The WNBA's Impact on College Hoops

[HuskerFan86]

http://www.fullcourt.com/columns/corwin112702c.html

Every once in a while, Full Court Press releases a free preview article, and I check them out every once in a while. Anyways, their newest article examines the recent decline of some of the WNBA franchises and the chances of the W shutting down permanently.

The article said that since the WNBA is not proving to be lucrative for the NBA, that it's only a matter of time before the league declines. With franchises such as Orlando and Utah (now San Antonio) getting very little support, the end may be quicky approaching for the WNBA.

When I read this article, it made me very concerned, because its author has a very legitimate point. Without the support of NBA and every womens' hoops fan, the W doesn't have chance of surviving. Although I am a big fan of the WNBA, the reason I was particularly concerned by this article, was it got me thinking that if this league goes down, it will be a crippling blow to all of womens' basketball.

The WNBA gives female basketball players a chance in a male dominated industry. It showcases the talnet of these women on a national level. Everywhere (even in Nebraska), little girls are putting down the volley balls and soccer balls, and picking up basketballs, because they have something to work toward and something to dream about....A professional basketball career.

Ever since the WNBA began about 5 or 6 years ago, womens basketball has been evolving at an amazing rate. College basketball has become much more competitive, and in my opinion, much more interesting. I love watching players like Alana Beard or Diana Taurasi and wondering how they would fair in the WNBA, against the best players in the world. But if the WNBA crashes, all this evolution will stop. Players like Beard and Taurasi will never have the chance to play pro ball in America. We will only get to see players like Nicole Powell or Jia Perkins for a couple more years, and then they're gone. We will never see awesome players like Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, or Tamika Catchings play again. And most importantly of all, all those little girls who picked up a basketball after watching the WNBA finals, will put it back down.

Womens college hoops will survive without the WNBA, but if it shuts down like the ABL before it, the college game will be feel some major affects. The growth of the women's game will be forever stunted, and it may never recover. If the WNBA can survive for 5 or 6 more years, I think people will start to realize what a great style of ball it is. With the amazing junior class of college stars on the horizon, there will be no lack of talent in the womens' game,and we saw just last year how a great rookie class can improve the WNBA by leaps and bounds. If it can hold on, players like Kara Braxton and Candace Parker will revolutionize the WNBA, and that benefits every female sport.

The success or failure of the WNBA will ultimately determine whether or not the womens game continues to grow and evolve, and whether or not those millions of little girls worldwide will pick up a basketball and shoot for their dreams.

[YCN]

I was skeptical from the start about the NBA sponsoring a women's pro league, and remain that way.

The NBA is too "old-money/old-school" to see the potential goldmine under their noses, and they hardly possess a grasp for the proper promotion of a product that will probably never play its top players 15 million dollars a year.

Even if the WNBA experiment fails, there is simply too much potential for future profits for the void to exist for long. Within a year or two another league will take the place of the WNBA, although possibly with an entirely different entertainment focus.

No way, no how. That's my answer as to whether or not big-time women's basketball is going away for good.

The genie has been let out of the bottle. Didn't Washington average well over 15,000 fans last year?

[carolann]

I'd hope that the NBA would let another group take over the league rather than just dismantle it. According to the article, 4 cities are making money: New York, Los Angeles, Houston, and Washington. It is easy to see what those cities have in common. They are huge cities with diverse populations (racially mixed, large middle class populations, and yes, plenty of lesbians). That is why I don't understand why the WNBA would be talking about places like Tennessee. If the teams don't have to be connected to an unwilling NBA partner, the league should move teams to cities such as Oakland (CA), Philadelphia, and possibly Chicago.

[FeFiFoFum]

Originally posted by carolann:
That is why I don't understand why the WNBA would be talking about places like Tennessee.


Like Hartford, you've got big time college programs who have pretty much converted a boatload of fans to women's bball, thus the carryover factor is there. I do think though that WNBA teams need to go where the fans are, wherever that may be. Not sure whether enough UT and UConn fans would embrace a summer WNBA team with potentially few if any alums. But fans of women's bball are fans of women's bball no matter the level, I'd argue.

Promotion and TV coverage are the two biggest problems I see with the WNBA with the latter being the most serious. If you're going to recruit new fans who would travel here or there to see a WNBA game, you've got to broadcast the darn games (and forget about Oxygen, how many people have that channel anyway?).

I had the chance to go to several Seattle Storm games (Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson together are phenom!) while I was there visting and man, how jealous am I of those lucky folks who have a WNBA team in their city. I can't understand why people won't go put their butts in the seats to see that kind of talent. I can only hope the league survives because I do think it opens up a whole new world of opportunities for young girls and college players, it'd be a shame to lose that, even temporarily. A failed model still has an impact even if it's replaced by another one...like, how many people will say 'If even the NBA couldn't make it work, it must mean that people aren't interested in women's bball'.

[carolann]

I don't think the carryover factor from college fans has been proven yet. I'd be more likely to bet on the Hartford area simply because it is in the heavily populated Northeast. UConn fans will probably go if former UConn players are on the roster, particularly since many rabid UConn fans can't even get tickets to UConn's home games (or so I've gathered from the Boneyard).

[HuskerFan86]

Do people think San Antonio will support the Starzz more than Utah did?? They certainly should, Marie Ferdinand is so much fun to watch.

If the WNBA can hang on, it will only become stronger with time. A league with a long and storied history would be much more difficult to bring down.

I think a team in the Hartford area would be very successful based on the tremendous support the Huskies get. Imagine if they ended up with the Orlando franchise. That would bring Nykesha Sales back to Connecticut, and I'm sure people would support the team.

Aren't there any other franchises that have the potential to start making money?? Houston, Los Angeles, Washington, and New York have already become prosperous franchises, and if the whole league could follow in their steps, the WNBA's future would be very bright. Franchises like Sacramento, Seattle, and Phoenix all have the potential to be money makers but I'm not so sure about cities like Orlando, Miami, and Detroit.

How much better will the WNBA be in two years??? With world class rookies like Taurasi, Beard, Mazzante, Ohlde, etc., etc., etc., the level of play should sky rocket. I bet many of the teams will be able to draft 2 or 3 starters from the 2004 draft alone.

[carolann]

Of course I'm hoping, hoping, hoping, that San Antonio succeeds but I'm also worried.

Why don't you think Detroit can make it? At any rate, we'll see what a new approach can do. Bill Laimbeer does not like to fail and he is putting himself behind this team. He has vowed to do whatever it takes, including making a lot of personal appearances. The team has a shining, charismatic star in Swin Cash who the team is marketing like crazy.

On the other side, why do you think Sacramento can make it? As seen with Utah, just having a good team is not enough.

[OhMandy]

The problem with the WNBA is the restrictive marketing rules they put on the players. Players like Sue Bird, Jennifer Azzi, and others should be in all sorts of commercials. But the wnba had some stupid rule limiting the endorsements of the players and who the players can accept endorsement money from.

I'm glad the WNBA is not longer requiring teams to be in NBA locations or ownerships. I think KC would be a good market for the WNBA.

[FeFiFoFum]

Originally posted by carolann:
On the other side, why do you think Sacramento can make it?

There was an interesting article on how well Sacramento is doing and it appears to be based on the management/owners really getting behind the team. See below:
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/5559376p-6537675c.html

Also, Kansas City had a National Women's Basketball League (NWBL) (this is the league where some WNBA players play instead of going overseas..eg Bird and Cash are playing this year for the Springfield Spirt) up until last year and I think about 3 people knew about it. No way Kansas City could support a WNBA team. Attendance at KU games hovers around 400 and all those K-State fans that might support a WNBA team aren't going to drive 1+ hours to get there. And similar to something carolann said above, Kansas City doesn't have the same kind of demographics/geography that make the most successful WNBA teams successful..i.e. racial diversity, easy public transportation, urban, and lots of lesbians. The families that might go to the games are spread all out in the suburbs making it tough to get them to come into the city for a game. There just isn't the population numbers within easy distance to the city.

[HuskerFan86]

I guess I based my opinion about Sacramento on how well they support the Kings. I just assumed that the Monachs would draw good crowds too but apparently not??

I think as the quality of the game goes up, so will atendance numbers. Personally, I hardly ever watched the WNBA before last year, and during the league's first years I thought the games were very boring. But last year, with the infusion of college heroes like Stacy Dales, Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Nikki Teasley, etc., that the overall quality of the game picked up. The pace was faster, the shooting was better, and the games were MUCH more interesting. I think the fact that the WNBA could be so greatly influenced by one rookie class shows just how much better the league can be. I think that in two years the bar will be raised to a completely new level as the previoulsy mentioned rookie class of '04 will dominate the league from the start.

What other cities would make good venues for WNBA franchises?? I think Philly would make a good one and possibly San Francisco/Golden State...

[This message has been edited by HuskerFan86 (edited 12-12-2002).]

[swok34]

I agree with OhMandy.....I think Kansas City would support women's hoops. We met so many fans from Kansas City that came to see Stacey Dales play. I also met folks 3 years ago that came to the Big XII tourney, just to come and they also had tickets to the NCAA regionals there.