The WNBA has grown in the last five years but has completely boomed this past season. All the excitement on the women’s side of the NCAA basketball tournament the previous two years and those marquee NCAA players becoming WNBA rookies this season have culminated in renewed interest and excitement for the pro league.
With new eyes and ears on “The W” (WNBA), it is essential to explore the league’s recent growth and its importance to women’s professional sports.
The excitement of this season culminated in an unprecedented WNBA Finals. In the last best-of-five final rounds, Romanian American Sabrina Ionescu’s threes and Brianna Stewart’s work in the paint were taking turns being the main attraction for the New York Liberty. Meanwhile, the reigning defensive player of the year, Napheesa Collier, and prolific scorer Courtney Williams proved to be a formidable duo for the Minnesota Lynx.
During this high-profile battle, game two was the only match not decided by five or fewer points. After a close overtime loss at home to open the series, the Liberty recovered significantly, beating the Lynx by 14 points in a deciding game two victories, evening the series 1-1. Game three saw the Liberty steal a match on the road against Minnesota, taking a 2-1 lead in the series. The Lynx went into a must-win game four with their backs against the wall. They came out of the encounter a two-point winner, tying the series heading into decisive game five. In the second overtime game of the series, the Lynx could not steal another home game, thus leaving the New York Liberty the last team standing and the 2024 WNBA champion.
RENAISSANCE ERA
The W’s renaissance era is in full swing, reaching heights unseen since the four-title dynasty of the now-defunct Houston Comets. From adding a new team, the Golden State Valkyries, for the first time since the Atlanta Dream in 2008 – showing how detrimental the housing crisis was to the growth of women’s basketball – to single-game and season ticket sellouts to larger venues to an increase in signature sneakers and brand deals and more. The WNBA is finally gaining the traction it needs, but how did it grow to this level?
For years, we have watched women college athletes succeed and excel in sports with no pro league for them to graduate. Most basketball players would be overseas, playing in markets large enough to continue their careers.
In the summer of 1996, the United States sent its best women’s basketball players to Atlanta to compete for gold in the Centennial Olympics. After the success of Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley and Sheryl Swoopes at the Olympic Games, the idea for a pro women’s basketball league – with investment from current NBA owners – in the U.S.A. started to form.
The media attention that Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark received during the 2024 NCAA women’s basketball tournament was unprecedented. The same attention followed them to the WNBA draft and their rookie season, causing many to believe they were the catalyst behind the W’s growth. However, longtime watchers and reporters of the league would argue they were already on that trajectory.
For years, we have watched women college athletes succeed and excel in sports with no pro league for them to graduate.
“I would actually go back a couple of years. The league was quietly growing, doubling revenue, doubling dependents numbers, for the last several years,” says Meghan Hall of USA Today’s For The Win. “You had, I would say, the 2023 season peak. And then right after that was the 2023 college basketball season. Thus, when [women’s] college basketball kind of exploded a little bit, you have … what I like to call this colliding of the Titans. Essentially, it kind of collided in real time. And this explosion arrives.”
Hall’s assertion holds weight as the Las Vegas Aces have become such a draw in tourism and sports revenue for the city that their tourism association offered each player $100,000 in what is essentially a name, image and likeness (NIL) deal to collaborate with the team for tourism promotion of Las Vegas. The Aces gave Las Vegas a consistent, winning sports presence in a city that is new to the business of sports (outside of boxing).
COMMITTED OWNERSHIP
Las Vegas is new to sports, but not Aces and Raiders owner Mark Davis. Davis saw an opportunity in an underserved market and underserved league and has taken advantage of it to lift both its media profile and revenue. For the WNBA, Davis has become what Arthur Blank in Atlanta, Ga., U.S.A. is for Major League Soccer: a serious owner with the financial aptitude to build a world-class franchise and become a leader within the league.
Just as Blank brought validity to MLS by treating Atlanta United as a financial equal to his NFL franchise, the Atlanta Falcons, Davis has followed suit in the arena of the WNBA. Davis’ approach is an excellent example of the profitability and consistency the WNBA can have when appropriately invested.
Las Vegas is one of a handful of franchises where the players are satisfied with the facilities and resources provided for them to be championship-caliber. Becoming a marquee franchise and becoming championship-caliber takes more than a good squad of players and coaches; the financial investment is vital.
CLASSIC RIVALRY
Though the NCAA women’s 2024 tournament had vast viewership as the beginning of the women’s basketball explosion, the two players credited for the renewed attention, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, had battled on the court for years. They were first against each other in the Big 10 conference, with Clark playing for Iowa and Reese for Maryland, with little to no fanfare. Clark was building her record-breaking career, and Reese was still honing her rebounding skills.
Fast forward to 2023, their teams meet each other again in the NCAA Final, this time with Reese as a member of the LSU Tigers. The now infamous moment of Reese waving her hand in front of her face – John Cena style – in the area of Clark and pointing to her ring finger once the outcome on the court seemed imminent created a media whirlwind we are still caught in today for better or worse.
MUST-SEE TV
The real highlight, however, was interest in women’s basketball, which has only increased since that moment. Clark and Reese became household names and must-see TV once the tournament rolled back around. They garnered nicknames in “CC” and the “Bayou Barbie,” brand deals, television specials and more.
The 2024 draft indicated where the league’s trajectory regarding growth, awareness, television ratings and social media. The draft was the most tweeted about and watched in recent memory. There has been excitement around college players entering the pro league for years, but the level of excitement was different this go-round.
With only 12 teams in the league, every player drafted has marquee status. Even Kate Martin, Clark’s Iowa teammate, who had set her sights towards a life of coaching obscurity, was drafted out of the crowd by the defending champion Aces and became an integral part of their second unit and a fan favorite.
However, a team like the Atlanta Dream started trading draft capital, creating a more veteran team to push themselves toward the head of the pack, and the strategy has not panned out yet. Trading draft capital to gain the No. 1 pick to select Rhyne Howard out of Kentucky was an excellent move. Howard is a great all-around player: a wing who can guard four positions and score at will, but it takes more than one player to compete for a championship.
They have positive pieces around Howard, trading for shooting guard Allisha Gray, luring future hall-of-fame center Tina Charles back into the league after a season off, and adding a veteran point guard in Jordin Canada via trade. Typically, this is a smart move to give a team more experience and alleviate growing pains.
The team came to view this decision as a mistake and decided to move in a new coaching direction, relieving Tanisha Wright of her coaching duties after a first-round playoff exit and hiring Florida Gulf Coast University coach Karl Smesko.
Come back tomorrow for Part 2 of this series, which dives into the development of women in basketball sports media.
