ination guides, and the latest travel industry updates.">
Thursday, March 20, 2025
HomeSportsWNBA missing women's sports moment as NWSL expands, WBB viewers grow

WNBA missing women’s sports moment as NWSL expands, WBB viewers grow

Tara VanDerveer had two immediate reactions to the official arrival of a National Women’s Soccer League team to the San Francisco Bay Area.
First: “I’m thrilled for the Bay Area and women’s soccer,” VanDerveer said on the phone last week.
And second?
“Damn, I wish it was basketball.”
As women’s sports hits an accelerator across the country and the NWSL prepares to launch a team in the Bay Area, it’s hard not to think that the WNBA is missing out on a big chance to place a team here.
“We should have one,” VanDerveeer said. “It’s crazy that we don’t.”
The WNBA has remained a 12-team league for more than a decade now, despite interest from prospective ownership groups and cities as the league’s reach has grown across the country. In fact, there are two right here in the Bay Area: the African American Sports and Entertainment Group wants to bring a team to Oakland and the Warriors are interested in San Francisco.
But WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert continues to kick the expansion can down the road. The league originally targeted 2024 but Engelbert recently told media she’s looking more at 2025 – or perhaps later.
“We’re not in a rush,” Engelbert said at a February event in Portland where the city declared its interest in a WNBA expansion team. “I would say 2-4 years out, I would like to see at least two teams come into the league, and longer term more than that.”
It’s a stark contrast to how the NWSL has aggressively pursued expansion and moved quickly. New Bay Area team owners including Brandi Chastain and Aly Wagner didn’t say anything directly about other leagues, but it’s pretty clear they are cherishing the fact that they’re first to the Bay Area market.
“We are so excited to be the only professional female sports club and brand” in the region, Chastain said. “We believe that we have something so uniquely special that’s going to be an ultimate game changer in every way possible.”
When asked if there was extra value in being first to the Bay Area, NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman, in an exclusive interview with this news organization, said she doesn’t “think we’ll be the last” women’s sports team in this region.
“This is a massive market of people who are thirsty for great sports,” Berman said. “Being able to witness professional women’s soccer on a consistent basis is something we’re really proud to bring to the Bay Area.”
Women’s soccer has a lot going for it right now. There’s the excitement of the World Cup this coming summer.
The NWSL also had its most-watched regular season match ever two weekends ago — pretty good timing, since the league’s television rights deal expires at the end of this year.
And then there’s expansion, with Utah and the Bay Area joining next year to bring the league to 14 teams.
Add in the record $53 million expansion fee for the Bay Area team and it’s pretty clear that Berman feels the league is well-positioned to strike it big.
“We think that this couldn’t come at a better time,” Berman said. “You look at what’s happening on a media consumption basis in women’s sports — not just for the NWSL but across the entire women’s sports ecosystem. We have various case studies and proofs of concept that, when women’s sports are shown in places and spaces where people consume content, that people are excited to watch it.”
Berman couldn’t have asked for a better example than what occurred in women’s college basketball just days before the Bay Area expansion was announced.
Nearly 10 million viewers tuned in to the national championship game, seeing LSU beat Iowa and Angel Reese shoot a little trash talk at Caitlin Clark.
That has kept people talking all week about women’s college hoops – Reese was even spoofed on Saturday Night Live this past weekend.
But the WNBA? The biggest story of the last year was Brittney Griner’s imprisonment and release in Russia, where she was playing during the offseason to earn more money than she can make in the WNBA.
Beyond Griner’s release, the offseason headlines have been about what the league does not have going for it:
Players upset over the lack of charter flights. Rule changes that would potentially fine players for electing to make more money overseas instead of coming to WNBA training camp. Coaches lamenting the lack of roster spots.
In how many other professional sports leagues do potential first-round picks willingly choose to remain in college rather than turning pro? And, to add to the absurdity, is there any other league where that choice is correct?
Engelbert identified the media rights deal as a key point to change the financial landscape. But the WNBA’s various deals still go through 2025, and many of the balms the league is applying to rectify things in the short term look underwhelming.
On Monday, the league announced an expansion of charter flights, which are explicitly banned under the collective bargaining agreement (CBA), to cover the rest of the playoffs and five regular season back-to-back sets.
Not five per team. Five total for the entire league.
According to the AP, it would only cost $2 million per team per season to fund charter flights. The NWSL just had a team pay $53 million to join its league – the WNBA can’t get its 12 owners to each spend $2 million to get its biggest public headache resolved?
It’s clear that not every owner is penny-shy. At least two teams have reportedly circumvented the CBA to try and treat their players better.
The New York Liberty, owned by billionaires Joe and Clara Tsai, were reportedly fined $500,000 for paying for illegal charter flights during the 2021 season. And the Las Vegas Aces are currently under investigation for reportedly making under-the-table payments to their players.
Aces owner Mark Davis was asked by The Athletic about the investigation while at the NFL owners meetings for his other team, the Raiders. Davis said the report of under-the-table payments was “absolutely false,” but made it clear that he wants to pay players more money.
“If I was another team and we were doing that — giving under-the-table payments — I’d probably be upset, too,” Davis said. “But anytime that it’s talked about that we want more money for the players or that they think I’m paying them more money, as long as it’s being talked about, I think that’s a good thing.”
Owners willingly saying they want to pay players more money. Top college players refusing to come play in the league because they can’t make enough money. Cities and regions — like the Bay Area — that want teams growing frustrated that the league refuses to expand.
Davis’ views align with the NWSL and its new ownership group, which clearly recognizes this moment that’s happening and is capitalizing on it.
“Look at the marketplace and how it’s opened up to women’s sports and specifically women’s football, which I would argue is the most entertaining women’s team sport in the world — come at me, everyone,” Wagner said. “You pair that up with the talent that we have here in the Bay Area and I just think it’s the perfect storm, really.”
But the WNBA, the biggest U.S. brand in women’s sports? It seems to be willfully missing the boat.

RELATED ARTICLES

1 COMMENT

  1. Исследуйте разнообразие модельного ряда BMW, которые порадуют.
    Узнайте о лучших моделях BMW, технологиями.
    Насладитесь современными решениями в автомобилях BMW, с акцентом на.
    Каждый найдет свою идеальную BMW, невероятно разнообразен.
    Погрузитесь в мир премиальных автомобилей BMW, которые обеспечивают.
    Почему стоит выбрать BMW, узнайте.
    Каждая модель BMW — это шедевр, созданный для.
    Выбор моделей BMW: найдите свою идеальную машину, которые стоит рассмотреть.
    Как BMW отвечает на вызовы времени, проверьте.
    Новый взгляд на автомобили BMW, подходящие для городской жизни.
    Инновации и стиль: BMW, это образ жизни.
    Исключительное качество: выбор BMW, который покоряет сердца.
    Каждая модель BMW — это мастерская инженерия, энтузиастов.
    Почему BMW — это ваш идеальный выбор, от классики до современности.
    Вдохновляйтесь моделями BMW для вашего стиля жизни, с уникальным дизайном.
    Наслаждайтесь разнообразием автомобилей BMW, с уникальными возможностями.
    Каждая модель BMW — это гармония, для тех, кто ищет лучшее.
    Модельный ряд BMW: ваше новое путешествие начинается, с комфортом и стилем.
    Каждый автомобиль BMW — это возможность, для любого бюджета.
    x6 m50d https://model-series-bmw.biz.ua/ .

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

- Advertisment -

Most Popular

Recent Comments

ŞENAY on In
ERDAL on
Start earning money, learn useful skills: http://google.com NNNkjyfvbLLL 6882531 on FanDuel Ohio Promo Code: Sign up now to be set for launch
Translate »
×