Well, yeah. I mean, if there was a market for women's basketball, they could just do it on their own. Women's basketball cannot exist without a male sport subsidizing it.
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Well, yeah. I mean, if there was a market for women's basketball, they could just do it on their own. Women's basketball cannot exist without a male sport subsidizing it.
A thousand views and 82 replies on a subject that so many claim not to care about. Amazing the number of clicks the WNBA produces.
FYI - If any of you watched the 30 for 30 special on the 1996 Women's Olympics, you would learn a little about business. The NBA invested in the WNBA to grow their game. Getting a women's audience to become overall basketball fans. NBA ratings have never been higher, and the popularity of college WBB and WNBA is growing at a record pace.
If any of you have seen the news story about the "Inflation proof" $1.50 hotdog deal at Wegman's, it's the same concept. It has been the same price for 40 years - and it's not going to change. Even though they lose money on each hotdog combo sold, the CEO says the company makes much more money in good will and customer satisfaction, knowing that customers habitually, for generations, have tome to Wegman's to sit down, have their hotdog lunch, and do their weekly grocery shopping.
So the main purpose of the WNBA is to make the men more popular? Ouch. Has anyone told the WNBA that?
And once again you only read half the post and misrepresent
“and the popularity of college WBB and WNBA is growing at a record pace.”
The popularity is not increasing b/c of anything intrinsically attractive about the game. WBB is not something that people naturally want to see. It has to be contrived. That's why folks have to constantly pump up how popular it is. Nobody has to pump up the NFL or NBA or college football. The games and the products carry themselves. People have to be told to like WBB.
If left to themselves, women's college basketball and WNBA would be nonexistent in 5 years.
Just a tangent about the use of stats.
Growing at a record pace is easier when the base numbers are really small.
In the town where I'm from, there was this little Christian college. Each year, the local paper published a blurb that the college had won an award for greatest percent increase in enrollment. It was a really small school but they won every year because they just had to add a handful of students to get a big % increase.
12,000 plus average # of fans at a WBB USC game. UConn and Iowa State averaged 10,000. What % of men's teams draw that many? Less than 10%? Only 3 SEC Men's teams average more than the USC Women, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas.
Nice little story, ESPN, NBA, WNBA, and NCAA not exactly your small Christian college
2022 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship is Most-Watched Season Finale in Nearly Two Decades – 4.85 Million Viewers on ESPN Networks
South Carolina’s wire-to-wire victory in the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship scored 4.85 million viewers Sunday night..
espnpressroom.com
If I was trying to favorably compare men's and women's popularity, I would pick only the top few women's programs too. And select attendance that is capped by the arena size too.
I found a link that compared some stats, but I think it was just tourneys, not seasons.
NCAA Men's vs Women's Basketball: Revenue, Viewership, Attendance
It's NCAA Men's vs Women's Basketball! Find out which makes more money, has more fans, sells more game tickets, and more!
I don't think that link really refutes the "little story". The women show bigger percent gains because the gains are based on a smaller population size.Nice little story, ESPN, NBA, WNBA, and NCAA not exactly your small Christian college
2022 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship is Most-Watched Season Finale in Nearly Two Decades – 4.85 Million Viewers on ESPN Networks
South Carolina’s wire-to-wire victory in the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship scored 4.85 million viewers Sunday night..espnpressroom.com
The same increase in viewership is a bigger percent for women than it is for men.
Uh the average for all 63 games was 637,000 viewers....... MLS soccer gets how many eyeballs per match? 257,000
No but how long have we been flogging soccer and WBB more than doubles it. WBB ain’t the small Christian college you envision it to be. Lol
But, again, it comes back to the point that there's no natural appetite for the product. The WNBA simply could not exist on its own financially. If the NBA pulled funding today, they probably couldn't even finish the season. NFL, NBA, MLB...all started out fledgling and flourished on their own because people wanted to see the product. WNBA cannot succeed like that.
It's only because the NBA has more money that it knows what to with that WNBA gets to exist. They have lost an average of $10 million every year they have been existence. I can't think of any other product that a company would prop up when it had consistently lost $10 million a year, every year, for a quarter century. Obviously, higher ups at the NBA have determined that the amount they need to subsidize the WNBA is more than offset by whatever revenue they generate from female fans who may not otherwise watch. Which, to me, is hilarious. The only reason they exist is to make more money for the men.
Okay, but i was comparing wbb to men's bb, not soccer.
It seems the small Christian college story is what rankled you. I don't think anyone was calling wbb that small, it was just an extreme example of how smaller populations can boast large increases as percentages because the percent is based off the smaller population.
Thank you for recognizing your false analogy. WBB is not about to take over the sporting world or come near the big 4 or a major golf or tennis event. But it is in a healthy and growing state.
I think a part of that growth is tied to NBA, a high tide raises all boats. Another part of that is that it is no longer A one team sport. UConn dynasty as we once knew it is dead. Parity is not here yet in College WBB but it is moving closer.
Also BIG, ACCN, SECN, and ESPN2 have dedicated nights to WBB. It is drawing eyeballs. Some are dedicated WBB fans. Others are just Gamecock, Wolfpack, Sooner etc fans that say, “Hey my school is playing I think I will watch.” Some get bored but some enjoy and come back.
The Gamecocks are becoming the go to draw on WBB TV. Would it surprise you that every away game we played last year was the highest attended game for that school?
I only watch Gamecocks WBB, and that is only occasionally.
China is pumping to much money into WNBA to let it go anywhere.
China is pumping to much money into WNBA to let it go anywhere.
I try very hard not to act like a misogynist. But in this case, men do provide women a professional league in which to play.
Disagree. Women's college basketball would survive, albeit not on the level you see in top D-1 programs.
Without MNBA subsidies, the WNBA would become a semi-pro league.
They would survive, but at a much lower profile.
Me personally, my favourite USC varsity sports are baseball and WBB. Nothing contrived about it.
What people wish to see is up to the individual. Generalized statements such as "WBB is not something that people naturally want to see. It has to be contrived." is BS. You can speak for yourself, and I will respect that. Blanket statements in which you speak for everyone is disingenuous.
Anyone remember YEARS ago when high school gym women’s basketball was divided into only players on offense and only players on defense? It looked like a half court game. I asked why and some teacher said that they didn’t want the women to run the length of the court. For example, If you got a defensive rebound, that player had to pass it to a teammate in the other half court.
By liking your post I acknowledge I'm old enough to remember the 6 player women's game (3 offense, 3 defense).
I don't recall when the HS league switched to 5 for full court though. Late 60's to early 70's?
How will the analysts rate that trade - an arms dealer for a WNBA player? A Babe Ruth type trade!
Iowa high schools held onto it for a considerable time after everyone else had switched. They held out until 1993.
I know that they were playing the six-girl game throughout the entire 1950s and much of the 1960s. I do not know precisely when the five-girl game was adopted in this state.
womens college basketball could not survive financially on its own. that's true of most collegiate sports, though.
remember them being called "the scorers" and "the snorers" by fans as they stand around and watch on each end of the court.
Not when they are being propped up by foreign money. Same thing is going on the colleges. It's now just a propaganda tool.
I have never watched a game, and I’m commenting on the subject. Who are you to worry about what someone watches or comments on? Geez
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