Dropping the Ball

The WNBA seems to be fighting against its own glass ceiling. Despite achieving unprecedented success in viewership, attendance, and cultural relevance in the 2024 season, the league's leadership appears unable or unwilling to capitalize on this momentum. Despite these incredible highs, the fundamental issues of player contracts and media exposure remain largely unaddressed. The expansion interest from multiple cities demonstrates the league's untapped potential. However, without addressing these fundamental issues, the WNBA risks squandering its current momentum. The league needs leadership that can match the ambition and potential of its players and fan base.

The salary structure presents perhaps the most glaring evidence of leadership's failure to adapt. While top college athletes can now earn significant income through NIL deals, and overseas leagues offer more lucrative contracts, the WNBA maintains a salary cap that forces many players to seek additional income sources. This disparity becomes even more striking when compared to the marketing and brand deals many players secure independently, often exceeding their WNBA salaries.

The newly negotiated media rights deal left a lot to be desired, and I wonder if the existence of WNBA League added some level of confusion about how new partners would factor into their current revenue structure. As streaming platforms engage in bidding wars for sports content and women's sports viewership continues to rise, the WNBA's current media deal appears increasingly inadequate. Whoopi Goldberg, Alexis Ohanian, and Michelle Kang have assertively been making investments in women athletes’ health, media exposure, and compensation. Pssh, even Unrivaled League seems more adept at negotiating media rights deals. The league's failure to aggressively pursue more favorable terms and no mention of legacy partner Ion suggests a concerning lack of vision or negotiating prowess at the leadership level. And these are just the public instances that I know about at the WNBA level, not to mention team-level dynamics (like the instability of coaching staff and general managers, accusations of mistreatment, etc.).

My recommendations?

I’m so glad you asked:

• Have closer partnerships with Unrivaled and Athletes Unlimited leagues in terms of marketing and allow those games to be streamed or archived on WNBA League Pass

• Put their original series (Made presented by Carmax, Year 1, and Pride is Love) on their YouTube channel. Actually promote them, and leverage them for unique fan viewing experiences like meet and greets during the offseason.

• As stated above, they have some incredible media assets. They should be leading the forefront in supporting and creating player and coach-centric media. A docuseries like “The Last Dance” featuring Diana Taurasi would be one place I would start if looking for new media formats. Actually continuing the Year 1 and Pride is Love series would be my second recommendation for building on formats they already have.

• Make paid maternal leave the standard in every player's contract.

• Players can’t be traded without their prior knowledge. They may not have full control over being traded, but their first time hearing about being traded shouldn’t be in the media.

• Elevate the fan experience. I think this one might be a little more skewed to team-level front office’s, but allowing fans to do more than buy season passes for games seems like one area they could capitalize on. Attending games is one aspect of the league. Making them aware of player camps (2-3 day camps where players with coach youth and high schoolers from their hometowns), watch parties for away games, and having a post-season hybrid event celebration (has a livestream componenet and in-person component that fans can attend) that honors award winners (All-WNBA team, MVP, etc) and record breakers would be a great place to start.

The WNBA’s moment is now, and I would hate to see it derailed by their unwillingness to increase the salary cap and minimum salaries for players, make player safety a priority from racism and misogyny from new “fans,” and work to develop enhanced fan experiences year-round that drive revenue. I’m not saying that Adam Silva does everything right, but there is a stark contrast between the NBA and the WNBA, and I truly hope that gap is closed sooner rather than later.

Penned,

Angela 🤙🏾✨

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