Last September, NBA commissioner Adam Silver commented that the WNBA “receives no press coverage.” This led to ESPN writer Mechelle Voepel’s response that yes indeed, they do.
I laid out an eight-point marketing plan for the WNBA, which has made half-hearted attempts throughout the years that have never been aggressive enough, and have always fallen short. I said the league needs to: own its players and their identities, educate the public about the women’s game, publicize any piece that is written about a team or its players, create active public presences for coaches, host offseason fan events, have offseason and preseason exhibition games, and enlist the help of the fan base in each city for marketing ideas.
But here we are, 2.5 months after the season’s end, and the only significant noise about the WNBA was last month when former NBA player Gilbert Arenas insulted the WNBA and its athletes. The league came to its own defense, as did some of the players. Completely reactive and not proactive.
Contrast that with the NBA, which begins promoting itself the day after the National Champion is crowned, and the problem is apparent. For those who have followed the WNBA since it began in 1997, frustration with its lack of self-promotion is at an all-time high. They could/should be doing so many things right now, and they’re not doing a damned one of them.
After I tweeted some of these same thoughts this morning - and got an avalanche of supportive response - I thought of one more way the league could increase its visibility: send reps of teams to local high school basketball games. Get the name in front of fans, coaches and players. Offer team ticket packages; invite teams to basketball clinics. But that’s not happening, either.
I have a Los Angeles Sparks jacket I rescued from the lost and found at school a couple years ago. Before I left the house today, I put it on as a kind of test. The first business I walked into, a 30-ish man with two young kids was leaving as I was coming in. As we passed he said, “go Sparks.” I turned around and he smiled.
It wouldn’t be that hard to create more fans. There are plenty out there already. You just don’t hear much from them, nor do they have team gear (another marketing goal: distributing clothing and gear with the local team’s logo).
Why won’t the WNBA promote and market itself? They can’t wait around to be discovered; they have to aggressively tackle the task.
So why aren’t they?
photo credit: WNBA FINALS #1-DSC_0011-10.14.2012 via photopin (license)
You missed a few critical points of interest about why there virtually no promotion of the wnba during it’s off season, first by playing in the summer the World Series and the start of the NFL season dwarfs any momentum that may have been gained. Secondly by allowing it’s player’s too disperse to the 4 corners of the planet the league loses any credibility since this would not be allowed in any other major sports league, you can’t promote players or a league that is not there. You have mentioned going into the schools, having exhibition games giving away gear to attempt this during the NBA is insane, you’re going too have exhibition games with backup players to showcase the league while LeBron James and Stephen Curry are playing real games.
The wnba needs to be a stand alone league while it’s true the governing body of the NBA may be supportive of the league, the fanbase has never embraced the league, so to expect the NBA to drive the promotional bandwagon for the wnba is unrealistic, tough decision need to be made about the league’s identity is the league a women’s basketball league or a lesbian basketball league. I understand that that statement may be both sexist and homophobic but it it still remains.
To answer you final question the wnba has a very small part of a huge sports market and it appears that the league is scared to risk losing what they have now a wrong move could ultimately mean the end of the wnba, by angering the NBA or the wnba supporters.
The WNBA could start with increasing players salaries. It’s laughable what the athletes are paid and it would keep them here during the off season for promotional activities. If Adam Silver wants to be supportive he can start there. The NBA has the funds. It would be a positive move to see NBA players in the stands watching the games on occasion. When The Mercury won the championship In 2014 the only place I could find a t-shirt was through their website. Availability of team paralhanalia would be a plus also. It would be a good idea to put some money into marketing. Watching the WNBA is fun. Let NBA fan know it!
You make a good point on the wnba salaries being so low but the reason that they are so is because the wnba owners only pay the players 33% of the profits while the NBA pays it’s player’s 50%. The marketing of the wnba is a huge problem, you can’t market the wnba game to fans of the NBA while the wnba may be fun to it’s very loyal fans it’s not the style of game that is entertaining or fun to watch for the loyal NBA fans. The simple fact is that the fans of the NBA have never supported the association between the two league’s, at some point the wnba must become a stand alone league in order to gain it’s own identity and credibility as a league.