OT: WNBA lost $40 million this year...NBA owners getting antsy

[18IsTheMan]

This was very surprising to me after hearing reports all season of record attendance and viewership. On the upside, in the preseason they were expected to lose $50 million, so I guess you can say they outperformed. It's hard to imagine them replicating the kind of hype they had this year with Clark and Reese coming into the league. This seemed like THE year to really capitalize, but losing $40 million is still a dismal financial showing.

NBA owners, unsurprisingly since they are all businessmen, are starting to press on when they can expect to see some return on their investment. I have to wonder, though, if you're still losing $40 million after 27 seasons, is it reasonable to ever expect a ROI?

It's an extreme longshot that it ever becomes profitable. After 27 seasons and with highly aggressive marketing, they aren't even sniffing the break even point. On the exceedingly slim and miraculous chance that it did attain profitability, it will never be profitable enough that the NBA will ever recoup even a small fraction of what they've invested.

Reading Silver's comments, he's stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, there is zero financial viability for the WNBA. It exists 100% because the NBA funds it. On the other hand, there's zero chance the NBA could ever just say "hey, we gave this thing nearly 30 years and it's just not financially viable, we're pulling the plug." They would be crucified if they made a business decision to discontinue an unprofitable product. So they're just kind of stuck, it seems, funding this losing venture indefinitely.

WNBA to lose ‘US$40m’ in 2024 season, NBA won’t see returns ‘for years’ - SportsPro

NBA investors growing impatient after pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into WNBA, according to New York Post.

www.sportspromedia.com

 

[18IsTheMan]

Also, you have to admit, it's quite hilarious that WNBA players have floated the idea of a strike for higher pay after their product just lost $40 million.

 

[Lurker123]

And the women are opting out of the agreement too.

Interesting. Our company is hemorrhaging cash, we've never once been profitable, but we want to set up for a strike for more money.

 

[18IsTheMan]

And the women are opting out of the agreement too.

Interesting. Our company is hemorrhaging cash, we've never once been profitable, but we want to set up for a strike for more money.

Bizzare, right?

 

[muscleknight]

They could just fold it into the NBA and field mixed teams of males and females.

 

[18IsTheMan]

They could just fold it into the NBA and field mixed teams of males and females.

Shoot, I might actually watch the NBA then.

Or maybe it could be like a concert or comedian who has a warm-up act. The ladies could warm up the crowd.

 

[Piscis]

But we've been told over and over how popular women's sports are. How can this be?

NBA owners should pull the band aid off quickly and just announce they won't be putting any more money into this losing venture. The criticism would be loud and angry but it would die down pretty quickly, not too many people care enough about women's basketball for the outrage to last very long. Let the WNBA figure out how to make it or shut it down. As things are; the WNBA is nothing more than affirmative action for women's basketball.

Shoot, I might actually watch the NBA then.

Or maybe it could be like a concert or comedian who has a warm-up act. The ladies could warm up the crowd.

Like girls basketball in HS, play the women's game on the same court before the men's game with admission included in the men's game ticket.

 

[18IsTheMan]

But we've been told over and over how popular women's sports are. How can this be?

NBA owners should pull the band aid off quickly and just announce they won't be putting any more money into this losing venture. The criticism would be loud and angry but it would die down pretty quickly, not too many people care enough about women's basketball for the outrage to last very long. Let the WNBA figure out how to make it or shut it down. As things are; the WNBA is nothing more than affirmative action for women's basketball.

Like girls basketball in HS, play the women's game on the same court before the men's game with admission included in the men's game ticket.

Seriously. I mean, how long do you have to give it before you can say it's long enough? It's not like they're canning after 3 seasons.

This league was started when I was a couple years out of high school. Some of my classmates have grandkids now.

As political as the NBA is, though, and with the money they have to burn, there's just no way they'll ever pull the plug.

The wild card is if the owner eventually get fed up enough to force the change.

 

[SouthernBelly]

Seriously. I mean, how long do you have to give it before you can say it's long enough? It's not like they're canning after 3 seasons.

This league was started when I was a couple years out of high school. Some of my classmates have grandkids now.

As political as the NBA is, though, and with the money they have to burn, there's just no way they'll ever pull the plug.

The wild card is if the owner eventually get fed up enough to force the change.

Seems like they gave it 26 seasons too long. As I said elsewhere - women don't even care about women's basketball.

 

[18IsTheMan]

Seems like they gave it 26 seasons too long. As I said elsewhere - women don't even care about women's basketball.

Though, presumably, that's the main argument in favor of the WNBA. Basically, it's just marketing to increase the female fan base.

 

[18IsTheMan]

It's just hard for me to see the WNBA being much more popular than it was this year. It would have to get A LOT more popular just to break even.

 

[Piscis]

It's just hard for me to see the WNBA being much more popular than it was this year. It would have to get A LOT more popular just to break even.

I don't think any sport in history has had as much marketing and hype pushed on the public trying to generate a following than women's basketball. Even with all of the pushing, people just don't care about it.

Women's tennis is about the only women's sport the public cares much about.

 

[scbeachboy]

I'm no tax expert but something tells me there must be some kind of tax incentive for them to keep pouring this kind of money into a losing product. During a brief stint in real estate sales at Lightkeepers Village in Little River, SC I had a guy come in that I couldn't help because I didn't have anything that cost enough to get him what he needed. He said he needed to spend $4.400 a month or he would lose it. I've never had that problem so I have no idea how that works but that's why I think it's a tax write off somehow.

 

[PrestonyteParrot]

I'm no tax expert but something tells me there must be some kind of tax incentive for them to keep pouring this kind of money into a losing product. During a brief stint in real estate sales at Lightkeepers Village in Little River, SC I had a guy come in that I couldn't help because I didn't have anything that cost enough to get him what he needed. He said he needed to spend $4.400 a month or he would lose it. I've never had that problem so I have no idea how that works but that's why I think it's a tax write off somehow.

Tax write-off has to be the answer

 

[Lurker123]

I'm not sure the NBA could ever pull the plug. They would be massacred by the press.

Then again, with our attention spans, it might last one season.

It would be interesting to see these ladies' reactions if they were asked to stand on their own two feet.

 

[I4CtheFuture]

I'm not sure the NBA could ever pull the plug. They would be massacred by the press.

Then again, with our attention spans, it might last one season.

It would be interesting to see these ladies' reactions if they were asked to stand on their own two feet.

My brain to my typing fingers...... "Don't do it.... Don't do it..... put the keyboard down."

 

[adcoop]

This was very surprising to me after hearing reports all season of record attendance and viewership. On the upside, in the preseason they were expected to lose $50 million, so I guess you can say they outperformed. It's hard to imagine them replicating the kind of hype they had this year with Clark and Reese coming into the league. This seemed like THE year to really capitalize, but losing $40 million is still a dismal financial showing.

NBA owners, unsurprisingly since they are all businessmen, are starting to press on when they can expect to see some return on their investment. I have to wonder, though, if you're still losing $40 million after 27 seasons, is it reasonable to ever expect a ROI?

It's an extreme longshot that it ever becomes profitable. After 27 seasons and with highly aggressive marketing, they aren't even sniffing the break even point. On the exceedingly slim and miraculous chance that it did attain profitability, it will never be profitable enough that the NBA will ever recoup even a small fraction of what they've invested.

Reading Silver's comments, he's stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, there is zero financial viability for the WNBA. It exists 100% because the NBA funds it. On the other hand, there's zero chance the NBA could ever just say "hey, we gave this thing nearly 30 years and it's just not financially viable, we're pulling the plug." They would be crucified if they made a business decision to discontinue an unprofitable product. So they're just kind of stuck, it seems, funding this losing venture indefinitely.

WNBA to lose ‘US$40m’ in 2024 season, NBA won’t see returns ‘for years’ - SportsPro

NBA investors growing impatient after pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into WNBA, according to New York Post.

www.sportspromedia.com

Money is made in professional sports in the television and media deals. Until the networks and advertisers see that the product is in demand media wise, the real money won't come in TV dollars. Attendance sales and Merch is nice, but as you can see that struggles to even keep the lights on.

 

[vacock]

Blame it on the women who don’t attend. You can bring a horse to water but …

 

[adcoop]

WNBA needs more than Caitlin Clark being a good player. They need for her to be on teams good enough to make deep playoff runs for several years. For example, the WNBA Finals drew an average viewership of 1.57 mil. That was a record for them. However, the NBA with an infrastructure that has been built over decades averaged 11.1 Mil a game and that number was down a little bit from 2023. These are the numbers that advertisers look at in making a determination on throwing dollars at a sport.

 

[vacock]

They need women interested enough in the sport to pay money. Not going to happen.

 

[18IsTheMan]

I'm not sure the NBA could ever pull the plug. They would be massacred by the press.

Then again, with our attention spans, it might last one season.

It would be interesting to see these ladies' reactions if they were asked to stand on their own two feet.

That’s the thing. They would get crucified in the media, but it wouldn’t last. News moves too fast and people have such very short attention spans. We had a presidential candidate come within an inch of being assassinated on live tv and it was totally out of the news cycle in less than a week.

 

[Forkcock]

If there’s no difference between men & women, those gals could just tryout for an NBA team.