WNBA Enjoying Growth In Tough Economic Times
The smile on the face of WNBA president Donna Orender recently is wide, and for good reason. The WNBA has seen some much-needed growth in the face of a sagging economy.
Attendance is up, highlighted by a league-record 46 sellouts, television ratings are up almost 20 percent and so is WNBA.com traffic, according to a league report. It’s the type of tri-fecta the WNBA had been counting on.
The recent surge the WNBA is experiencing can be attributed to several things. Finding independent ownership outside of the NBA umbrella has been one of the most important aspects of the league’s growth. Eight of the league’s 14 teams are independently owned.
The play of highly-touted rookies Candace Parker, Sylvia Fowles and Candice Wiggins, and the success of the Olympic women’s basketball team have also played a factor in the league’s growth.
“Did the games add luster to the league? Without a doubt,” Orender wrote in a recent blog about the Olympics.
There are still major challenges the league faces. Players’ salaries, for example, have been a source of contention since the league’s inception. The top four rookie selections in the 2008 draft made $44,064 this season. The maximum salary is $97,500.
Thanks to a new collective bargaining agreement, salaries will gradually increase over the next five years, with the high end salary maxing out at $107,500 in 2013. But that won’t be enough to prevent players from playing overseas in the winter.
The league hopes to add two more teams in the next five years, Orender said on opening night. But finding worthy cities to award a franchise to will be a challenge. Ownership groups have to be convinced that teams will be at least marginally profitable.
The Charlotte Sting (folded), Cleveland Rockers (folded), Miami Sol (folded), Orlando Miracle (moved), Portland Fire (folded) and the Utah Starzz (moved) are proof that putting teams in NBA cities and NBA arenas doesn’t guarantee success.
The question many observers have is which direction the league will go. Will it award a franchise to a major city in a NBA market where it is easier to find major sponsorships, or will the WNBA allow smaller non-NBA markets to compete?
The Connecticut Sun was the only team that began the season playing outside of a NBA market. Thanks to the Seattle Sonics’ recent defection to Oklahoma City, the Seattle Storm is now the second WNBA team with that distinction.
By all accounts the Connecticut experiment has worked. The Sun drew 7,644 fans per game to the 9,518-seat Mohegan Sun Arena during the regular season and had three sellouts.
The Chicago Sky and the Houston Comets are the only other teams that don’t share an arena with a NBA team.
If the WNBA can find a strong ownership group from a smaller market that has proven it can sustain a professional women’s basketball team, don’t be surprised to see a franchise awarded to a city with no NBA affiliations.
Several cities are reported to have interest in a WNBA franchise, including Albuquerque, Toronto, Baltimore and San Francisco.
The WNBA has been tight-lipped about who stands the best chance of getting a franchise, but it is likely that cities with viable basketball-ready arenas will get heavy consideration.
Albuquerque officials have proposed the construction of a 12,000-seat downtown arena with the hope of attracting a WNBA and AFL franchise.
In an interview with the Baltimore Sun last July, Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon said she met with WNBA officials about bringing a team to the city once a new downtown arena is built.
“We’re going to see where things go,” Dixon told the Sun.
- Marcus Henry, Newsday
