Why I’m Still Skeptical About the WNBA
By Joe K
This week’s Sports Illustrated featured a flattering article regarding the Los Angeles Sparks co-owners Carla Christofferson and Kathy Goodman and how they are looking to promote Los Angeles’s very own WNBA franchise. Emphasizing the addition of former Tennessee star Candace Parker, Christofferson and Goodman seem to believe that the Sparks can reach prominence in a crowded Los Angeles sports market. Despite the efforts of these two energetic owners, David Stern, and the rest of the WNBA, I continue to remain skeptical about women’s sports in America for several reasons.
In its twelve years of existence, the WNBA has failed to draw large audiences and attendance has stayed relatively the same since its inception. Despite lacking an influx of money and success, the league has continued to exist as a result of NBA commissioner David Stern’s desire to remain politically-correct.
The Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) and the American Basketball League (ABL) are two prime examples of women’s sports leagues that have failed miserably and folded after just a few seasons. While both leagues had prominent stars such as Mia Hamm and Dawn Staley, few fans showed up to games and even fewer tuned in on television. The lack of supports of the WNBA and the failures of both the ABL and WUSA have proved to many that women’s sports will never truly succeed in America.
It’s obvious that after reading Kelli Anderson’s recent SI column that she and many others are looking to the Sparks’s dynamic duo of Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker to save the WNBA and women’s professional sports league.
To put it bluntly, Leslie and Parker can’t save the WNBA because women’s professional sports leagues are never going to reach any source of prominence in America society. ESPN is not going to start plastering game highlights all over its late night editions of SportsCenter. Sports Illustrated is not going to start a WNBA blog with daily updates and frequent posting. Yahoo is not going to be creating any WNBA fantasy league any time soon either.
I am not looking to turn this into a bash the WNBA column but its crazy to even hint at the fact that the WNBA can become a legitimate sports league in the U.S. With its centers standing at just 6’5″, its offenses’ half-court oriented, and its players’ athleticism mirroring the local high school teams, the WNBA fails to win over fans simply because it’s just not as good as the men.
However, the WNBA could become an intriguing alternative to The Big Three (NFL, NBA, and MLB). With an economy evoking images of 1929 and the prices for pro sports increasing by the minute, the WNBA could soon become the only affordable pro sports option for middle to lower class American families. In order to reach out to this demographic, the league must start offering more family packs, special events, promos, and free tickets. Targeting these families could help to increase its popularity, but never to the level of the Baseball or Football.
The bottom here is that the subpar play of women’s sports, specifically the WNBA, will always make it an inferior product in comparison to the NBA and other male sports league. Because of this, it is highly unlikely that the league will ever become one of the top sports leagues in America, but it remains entirely possible that the league could still find a suitable role in the American sports world.
With this being the inaugural WNBA post for SoCal Sports Hub.com, you are probably wondering why I am even bothering to cover the league with my skeptical outlook on its future. It’s pretty simple actually. I hope they prove me wrong. Seriously, I am asking Candace Parker, Lisa Leslie, Lauren Jackson, and all of the other WNBA players and supporters to make me look like an idiot for writing this little post.
Therefore, I am going to be keeping tabs on the league’s progress and will also be looking to add another writer for the team here at SoCal Sports Hub.