild one. After all this struggle, the public and the WNBA must remind itself, the league is only 26. It was the 1970’s when the NBA was 26. When there were only 18 teams. With a mindset like that, the problems involved with the WNBA and everything around it can be resolved and replaced with success in just a matter of time.
-Isaac Williasm Joesph
Work Cited:
Admin. “WNBA Raises $75 Million from Investors, Including Micky and Nick Arison.” NBA.com, NBA, 4 Feb. 2022, https://www.nba.com/heat/news/wnba-raises-75-million-dollars-from-investors-including-micky-and-nick-arison.
Bridge, A. (2021). WNBA: A League Where the Players Always Lose.
Costabile, Annie. “Player Marketing Agreements, Prioritization and the Balance between Development and Building Personal Brands in the WNBA.” Times, Chicago Sun-Times, 17 Dec. 2022, https://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-sky-and-wnba/2022/12/17/23507364/player-marketing-agreements-prioritization-balance-between-development-building-personal-brands-wnba#:~:text=Under%20the%20league%27s%20collective-bargaining,spend%20annually%20on%20marketing%20agreements.
Favor, Sue. “Growing the WNBA: Fixing the Basics.” Women's Hoops World, 12 July 2022, https://womenshoopsworld.com/2022/07/12/growing-the-wnba-fixing-the-basics/.
Gough, Christina. “Total NBA League Revenue 2022.” Statista, 9 Jan. 2023, https://www.statista.com/statistics/193467/total-league-revenue-of-the-nba-since-2005/#:~:text=The%20teams%20of%20the%20NBA,The%20average%20revenue%20per%20franchise.
Janvrin, Richard. “NBA VS WNBA: Revenue, Salaries, Attendance, Ratings.” World Sports Network, World Sports Network, 7 Mar. 2023, https://www.wsn.com/nba/nba-vs-wnba/#:~:text=It%20is%20currently%20estimated%20that,was%20up%2035%25%20from%202018.
Thornsburg, Brian, et al. “The Problem with The Sports Illustrated Cover Story on the WNBA.” Basketball Articles, 13 Dec. 2021, https://www.basketballarticles.com/problem-with-sports-illustrated-wnba/.
Mannen, N. R. (2021). Why the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a Failing League and What Should Be Done to Improve It.
McCormick, Kevin. “Is the WNBA a Profitable League in 2023: Examining How the League Is Performing Financially over the Years.” Sports News, Sportskeeda, 18 Jan. 2023, https://www.sportskeeda.com/basketball/is-wnba-profitable-league-2023-examining-league-performing-financially-years#:~:text=The%20league%20loses%20roughly%2010,%2475%20million%20in%20investment%20money.
“WNBA.COM - Official Site of the WNBA.” WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA, 26 Mar. 2023, https://www.wnba.com/.
