How many on here have actually watched a WNBA game? I've never watched one single minute of any game.
WNBA
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I also never have, but I don't watch women's basketball at all. Just doesn't interest me. Not many people do. The games draw around 3,000 fans and a bit more than 300,000 watch on tv.
To be honest, I'm not sure what the point is of the WNBA. It's 25 years old and has never come anywhere close to breaking even, must less being profitable. The WNBA will never be profitable. Ever. From a business perspective, there's zero reason to keep it around. If not for the NBA's ridiculous revenue of $8 billion/year that allows them throw chump change at the WNBA to keep it afloat, it would have long since ceased to exist. But it's more of a social statement than a serious sports league or revenue-generating endeavor.
To be honest, I'm not sure what the point is of the WNBA. It's 25 years old and has never come anywhere close to breaking even, must less being profitable. The WNBA will never be profitable. Ever. From a business perspective, there's zero reason to keep it around. If not for the NBA's ridiculous revenue of $8 billion/year that allows them throw chump change at the WNBA to keep it afloat, it would have long since ceased to exist. But it's more of a social statement than a serious sports league or revenue-generating endeavor.
I know looking at this the WNBA is another entitlement league supported by the NBA and BLM. Give'm time and sooner or later with the support for NBA dieing every year the WNBA will also be extinct in five to ten years. Just like any business venture sooner or later if the numbers don't add up with fans in the stands, parking revenue, concession stand revenue the doors will close. The NBA and BLM movement policies will catch up with them sooner or later. Just like in life when you have your monthly paychecks and your bills exceed your paychecks, then like a lot of citizens they file bankruptcy. If you watch a WNBA game look at the number of fans in the stands. Paying the power bill, people who support the arenas like security and people who help with fans with seating and people working concessions, well those expenses exceed the revenue generated. The WNBA will not exist in 10 years. Mark my words.
I'm sure the WNBA will soldier on. With the NBA's annual revenue, they can easily keep their pet project alive indefinitely.
But, no, the WNBA could never survive on its own merit. It wouldn't have made it 3 seasons on its own merits, but here we are at 25.
the 2021 WNBA playoffs averaged 367,000 viewers, the 2022 NCAA women's tournament averaged 634,000 viewers, yes the WNBA is a failed revenue losing joke league, now with the NIL deals there is no benefit of going pro early from college. without NBA generous funding and bail out WNBA would be toast
I can understand them giving it a shot, I guess. Though women's basketball has never been overly appealing to people, I suppose there was some reason for the NBA to give it a whirl and see what happened. They propped it a for a while give it time to get legs, which it never did. Now, they can't let it "fail" though (though it has failed in every meaningful metric). To let it go under after 25 years would be far more embarrassing for the sport than if it had died a natural death after its first couple of seasons.
Maybe more NIL money, but I can't imagine there's much NIL money out there for women's players. Women's basketball just isn't marketable.
I don't know that it would make much of a difference, to be honest. Women's college basketball would probably remain at the same level of popularity.
I only watch women's sports if the Gamecocks are involved. Let's face it, men's sports are more exhilarating, physically dynamic, faster paced, and more interesting to watch.
I usually watch televised USC games and no other schools or pro teams. For fun and entertainment. It’s more fun when we win. Football comes first.
College women's bball players are second only to Football in NIL compensations. They outperform the Men in this area. There was a report highlighting this recently on ESPN as most of the women have more social media followers and are more technologically engaged than the male players. Good to have correct information sometimes instead of long standing stereotypical opinions. .
First, the NIL is really all about college football. Having established that fact, the cream of the crop in men's college basketball are there for a year and then gone, which actually detracts substantially from their NIL value, so it's not an apples-to-apples comparison between the men and women at all. It's no surprise then that the top men's players don't command a lot of NIL money. Women's basketball NIL money is not in the same stratosphere as football. But, as you summarized, the NIL money is not about the sport, it's about the social media presence.
Women's basketball offshore would proliferate further, at least I think it would.. No, I don't follow the WNBA. But I don't follow the NFL, either.
I think I've seen some of a couple of playoff games - not sure why.
I think the league loses about $10M a year (a tiny amount that is easily subsidized by the NBA which makes billions every year). Even if you just looked at the WNBA as an advertising piece to the NBA, $10M is not a lot to spend. You get more females interested in the sport - which will have net benefits for the NBA. You get to constantly have the product playing throughout the year - be it men's or women's. You have a lot of people employed to put on these games (in the arena and working TV). It's a win-win for everyone.
I think the league loses about $10M a year (a tiny amount that is easily subsidized by the NBA which makes billions every year). Even if you just looked at the WNBA as an advertising piece to the NBA, $10M is not a lot to spend. You get more females interested in the sport - which will have net benefits for the NBA. You get to constantly have the product playing throughout the year - be it men's or women's. You have a lot of people employed to put on these games (in the arena and working TV). It's a win-win for everyone.
$10 million in losses is a drop in the bucket for the NBA to make up out of their $8 billion revenue, but it's staggering that the league loses $10 million each year when it only generates $60 million. MLS revenue dwarfs the WNBA. Let that sink in. Both leagues began play in 1996. MLS generates nearly 17x more revenue than the WNBA, and the WNBA has been marketed and pushed much more heavily.
I'm not sure how much the WNBA actually contributes to increasing the popularity of the NBA. Probably little, if any. But it's an interesting proposition that the NBA would use the WNBA just to make the men's game more popular.
You are right that it does create jobs. That's probably about the only thing it does.
All this reminds of an old WNBA joke:
Q: What does the highest paid WNBA player make?
A: Sandwiches.
Yeah, I'm not into car racing at all, but it seems like it would be asking people watch a version of NASCAR where the cars only went 65 miles an hour.
I've pretty much whittled it down to only watching our football games. When we were really good at baseball, games weren't televised much at all. Now that they are, we stink. I'd watch our men's basketball games if I had any reason to do so. Even with football, it's not the priority it used to be. Once you have kids, it all takes a backseat. I'll still try to arrange my schedule on Saturdays to catch our games, but we like taking the kids to corn mazes and pumpkin patches etc in October, so a big chunk of football time goes away with that.
I was visiting family last year and they had the women's FF game on, so I saw some of that one. I'm not sure I've ever seen any other of our women's game, or any women's game. I'm glad they're good, though, and Dawn's a good coach.
Faster-paced is not always appealing. Whether or not something is interesting is also subjective.
The MNBA subsidizing/supporting the WNBA provides good publicity for the former.
Spoken like a true Gamecock. Passively cheering on even those Gamecock sports of which you have no interest (no sarcasm - I earnestly mean this).
The MLS is a league for the world's most popular sport - and it's passed hockey as the fourth most popular sport in the US. It's not really an apples to apples comparison.
I'm actually surprised that the WNBA has that much revenue. With the right tweaks I could see it breaking even and even being profitable. To date it probably hasn't been worth it to the NBA to even put much thought into it since that $10M subsidy each year is water off a ducks back. Currently 25% of players in the NBA make $10M or more a year - so $10M out of the league coffers is like $10 out of most people's pockets.
lol. "It's no surprise that the top men's players don't command a lot of NIL money" even though you wrote previously the men are more marketable than the women.
Not necessarily. Women's volleyball is much more popular in the US (and growing) than men's. The men's game is too physical and fast and rather boring because of it. The women's game, in contrast, is more centered around the fundamentals and extended rallies are more common. Some make that case about tennis, but I'm not a tennis fan, so I have no clue.
Personally, I've lost interest in the men's college basketball. Players come and go so much, I have no idea who's who any longer. To each his own.
Just saw they are releasing a NBA 2K WNBA edition video game.
WNBA games draw like 50 fans. Wonder how many copies of that video game they'll sell.
WNBA games draw like 50 fans. Wonder how many copies of that video game they'll sell.
The WNBA is for the women who have a social agenda which to me is sick. Look at Diana Taurasi, Stewart, Sue Bird. All of these and more are part of the sick social agenda and then they want to have a child. Go figure. Do they adopt or go to a sperm bank. I have no idea.
They're just subsidized by the NBA for political reasons. Same thing with Team USA women's soccer. They get smoked by 14 year old boys in Houston every year and have never been close to profitable but now they get the same pay as the men's team because somehow having the men's team subsidize the women's team wasnt fair to the women. So the men's team has to lose even more now.
The point of the WNBA is to give little girls an opportunity to play a sport that they love for a living when they grow up. It does not have to always be about the money. It is like some of you'll get offended by the WNBA existence. The good will that it brings outweighs the money loss to a billion-dollar business. I hope it is around for another 25 years.
It doesn't have to be about the money as long as someone else is conveniently supplying the money to keep it afloat.
I never saw a WNBA game and can’t name a single team or player in it. I think that it’s a good the league is around for the people who like it.
I read somewhere that Dawn Staleys salary alone is more then the entire ladies basketball program generates in revenue.
I read somewhere that Dawn Staleys salary alone is more then the entire ladies basketball program generates in revenue.
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That's fine, if they want to present the WNBA as basically a charity. But they don't. It's presented as a serious sports league, which it is no. If it were, it would not still, after 2 decades, have to be heavily subsidized by the NBA just to remain afloat. It's kind of like previous iterations of spring football. Nobody wanted it and the leagues went belly-up. Clearly, nobody wants the WNBA and it should have gone belly-up a very long time ago, but it's a PC thing by the NBA to keep it going.
Why don't they just fold the WNBA into the NBA and have co-ed teams? Some of those girls could probably outplay some of the guys making millions like Ben Simmons.
I love people who claim to not care about something always have so much to say about it. I personally love basketball. The NBA, WNBA, NCAA men and women.
I watched about 3 minutes.
I do watch our women play though. The only reason there is a WNBA is because the NBA pays for it. Then the women players demand equal pay for equal work. It’s ridiculous.
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