How the WNBA can continue to grow, as viewership rises
Published
Currently producing high-entertainment playoff basketball, the WNBA saw a 19 percent viewership increase on Disney networks compared to the 2021 season, according to ESPN. Despite these positive viewership numbers, however, the league remains undervalued in comparison to the NBA and could be a source of even more potential with greater support from major broadcast companies and basketball fans.
Sue Bird’s final regular season game before her retirement, featuring her Seattle Storm against the Las Vegas Aces, became Disney’s most-watched WNBA game since 2008. The game averaged 852,000 viewers on ABC and peaked at 1.1 million. As the league has continued its growth over the last few years, viewership figures have steadily risen, proving that there is an appetite for the WNBA.
This season, however, only 68 percent of WNBA games were nationally televised in the United States. Twenty-five regular season games were broadcasted on ABC networks (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2), and 38 were broadcasted on CBS networks (CBS and CBS Sports Network). Moreover, 43 games were broadcasted on NBA TV, with the remaining games nationally broadcasted on Amazon Prime, Twitter and Facebook.
In comparison, ESPN and ABC will broadcast 100 regular-season NBA games for the upcoming season, and TNT will broadcast 65. The Los Angeles Lakers alone will have 42 of their games nationally broadcasted. These numbers reflect that men’s sports are still heavily favoured over women’s sports.
It’s also apparent in the monetary value the league receives from its broadcast partners. The WNBA and ESPN’s current deal runs until 2025. The league received $27 million in 2021 from ESPN as part of their deal. By the final year, the league will receive $33 million. This season was the league’s most-watched regular season on ESPN since 2008, averaging 372,000 viewers.
Compared to the MLS, for example — which recently signed a 10-year deal with Apple TV worth $250 million per season — it’s a shock to find out their viewership was less than the W’s. In 2021, MLS averaged 276,000 viewers on ESPN. The NHL averaged 460,000 viewers across ABC, ESPN and TNT this season on a deal worth around $400 million from ESPN. Even with viewership numbers in a similar range to these leagues, the WNBA is making a fraction of their earnings from their current TV contract.
Because broadcast companies continue to undervalue the league as a whole, it hurts the players a part of that league. Jewell Loyd, Breanna Stewart and Diana Taurasi are the highest-paid WNBA players making around $228,000 this season. In comparison, Stephen Curry is the highest-paid NBA player who will make around $48 million this season, and a minimum NBA contract will start at $1.02 million. Though the WNBA has only existed for 26 years compared to the NBA’s 75 years, the difference is still drastic.
In recent years, more NBA players and celebrities have supported the WNBA. Whether cheering on their local team or rocking the league’s iconic orange sweatshirt, high-profile athletes know that WNBA players are some of the best professional athletes. Unfortunately, swarms of NBA and sports fans see the WNBA as less-than, and there are many reasons for this, but the safe assumption includes misogyny and sexism as factors. Major companies that see women’s sports as second-class to men’s can play significant roles in reversing this perception. When companies such as ESPN and Nike invest in women’s sports, they make it clear that women and sports are not an anomaly and just the norm.