Caitlin Clark is here. Can WNBA business prosper?

Sports news

The start of the 2024 WNBA season has many wondering if the sport is entering a new economic era.

By Jacob Meschke and Santul Nerkar, New York Times Service

May 18, 2024 | 3:18 p.m.

The women’s basketball business is booming. And the start of the 2024 WNBA season has many wondering if the sport is entering a new economic era.

The arrival of stars, including former University of Iowa phenom and now Indiana Fever recruit Caitlin Clark, has boosted interest and ticket sales. All teams in the league will fly charter flights for the first time this season, team sponsorships are increasing and big-name players are racking up sponsorship deals. A new television deal could fill its coffers and further raise the profile of the league.

But there are still hurdles the league must overcome before it achieves the kind of stature other professional sports leagues possess. The average WNBA salary is around $120,000, much lower than the NBA, and this relatively low salary has traditionally enticed even the highest-paid players to play overseas during the league’s offseason for earn more money. The league has long had stars, but it has struggled to market their skills and personalities to a mass audience.

How the WNBA capitalizes on the current moment — and addresses its larger place in the media landscape — could have a significant effect on the league’s future.

A chance to capitalize.

More than 18 million people, a record, watched the University of South Carolina beat Clark and Iowa in the women’s NCAA tournament final this year, compared to about 10 million who watched the title game in 2023, which was also a record. This year, for the first time, more people watched the women’s final than the men’s.

Clark had a unique effect. During her four years at Iowa, she broke the Division I scoring record for both men and women and led the Hawkeyes to back-to-back national title games. She also helped fill arenas and boost television ratings, and became one of the most visible stars in all of college sports. According to a March poll by Seton Hall University’s School of Business, Clark was the most well-known college basketball player in the country, with 44 percent of Americans saying they had heard of her.

WNBA fans hope college football’s growth trickles down to the pros. Last year’s final averaged 728,000 viewers per match, the highest level in 20 years.

Players say they can feel a difference. Former Seattle Storm and University of Connecticut star Sue Bird said in an interview that compared to 2002, when she entered the league, the WNBA is taken more seriously by fans. The common feeling at the time, Bird said, was that “you took a step back” after playing college basketball.

“They were used to a certain level in college, and they see it now in the WNBA,” Bird said.

And so far, interest in Clark appears to have trickled down to the league. A record 2.5 million people watched the WNBA draft on April 15, when Clark was selected No. 1 overall. Three of the Fever’s first four games are televised nationally, on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, and the other on Amazon Prime. In a testament to the league’s growing popularity, the Bay Area will receive a WNBA team in 2025, with another team reportedly planned for Toronto.

WNBA players – even the stars – don’t make much.

When the Indiana Fever selected Clark in the draft, many — including President Joe Biden — were shocked to learn his starting salary: $76,535.

Clark’s college endorsements — valued at more than $3 million, according to On3, a site that tracks name, image and likeness, or NIL, deals for college athletes — and those she’s since signed with his arrival in Indiana represents only a small part of his base salary. of his overall remuneration.

WNBA base salaries range from about $64,000 for rookies drafted in the third round to about $240,000 for veterans. Of the roughly 144 players in the league, 22 earn more than $200,000 a year and 78 earn less than $100,000, according to Spotrac, a site that tracks player contracts.

Players can earn more, with bonuses for those who win individual awards and whose teams are successful. The league pays a small, rotating cohort of players a total of $1 million each season to participate in league-wide marketing partnerships.

But lucrative sponsorships are not a reality for the majority of players in the league, and some see the promise of sponsorship as the wrong answer to improving player compensation.

“The new message about a player in the new rookie class is: ‘Don’t worry about the first pick because she can make up to half a million dollars,'” said Terri Jackson, executive director of the WNBA players union. .

In turn, players have looked overseas, playing for teams in countries like Russia, Turkey, China and Australia that pay more than the WNBA. Brittney Griner was performing in Russia when she was detained for nine months.

Today, about half of WNBA teams share ownership with an NBA team and, in some cases, facilities and front offices. This includes the Fever, who share ownership and facilities with the Indiana Pacers. Ownership of the WNBA itself is still shared between the 30 NBA teams and the 12 WNBA teams. In 2022, the WNBA announced $75 million in new investments from more than two dozen investors, including NBA and WNBA team owners.

New agreements could change things.

The leagues remain poles apart in terms of revenue. But proponents of higher compensation for WNBA players point out that their share of league revenue is lower than that of NBA players, 10 percent compared to about 50 percent.

Negotiations over media rights, a key component of sports league revenue, are underway for the NBA and WNBA. The two leagues have generally negotiated rights deals together.

The current deal expires at the end of the 2024-25 NBA season. At this point, the WNBA could choose, for the first time, to separate from the NBA.

The league needs to prioritize expanding its fan base and marketing its stars, as the NBA did with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson in the 1980s, said former NBA player Len Elmore. NBA and lecturer in the sports management program at Columbia University.

“TV rights are what catapulted NBA salaries,” Elmore said. “It’s about having those players, and that comes down to television.”

The current collective bargaining agreement between the WNBA and the union that represents the players governs player compensation. Los Angeles Sparks forward Chiney Ogwumike said the WNBA’s recent growth strengthens players’ argument that they should receive a greater share of the league’s revenue.

“The numbers suggest that players are finally being rewarded as revenue drivers,” she said in an interview.

Approvals are a wild card.

As awareness of the college game grew, stars earned millions through sponsorship. For example, Angel Reese, now in her rookie season with the Chicago Sky, signed NIL contracts worth $1.8 million while at Louisiana State University.

But more and more sponsorship deals are being made with WNBA players. Clark reportedly signed a $20 million deal with Nike. The company also makes a signature shoe featuring Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson.

Research has consistently demonstrated that women’s sports receive only a tiny fraction of the media attention as men’s sports, limiting their reach and ability to attract new fans. That has changed in recent years, with global sponsorships of female athletes increasing 22% in 2023, according to SponsorUnited, which tracks corporate sponsorships and deals.

But today, companies that take this path have advantages. Compared to leagues like the NBA and NFL, “it’s not as crowded,” said Sarah Lane, chief marketing officer at CarMax, which became a league partner in 2021.

Sue Bird said she was optimistic that the current crop of rookies, combined with the league’s existing stars, would bring more attention — and sponsorships — to the WNBA.

The current stars, Bird said, “have some value both in their play and in their market value, and that’s only going to make the pot bigger and the pie bigger for everyone.”