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INDIANAPOLIS — At a hotel near Caitlin Clark’s home arena in downtown Indianapolis, a sponsor’s 150-foot banner teased, “It is just getting started,” as the Indiana Fever star’s first WNBA games drew throngs of fans in-person and on television.
In Las Vegas, the two-time reigning champion Aces received new title rings and, in perhaps a grander gesture, $100,000 jolts to each of their pockets in the form of a new sponsorship from the city’s tourism arm. Across the country, in New York, the Liberty became the first-team to have $2 million in ticket revenue for a game, according to the Associated Press.
larger than life 😮💨@Gatorade has installed this Caitlin Clark banner on the side of a hotel in downtown Indy 👀 pic.twitter.com/roItKvUej5
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) May 16, 2024
Even a splashy rookie debut for the Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese seemed quaint in comparison with her appearance at the celebrity-laden Met Gala in New York, with her red carpet showing in haute couture sandwiched between a practice and a preseason exhibition.
The WNBA is getting the mainstream buzz its players, coaches and supporters have long yearned for, with games in more prominent television slots, a star-filled rookie class and attention coming from unexpected places. “So many more people are interested now,” said Temi Fagbenle, a reserve center and teammate of Clark’s on the Fever, who was drafted in 2016. “Not just globally, but in my personal spheres as well. It’s different from how it was when I first started when nobody really cared as much,” she said.
The league hopes the moment can be transformative, even as questions loom about whether it is equipped to capitalize on fan interest and deliver meaningful boosts to the economics of the sport. “I think sometimes the best way to be ready is to be forced to be ready, and I think ready or not here it comes,” New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart said.
By Tuesday, the WNBA plans to launch a full charter flight program. It is a shift that players have long clamored for amid years of traveling largely on commercial airlines, which sometimes led to security problems and significant delays. But early parts of the rollout have been uneven — only two franchises chartered to their first game and in private meetings with players, WNBA commissioner Cathy Englebert asked for patience, according to three players who attended.
There have been other pain points, too. Most notably, the league is investigating the Las Vegas sponsorships. And despite the high demand, a preseason game between the Sky and the Minnesota Lynx wasn’t broadcast but was watched mainly through a fan’s phone stream on X by about 500,000 people. “The growth is happening so fast,” said Cheryl Reeve, the Minnesota coach and president of basketball operations. “It’s so accelerated. And I’ve been saying this in our own organization, that business as usual isn’t going to work anymore.”
Clark, of course, has helped drive significant attention, with a stardom that transcended her sport when she played in college at Iowa. There’s also Reese and the Los Angeles Sparks’ Cameron Brink leading a rookie group piquing new levels of curiosity in the league.
Angel Reese scored 12 points with eight rebounds in her WNBA debut. (Cooper Neill / Getty Images)
But other boosts have improved the chances for teams to seize fan attention. When the Golden State Valkyries unveiled the name and logo for the expansion franchise that will form the WNBA’s 13th team, a surge in deposits gave the team more than 10,000 season ticket pledges a year before its expected launch.
Fagbenle said players today are encouraged to be more authentic, showing off their personal style, for instance. She credits Aces star A’ja Wilson for leading in that regard.
“I’m so thankful for what people have done just being themselves, and being ballers,” Fagbenle said.
Fanatics, a WNBA partner, said jersey sales are up more than eight times from a year ago. Corporate partnerships are improving, too, with more prominent sponsorships solidified in recent years with companies like AT&T, Deloitte, Nike and Google.
“We’ve been planting these seeds for the last two decades,” said Aces forward Alysha Clark, who is in her 12th season. “Understanding the product that is here, understanding the talent and the caliber of players that are here and the treatment that should follow suit with that.” She added: “We’re excited that the seeds we’ve been planting are starting to bloom.”
Alysha Clark and others said the challenge now is not just meeting the moment, but maintaining it with more possibilities for growth ahead.
“All these things that are falling into place are for long-term deals and not just one or two years,” she said.
Future expansion, beyond a 13th team, is on the horizon, perhaps as early as 2026. There are quicker manifestations of investment, including new practice facilities for the Seattle Storm and Phoenix Mercury, the latter of which is expected to open by the July All-Star break.
Above all, the league wants to avoid a repeat of the aughts, when multiple franchises relocated or folded, in part because of ownership mismanagement.
The WNBA appears to be in a stronger financial position than when it last expanded in 2008, however. Engelbert recently called the travel change, which will cost $25 million in each of the next two seasons, a “testament to the continued growth of the WNBA.” In February 2022, the WNBA raised $75 million from investors with a plan “to address some of the league’s obstacles to growth and generating new revenue.”
Though detailed league-wide financial data is opaque, former WNBPA vice president and Sparks forward Chiney Ogwumike wrote in The Players Tribune that league revenue had significantly risen since 2019, and generated about $200 million in total revenue last year.
Storm ownership brought in new investors to fund their new basketball performance center. They sold about 10 percent of their business at a record $151 million valuation. Co-owner Ginny Gilder said it was the first non-distressed sale in the history of the league. “We wanted to put the floor on valuations for women’s sports,” Gilder said. “Mostly what we wanted to show is that this is a new game for women’s sports.”
The Seattle Storm have unveiled their new $61 million performance center.
• 50,000 sq. ft.
• Two side-by-side courts
• New locker room, nutrition center
• ‘Hall of Champions’ with court floor from 2004, 2010 and 2018 teams
pic.twitter.com/vPKabJKbm9— Front Office Sports (@FOS) April 18, 2024
WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson credited players for building momentum over the past few years to this current crescendo of interest and change, including their push for the new travel policy. “Look at what these players have done to sell this business. If they could just be marketed properly and their game, and those performances, could be broadcast properly?” she said. “Can we do all of that? But the players have done their part.”
There is, of course, more to push for, especially with the league’s existing media rights deal with ESPN ending after the 2025 season, and a new collective bargaining agreement potentially hitting by 2026. Salary increases will be another area for future progress. Though pay jumped significantly following the current agreement in 2020, Jackson said the salaries do not accurately reflect the money coming into the league. Players have wanted a bigger cut of league revenue, more similar to the splits seen in some other major North American men’s leagues like the NBA.
A spike in television revenue is a central goal as well. In January, the NCAA agreed to a new television rights deal in which women’s college basketball was valued at $65 million per year, about 10 times more than its past deal. A similar jump could accelerate the WNBA and lead to further developments in the player experience.
Before then, Stewart, last season’s MVP, said she appreciates these renewed conversations — on charters, salaries, marketing and more. She has a message to the fans tuning in for the first time: “Welcome, welcome to the fight and welcome to what we’ve been doing for a while.”
Caitlin Clark notices the growth she’s part of and is optimistic it will continue.
“I hope (fans) continue to come back and continue to buy a ticket or if you’re watching on TV, continue to turn on the TV and support teams,” she said. “Oftentimes, people fall in love when they give it a chance. So I guess just give it a chance and I think you’ll just keep coming back.”
(Top photo of Caitlin Clark: Ron Hoskins / NBAE via Getty Images)
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