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

[PFUNK Cock]

Found this interesting article.

NBA vs WNBA: Revenue, Salaries, Attendance, Ratings

How does the WNBA stack against the NBA in terms of revenue, salaries, attendance and ratings? WSN launches into a comparison of the NBA and the WNBA!

www.wsn.com

Some things that jumped out to me was the sheer volume of more games played by the NBA, compared to the WNBA. In both the season and playoffs.

With the massive attendance difference thrown on top of the massive number of games discrepancy, on top of the massive viewership difference, one can see why there is a revenue difference that isn't because of marketing.

You are comparing the NBA which has been around before I was born with the WNBA which is going into the 28th season. There was no interest or marketing for Woman’s basketball here in The United States for any level of Woman’s basketball, much less a professional league. Despite the lack of funding, marketing and inadequate development for young girls, interest has skyrocketed. There are now more opportunities and therefore more girls are interested in growing their games and that has helped catapult the popularity of women’s basketball. It took a Caitlin Clarke type from the Midwest state of Iowa to bring more eyes on the sport with her passing and long range shooting. She brought a large following and so did Angel Reese. This along with the league marketing Aja Wilson more and Sue Bird , Ionescu, Kelsey Plum, Naphesha Collier , Stewart, Boston and others . He league has a great influx of talent and some marketable veterans .

 

[Lurker123]

They are playing fewer games because they defer to the NBA for winter ball because the stadiums are in use. I believe TNT and TBS may get more involved along with offshoots Tru Tv. This season they had a contract with ION TV along with some games on Amazon Prime. The league is expanding by one team for 2026 and plan to add two others . They are expanding the Championship series to best of 7. Meanwhile they have developed a 3X3 league that will begin play in January that will help to enhance their income. On the NBA side they are trying to expand to play games over seas in China of all places. Look for Canada to get one of the franchises and maybe Tennessee.

So they play fewer games because more people want to go see the NBA games during those times? That's not a ringing endorsement for them having equal draw comparable to the NBA.

 

[Lurker123]

You are comparing the NBA which has been around before I was born with the WNBA which is going into the 28th season. There was no interest or marketing for Woman’s basketball here in The United States for any level of Woman’s basketball, much less a professional league. Despite the lack of funding, marketing and inadequate development for young girls, interest has skyrocketed. There are now more opportunities and therefore more girls are interested in growing their games and that has helped catapult the popularity of women’s basketball. It took a Caitlin Clarke type from the Midwest state of Iowa to bring more eyes on the sport with her passing and long range shooting. She brought a large following and so did Angel Reese. This along with the league marketing Aja Wilson more and Sue Bird , Ionescu, Kelsey Plum, Naphesha Collier , Stewart, Boston and others . He league has a great influx of talent and some marketable veterans .

Yes, those are the two entities being compared.

The WNBA has been around for almost 30 years, and has yet to pull a profit a single year. And it's being subsidized by the NBA, which was the point of the OP, right?

I disagree that some more marketing is suddenly going to uncover millions of viewers that somehow didn't know the WNBA existed before.

Imho, the WNBA has seen plenty of marketing already. Perhaps their viewership is actually in line with interest in their game?

 

[PFUNK Cock]

Yes, those are the two entities being compared.

The WNBA has been around for almost 30 years, and has yet to pull a profit a single year. And it's being subsidized by the NBA, which was the point of the OP, right?

I disagree that some more marketing is suddenly going to uncover millions of viewers that somehow didn't know the WNBA existed before.

There was no television exposure. That is why. We can agree to disagree and only time will tell if the league is on the ascent or will continue to need subsidies. The league would not be expanding if the future success was imminent.

 

[FootballLVR]

And thus you have the nexus of the problem. Why are the WNBA media rights so poor? They have a great product and the salaries are minimal compared to the NBA. TNT might check I. And start showing their games now that the NBA has gone to ESPN. Fox can also jump in along with Amazon and others . Media rights will lead to more sponsorships from commercial rights and therefore they will have more money to spread around and become solvent

They have a product that some like you enjoy, but the truth is that many just don’t care about it. They had 1.5 million viewers for the final game. College football gets that for individual games regularly. People just don’t watch it in enough numbers to make it viable on its own. I realize you really want it to work but it’s not happening.

 

[Lurker123]

There was no television exposure. That is why. We can agree to disagree and only time will tell if the league is on the ascent or will continue to need subsidies. The league would not be expanding if the future success was imminent.

I think the league is on the rise, AND it will still need subsidies. Both can be true.

And I've seen plenty of television exposure for the WNBA over decades. I remember the " we got next" campaign from a couple decades ago. That was run into the ground. If anything, I feel that we've been force fed the wnba a bit too much.

I just dont see massive crowds of people eagerly waiting to see a wnba game that aren't currently doing so because they haven't seen the right marketing campaign yet.