Making Women’s Basketball Lucrative

While the big headlines were about the pay gap between male professional basketball players and their female counterpart; the challenge to make women’s basketball lucrative as a business is something worth exploring, for the love of the game. My name is Ned Nadima, I’m a basketball fan and love the business of basketball. This post is about the business of basketball, and how professional women basketball leagues can turn into profits.

I spent last weekends reading about the different challenges the WNBA faces, challenge player faces and most importantly, challenge women sports face in general. While this post is focused on the business side of basketball, it’s worth noting that there are ideas floating around on how the game can attract more viewers. Here are some differences between the WNBA and the NBA. WNBA games consist of four 10-minute quarters, instead of the NBA’s four 12-minute quarters. Women play with a smaller basketball than men, one with a circumference of 28.5 inches, like the basketball used by women in college and high school. The WNBA basketball also has its own orange-and-oatmeal color scheme. The women’s three-point line is 19 feet 9 inches, as in NCAA competition (the NBA’s line is 23–9 at its farthest point and 22 feet at the corners). The WNBA shooting lane is 12 feet wide, four feet narrower than the NBA’s. One of the most noticeable differences between the WNBA and the NBA is that women are permitted to use a zone defense. So, fans won’t hear whistles and see players shooting technicals for illegal defense in the WNBA.

As you can see, beside the length of quarters and shot clock; most of these differences are unnoticeable on TV or while watching a live game. A lot of articles online talk about lowering the rim to 9 feet, allowing more women to dunk. I personally don’t think it’s necessary because dunks don’t win games, more on that later. I think the biggest issues with women’s basketball isn’t that women are less athletic or shorter than men, these are facts, it’s that we’re watching the game with men’s basketball in mind. Even worse, women’s professional basketball are trained to win games using basically the same formula as college basketball. True, it is how fundamental basketball is played, but it is not what drives a crowd on their feet. If the entire NBA played like the Spurs during the Tim Duncan’s era, despite the amazing fundamentals, the NBA would have financial troubles.

Pro Basketball is entertainment, entertainment is story telling

Sports isn’t scripted, but it is entertainment nonetheless. People are not enamored by the game itself, but the story around it. Zion isn’t ZION because he’s a just good 6'8" basketball player who can dunk, rebound and block shots. He’s ZION because he’s a 285 pounds 6'8" with crazy verticals and amazing speed, a freak of nature like we’ve never seen before. You see what I did there? The story matters, and the people in charge of women’s basketball have done a very poor job sharing stories. When there’s no story around the game, we are left with just the game, which is good for basketball fundamentalists, but not great for mainstream basketball fans.

To create true superstars and true heroes, there must be stories around players. Why is Candace Parker an all-star? Okay, that’s a bad example, I watched her play in College. Let’s try it again. Why is Liz Cambage a dominant player? I shouldn’t have to google her height or check statistics to have answers. My young cousins spend 45 minutes bragging about Stephen Curry and plays a 3 minutes video to proof their points; because we call Curry the greatest shooter of all time. I did the same with Kobe Bryant when I was younger. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t be able to tell you why Nneka Ogwumike is a beast, without jumping straight into basketball lingo, why? Because, at least to my knowledge, unless you’ve watched her play, you just haven’t heard of her. Players efficiency, career averages and other statistics are only good for basketball nerds like me. If we want to make women’s basketball lucrative, we need to create legends. We create legends by telling stories.

Basketball as an entertainment business

Sport entertainment is a battle between expectation and reality; on paper a team should easily win, on the court, it might be a different story. That suspense makes sport magical and we watch games to see that magic happen. There’s the two things here: expectation and reality. Women’s basketball gives us reality but fail to work on the expectation (although the suspense is still very real in reality). Call it a lack of stories or lack of promotion, the expectation is lacking. I think a lack of story has a bigger impact than a lack of promotion. We see high school athletes making it to ESPN’s highlights without promotion, thanks to stories that goes viral. It’s hard to excites people when there isn’t any expectation in the first place.

This is directly linked to the style of plays, we need more women who can take over games in the professional level. Being a professional athlete is about mastering a craft that few mastered, and you get pay to show it off. To impact the game, I would propose to remove the zone defence, push players to play more one on one defence, let them display their skills and excite the crowd. Nobody expects them to dunk, but we expects the best, the all-stars, to truly dominate. Most women’s basketball team plays good team basketball, which is great for wins, but not great for the show. In the professional level, athlete dominates their peers. We pay to watch Serena Williams because she dominates her peers, that’s why she’s the biggest name in Tennis. To increase entertainment, the gap between the best and second best must also increase. One way to do that is by removing the zone defence, make the game more fluids and let players display their talents. Fundamental basketball is great, it wins championships; but we’re talking seasons tickets here, people pay to see masters at work.

Basketball as a product

I might be repeating myself here, but basketball, from a league standpoint, is a product. Instead of trying to become the female version of men’s basketball, women’s basketball needs its own identity. The argument isn’t about, should the rim be lower? Clearly not, these women can shoot the ball and score on a 10 feet rim without issues. Plus, I repeat, nobody expects them to dunk the ball, but women’s basketball needs its own identity and players must become different. From signature moves to player celebrations, it needs to be different; that’s how stories are created. You’ve most likely heard of Tacko Fall by now, not because he’s a top prospects, but because he’s different and his difference helped almost upset the entire nation during the NCAA tournament. That’s how you create legends.

This is where players can really shine by displaying flashy personalities. An example, NBA players arena’s entrance are now daily runway show. WNBA players, on the other end (most of them), arrive in team gear, just like they did in college. Basketball as a product requires players to bring the game to life beyond the court. We need to see them outside of the gym, living life, being with family, getting ready for games, etc. These are not only part of the story telling portion of the game; but it helps with the reach as well. I have friends who like Russel Westbrook just because he dresses well, sounds silly right? Well, that is what entertainment is about. Looking at the WNBA, it sets itself to become the female version of the NBA, instead of the women’s basketball league. The difference goes beyond the logo, and we need players to display these differences on and off the court. This, by the way, is also how you create real fans and inspire the next generation to become great players.

Basketball as a vehicle for social justice

This is controversial for some people, but athletes do have the power to raise awareness on many issues. We saw the NBA sharing Equality t-shirt, we saw players taking a stand against police violence and more. The WNBA has also done a lot of work in that arena, except, the business side is still a struggle. And the reason is because the product must be solid first. NBA players like Lebron James, Stephen Curry even brands like the Warriors have enough social clout to pull it off. In other words, they are famous and can influence millions of fans. The WNBA and women’s basketball needs to focus on creating true superstars first. These are the ambassadors who will help share and promote social justice messages. The product must be solid first and the rest will follow.

Case Study: The WNBA

Having shared these 4 aspects of my observations, I’d like to take a look at the WNBA and how we can turn things around, create superstars and make the team lucrative.

You can see the difference in numbers. I believe the pay gap argument doesn’t tell the entire story. The debate should be about how to drive interests in women’s basketball. I’ll let Candace Parker, my favourite player, explains:

I agree with what she’s saying, it’ll take time to grow the sports, but there are things we can do right now to make sure that our daughters can live in a world where being a good professional basketball player is as exciting as being a good tennis player. We’ll start by debunking the lies:

• Women can’t play basketball

That’s clearly not true, no point writing much about it.

• The WNBA doesn’t make money because women can’t dunk

That’s also not true. The game of basketball isn’t about dunking, it’s about winning. Most importantly, there’s ways to make the game more exciting.

• WNBA players can’t play 82 games

That’s also not true because most players play oversees during the offseason for extra income.

• The rim should be lowered to increase field goal percentage

While it is true that fans are expecting good basketball, the rim height doesn’t seem, to me, to be a big concern.

• There is a lack of demand, why supply

I disagree. There is a reason why there is women sports in almost all disciplines. This is not a feminist movements, this is sports.

Now, let’s look at things the WNBA is currently doing wrong, before thinking about some key actions the league can take to make the sport more lucrative.

• Featuring WNBA all-stars in NBA celebrity games

I know the NBA is trying to promote the sports, but you don’t do so by mixing professional with amateurs. That’s actually detrimental to the league’s image.

• WNBA college-like style of play

If you want to watch good team basketball, watch college basketball or the WNBA. If you want to watch talents going at each other, watch the NBA. Why am I saying that? It’s hard to create excitement when we don’t see magic. Hardcore basketball fans love it, they get it, these games are coaching masterpieces. Mainstream fans don’t, they wouldn’t mind watching it in college, but not in the pro level. Furthermore, this is not a lack of talent, there are players in the league who can takeover games, but the game has to enable such an event to happen.

• Season schedule

There is no doubts that professional women basketball players can play more than 35 games a year. In America, summer sports are baseball and football, the two most popular sports in the country. Soccer is slowing growing but baseball and football are pretty much the dominant ones. There might be a reason for that. During summer, people enjoy outdoor sports. They rather be indoor during the fall, winter and spring. Hence, why the NHL and NBA are doing just fine with their schedules. This might not be a popular opinion but I believe the season timeline hurt the league and they should go back to the regular fall and winter schedule, there’s way to make it work. More on that later.

• WNBA players lack of personality on the court

I say on court because I’m sure they have shinny personality outside of the court. The game needs a bit of that, which is easier said than done. These are athletes that wants to compete; and I’m here asking to add more personality to their game. It’s a weird advice but the right one, fans often fall in love with players first, team seconds. In facts, they switched favourite teams as soon as their players get traded. We need players to show their personality on the court. Currently, most players wear the same gear as NBA players, get emotional like guys, celebrate like guys…there is something missing. When you watch women tennis, you know it’s women because they dress differently, the game is different; we need some of that in the WNBA and unfortunately, I have no idea how it might look like. The only signature move I can think off the top of my head is Brittney Griner’s dunk. Some of the all-stars are great shooters, passers, forward; they need more personality on court, it helps with marketing.

Let’s talk solutions

1. In order to create a buzz about the players, the league needs flamboyant personalities on court, which I’m sure it already has. We just don’t want to see athlete compete, we have the olympics for that, we want to be entertained and we pay good money for it. The league needs flashy franchise players that can take over games and be centre of attraction on and off the court. You don’t go see a Duke game, you see Zion’s Duke, Lebron’s Lakers, Curry’s Warrios. This something the WNBA needs. The league needs to create these superstars, they’re the ones who sell tickets, sell jerseys, make it to ESPN and help people come up with stories about the league. That’s the first thing, before any outside marketing, for women sports to become big, its need a superstar that dominate everybody. For that, the top players must be significantly better than the rest.
2. The league must allow the game to become more individualistic for the sake of profits. Coming back to my suggestions of getting rid of zone defence. This will enables great players to rely on their skills to score, and will bring more excitement to the game. A league of 30 teams can have the Spurs playing like a college basketball team, it’s fine. A league of 12 teams can’t afford that, especially not in the early days. People wants to expect dominance. Once they expect dominance, they are delighted (read shock) when they see an upset, and this is entertainment 101.
3. Seasons should be during the fall. Seasons might even start slightly early than the NBA so the opening week gets full coverage but it needs to be in the fall. In the mind of most sports fan, basketball seasons (both professional and colleges) starts in late October and ends in April. We should make it easy for them. The only basketball people watch during the summer is international basketball. Comes April, it’s playoff time. Let’s add the WNBA in the conversation, it’s the time to talk basketball, if we want to promote women’s basketball, they must be promoted within the basketball timeline.
4. Requesting the league to changes rules also involves coaching innovation. Most teams are still playing with traditional positions and size. Coaching staff needs to try different combo, bring something different to the game, a new winning formula that will make people turn their heads. This are unusual approaches to the game that will keep basketball fans glued in front of the TV, because that expectation vs reality is happening.
5. Off court, fans are interested by the human behind the superstars. They try to mix the on court superstar and the off court human, to create a legend. This involves players themselves and the media. People are often multi-dimensional by nature, while they have to leverage social media platforms to stay in touch with fans, players need the media to help us share stories. Mind you, the league doesn’t need to cover all players, just the poster superstars, these are going to be the initial unicorns who will help sell tickets, get endorsement deals, get pay way more than the rest and most importantly, built a path to success for other women. Who’s going to be that cool women that all the little girls want to be like because, beside basketball, she’s the coolest person on earth and can pretty much do anything? The WNBA needs that figure. Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James and currently Stephen Curry helped the NBA reach a new height, thanks to their massive appeal. This is what the WNBA needs.
6. Marketing dollars should be spent promoting a super hero story, not women’s basketball. Ronda Rousey made women’s MMA popular, not because they asked people to take a look at women’s fighting, but because people wanted to see someone unstoppable. A dominant woman basketball player is not expected to be the tallest or jump the highest, but she is expected to dominate. Same thing in tennis. The WNBA needs to find that beast players that can dominate so much that she becomes the centre of attraction. There are many great players already, but the game needs to change. Then crafting powerful stories around the superstars will help the league rise in popularity. These are going to be the first popular jerseys, the first shoe deals and so on.

The WNBA is facing plenty of challenges, but unlike popular beliefs the solution isn’t to lower the rim, rather to make the game different and more attractive. The league needs a poster child and must leverage media outlet to tell great stories. At the professional level, people want to see masters doing the impossible, the game must become more fluid to allow skilled players to shine. Last but not least, people watch basketball during the basketball window, there must be a way to have both seasons happening at the same time. We cheer for these women in College, we cheer for them during the olympics and world cups, there must be a way to make the league work so that our sisters and daughters dream of becoming great basketball players as well. I’m curious to see what you think of my analysis, I strongly believe there is a place for a professional women’s basketball league, but it’ll take one black swan event: The emergence of a True Superstar.

Thank you for reading,

Ned