WNBA Basketball: Expansion or Financing?

As you read in my last slate post, I basically summarized why the WNBA should be expanded and why the players are being underpaid. Due to some further research, I’ve found out that it is more complicated and easy achieving this. I am posting again to give further explanation.

According to a recent blog post on Swish Appeal, there are many reasons why expansion could be a good or bad thing. One great outcome from expanding the WNBA is a more expanded viewership. For example, the WNBA partnered with Twitter in 2016 and ever since they joined forces, the WNBA’s views launched up. The more popular the WNBA is the more people will want to partner with them. Another reason why the WNBA should expand is because we are losing WNBA culture. When I say culture I am talking about legacies, talent, and history. For example, when the WNBA was at its peak it had 16 teams. They lost 4 teams because there started to be a lack of interest in the ownerships. These teams had extremely talented individuals and were extremely talent as a team. One of the old teams, the Houston Comets, were the only team to win the WNBA championship four consecutive years! They also were the only WNBA team that was invited to the white house. If we keep these teams alive and expand the franchise the WNBA could be bigger than the NBA one day.

The reasons why the WNBA shouldn’t be expanded are fair but can be solved problems. It’s no surprise that money is an issue. This source says that only half of WNBA teams actually make a profit in any season. These six teams are owned by people who also own a NBA franchise. There is also the wage gap the WNBA has to make up. There are too many underpaid players in the WNBA, expansion will make money tighter. The second problem this source lists is international competition. Players have been forced to go overseas to play for international teams so they can provide better for their families. International teams pay way more than the WNBA does, because they are in a better place financially. For example, Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi missed the whole 2015 season to play overseas. They paid her $1.5 million.

The Bay Area is trying to make a change for the league. The Bay Area’s NBA team, the Warriors, are currently building a new arena. They are expected to move in this arena in the 2019-2020 season. The co-owner of the Warriors, Joe Lacob wants to make a WNBA team for the Bay area and host their home games at the Warriors current arena. This is great because that will be more people drafted in the WNBA each year and more publicity for the franchise. This is a beginning for the expansion for the WNBA.

My original plan for my Original research was going to be an interview with either the head coach of the New York Liberty’s, Katie Smith or the assistant coach, Herb Williams. I emailed both the Manager of fan development, Brett Tessler and the Director of communications, Vincent Novicki. When they both didn’t get back to me I tried contacting the coach of Imhotep's girls basketball team. Due to the fact that they are preparing for states, he was not able to do the interview. As a late result I decided to interview someone in my community who knows a great deal about the WNBA. I interviewed Diamond Wallace. Diamond gave me a different insight on the topic. She explained more problems that the WNBA faces, which made me realize that it isn’t entirely their fault that the league is so small and there is wage gaps. Diamond said “The only reason why I think they are doing bad is because there is not a lot of entertainment. A lot of people look for 360 dunks and crossovers and the WNBA doesn’t really offer that.”That is something I didn't even think about. I appreciate her cooperation and the knowledge she gave to me about my topic.

This is an image from my interview with Diamond Wallace.

I am not sure what I want to do for my Agent of Change. Diamond gave me the idea of creating a website to explain what I’ve learned and what everyone can do about it. I was also thinking of writing an email to various NBA teams to try to do an act like Joe Lacob is willing to do. I am open to ideas so please comment below if you have any.

For further information, please look at my Annotated Bibliography.