***Official CAITLIN CLARK Thread***

[Archangel1775]

Originally Posted by cdub6238

As long as she's fine with it, still might not have as many eyeballs on them as they could've had

Oh, she's not fine with it, not at all. She's to competitive for that. What she said she'll do is use it as motivation for a chance to be on the next team.

[cdub6238]

Originally Posted by Archangel1775

Oh, she's not fine with it, not at all. She's to competitive for that. What she said she'll do is use it as motivation for a chance to be on the next team.

True, but also speaks to her professionalism.

I'm not even sure who she would replace on this team to be honest.

Kahleah Copper? But she's a sg/f..former champ and finals MVP

Napheesa Collier? She's also a f with solid stats and Olympic experience..

Gray is injured, but if she is healthy...one of the best PG in the league

The rest are all very solid

[WaiverWire]

The WNBA is about as inviting as a pit of vipers. Not impressed with the WNBA league or the culture. The WNBA fans are a condescending lot and don’t want to change the obvious flaws in their bad product. They complain about wanting more of exposure and higher salaries but aggressively try push away any new fans (sorry they call them “Stans”). In their moment to shine, the WNBA is falling flat on their faces. Also can’t believe they plan to expand the league with terrible quality of the bottom 3-4 teams in the league. The last thing the Mystics, Sparks, and Fever need is further dilution. The WNBA is sports malpractice.

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by WaiverWire

The WNBA is about as inviting as a pit of vipers. Not impressed with the WNBA league or the culture. The WNBA fans are a condescending lot and don’t want to change the obvious flaws in their bad product. They complain about wanting more of exposure and higher salaries but aggressively try push away any new fans (sorry they call them “Stans”). In their moment to shine, the WNBA is falling flat on their faces. Also can’t believe they plan to expand the league with terrible quality of the bottom 3-4 teams in the league. The last thing the Mystics, Sparks, and Fever need is further dilution. The WNBA is sports malpractice.

The problem for the WNBA is that they aren’t incentivized to run the league like a business.

They can lose money forever and it won’t matter because they are fully subsidized by the NBA.

The players and league execs are apparently not smart enough to realize that the only reason they get paid anything at all, is because of the NBA. Instead of addressing the problems, and making changes to what should be a business, they just play the blame game. Misogyny, racism, add in any other ism you want here.

Nobody wants to make hard decisions that benefit the bottom line and they would rather just sit back and take the NBA money and do nothing but complain about the outcome

[JAMSC]

Not incentivized or not allowed? Part of the issue is that the WNBA doesn’t have the ability to go out and negotiate their own TV rights deal or sponsorship deals. You know the things responsible for most of the revenue for every professional league.

The NBA has allocated $60M/year of its tv and sponsorship rights deals to the WNBA. With the fight for TV sports rights deals, the WNBA would be very likely to exceed this amount if they could negotiate their own rights deals.

Even with this as a hindrance, the players make a far lower percentage of revenue than other American sports leagues. Percent of revenue is important because all professional sports teams are setup to not show a profit. NFL, NBA, and MLB players would all make about what the WNBA players are if they were forced to rely on what teams claimed as profits to determine their salaries.

[boxbuster7]

Originally Posted by WaiverWire

The WNBA is about as inviting as a pit of vipers. Not impressed with the WNBA league or the culture. The WNBA fans are a condescending lot and don’t want to change the obvious flaws in their bad product. They complain about wanting more of exposure and higher salaries but aggressively try push away any new fans (sorry they call them “Stans”). In their moment to shine, the WNBA is falling flat on their faces. Also can’t believe they plan to expand the league with terrible quality of the bottom 3-4 teams in the league. The last thing the Mystics, Sparks, and Fever need is further dilution. The WNBA is sports malpractice.

Interesting post...you don't think this loaded rc class can change things 3 years from now?

[hxcmilkshake]

She'll get on the team. Idk how we are gonna track her panties from overseas but oh well

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[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by JAMSC

Not incentivized or not allowed? Part of the issue is that the WNBA doesn’t have the ability to go out and negotiate their own TV rights deal or sponsorship deals. You know the things responsible for most of the revenue for every professional league.

This is not true according to several articles that took 30 seconds of google searching to find

[JAMSC]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

This is not true according to several articles that took 30 seconds of google searching to find

What part isn’t true? Should be easy for you to link all those articles that took you 30 seconds to find.

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by JAMSC

What part isn’t true? Should be easy for you to link all those articles that took you 30 seconds to find.

The part that the WNBA isn’t allowed to negotiate their own media deal.

I’m also not your assistant. You can take 30 seconds and find them yourself

[JAMSC]

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.co...ney-amazon-nbc

“Industry sources believe ESPN will ultimately pay $2.8B annually — though other industry sources insist it is still an earlier reported $2.6B — for the league's "A" package, which includes the NBA Finals, a conference final, weekly primetime games, the WNBA and likely shared international rights. NBC's proposed "B" package is believed to be worth between $2.5B and $2.6B annually and would probably include a "Basketball Night in America" or "Sunday Night Basketball" following the NFL season, a total of two primetime windows a week, conference semifinals and a conference final. Amazon's deal is believed to be worth between $1.8B and $2B and would likely include the Emirates In-Season Tournament, the SoFi Play-In Tournament, first-round playoff games, the WNBA and international rights.”

The NBA continues to include the WNBA rights in their TV deals and then chooses what to value those rights at.

https://www.thestreet.com/sports/the...wnba-contracts

“Those [WNBA] broadcasting rights, if they’re based on ratings and they’re based on growth, they’re worth a hell of a lot more than just double what they’re getting right now,” Berri said.

Major League Soccer, a league that receives comparable viewership with the WNBA, signed a 10-year, $2.5 billion with Apple.

That’s $250 million annually, a deal that if the WNBA achieved, would be over four times more than its current one.

The NBA is currently negotiating the WNBA’s media rights deal in conjunction with its own media rights package, which doesn’t fuel Berri’s optimism that the deal for the women will come close to its true value.

[jcardstore]

Ok, so I guess you're just not very good at googling.

Here's an article from the exact same site, from yesterday.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver confirmed to SBJ Friday that Disney, Amazon, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery are all bidding for both leagues, but that the burgeoning WNBA is also able to independently add other lucrative deals elsewhere.

The WNBA and NBA currently have just one joint broadcast partner: Disney, which reportedly pays roughly $40M of The W’s current $60M domestic media rights deal. The WNBA’s simultaneous deals with Amazon Prime Video, CBS and ION -- along with Disney -- expire following the 2025 season, leaving Commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s negotiators the ability to re-up with presumptive future NBA partners Disney and Amazon and also hand-pick among NBC, WBD, CBS, ION or perhaps others.

[oldgoldy97]

Some of the WNBA owners are NBA owner (governors if that makes people feel better). You think they’re going to leave money on the table?

[indyguy]

Sucks to suck:

https://fever.wnba.com/news/tegna-an...ional-markets/

[KhalDrogo]

Originally Posted by oldgoldy97

Some of the WNBA owners are NBA owner (governors if that makes people feel better). You think they’re going to leave money on the table?

Right. What’s the argument here? That the NBA is intentionally losing money on the WNBA by not growing their media deals?

[jcardstore]

The argument, I guess? Was that the poor WNBA has no control over its media rights and that the NBA is taking all the money for itself?

[WaiverWire]

I was optimistic before the start of the year. But the WNBA has a few different problems and I think they are core issues. One - the bottom half of the league just isn’t talented enough. There is a huge drop off in talent after the best 3-4 players on each team. It’s not like “oh that’s not a starter”, but “oh that person shouldn’t be in the league.” Too many air balls. Too many missed layups. Too much fumbling the ball out of bounds. Two - the coaching. Outside of the 1 or 2 top teams, the coaching is amateurish. It’s such a slog to watch the total lack of planning and plays. Three - I don’t think any of the WNBA league executives are particularly business smart or self aware. They don’t want to improve anything, they just want you to accept their flawed product. Also a side pet peeve - they have the absolute most cringe timeout and halftime shows.

I like this years rookie class, but the league doesn’t even know how to use them and showcase them correctly. Fundamentally, it’s a poor shooting league with a lot of ball hogs.

Originally Posted by boxbuster7

Interesting post...you don't think this loaded rc class can change things 3 years from now?

[hxcmilkshake]

Originally Posted by WaiverWire

I was optimistic before the start of the year. But the WNBA has a few different problems and I think they are core issues. One - the bottom half of the league just isn’t talented enough. There is a huge drop off in talent after the best 3-4 players on each team. It’s not like “oh that’s not a starter”, but “oh that person shouldn’t be in the league.” Too many air balls. Too many missed layups. Too much fumbling the ball out of bounds. Two - the coaching. Outside of the 1 or 2 top teams, the coaching is amateurish. It’s such a slog to watch the total lack of planning and plays. Three - I don’t think any of the WNBA league executives are particularly business smart or self aware. They don’t want to improve anything, they just want you to accept their flawed product. Also a side pet peeve - they have the absolute most cringe timeout and halftime shows.



I like this years rookie class, but the league doesn’t even know how to use them and showcase them correctly. Fundamentally, it’s a poor shooting league with a lot of ball hogs.

That aligns with college hoops.too, what are there, 5 legit women's teams? They should've never expanded to a 68 team tourney.

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[Gurds]

The WNBA has released a report saying...

• Attendance is up 156% from last year, and more than half of all WNBA games this year have been sellouts.

• About 400,000 fans have attended WNBA games this season, filling WNBA arenas to 94% capacity.

• This year's televised games (ABC, ESPN, etc.) are averaging 1.32 million viewers, nearly triple last season's average of 462,000.

• WNBA Countdown is averaging 741,000 viewers, a 211% increase from last year's full season average.

• The WNBA's online merchandise store has already set a single-season sales record (with 4+ months left in the season), and sales are up 756% compared to last year.

• The WNBA's social channels garnered 157 million video views through the first week of the season, an all-time high and up 380% compared to last year.

• The WNBA set an all-time high for League Pass subscriptions last month with a 355% increase vs. last season.

So, in simple terms, business is booming


https://x.com/JoePompliano/status/18...PJnCPgGLQ&s=19

Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using Tapatalk

[BGT Masters]

Originally Posted by Gurds

The WNBA has released a report saying...

• Attendance is up 156% from last year, and more than half of all WNBA games this year have been sellouts.

• About 400,000 fans have attended WNBA games this season, filling WNBA arenas to 94% capacity.

• This year's televised games (ABC, ESPN, etc.) are averaging 1.32 million viewers, nearly triple last season's average of 462,000.

• WNBA Countdown is averaging 741,000 viewers, a 211% increase from last year's full season average.

• The WNBA's online merchandise store has already set a single-season sales record (with 4+ months left in the season), and sales are up 756% compared to last year.

• The WNBA's social channels garnered 157 million video views through the first week of the season, an all-time high and up 380% compared to last year.

• The WNBA set an all-time high for League Pass subscriptions last month with a 355% increase vs. last season.

So, in simple terms, business is booming


https://x.com/JoePompliano/status/18...PJnCPgGLQ&s=19

Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using Tapatalk

So are you telling me the WBNA after almost 30 years is finally in the black?

[WaiverWire]

I don’t doubt that business is booming this year, but I wonder what the new equilibrium point will be. Take WNBA Leaguepass as one example. It’s $35 for a whole season and you can watch any/all of the teams (except the very few games on ESPN or Prime). As far as affordable streaming packages go, that’s not bad at all. But what happens if they increase it next year to $75 or $100? Will it have the same demand? How many of the new fans this year will stay? Is it a trend or a fad? I don’t have the answers.

Originally Posted by Gurds

So, in simple terms, business is booming


https://x.com/JoePompliano/status/18...PJnCPgGLQ&s=19

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[Lee42]

Deleted

[duwal]

Originally Posted by Gurds

The WNBA has released a report saying...

• Attendance is up 156% from last year, and more than half of all WNBA games this year have been sellouts.

• About 400,000 fans have attended WNBA games this season, filling WNBA arenas to 94% capacity.

• This year's televised games (ABC, ESPN, etc.) are averaging 1.32 million viewers, nearly triple last season's average of 462,000.

• WNBA Countdown is averaging 741,000 viewers, a 211% increase from last year's full season average.

• The WNBA's online merchandise store has already set a single-season sales record (with 4+ months left in the season), and sales are up 756% compared to last year.

• The WNBA's social channels garnered 157 million video views through the first week of the season, an all-time high and up 380% compared to last year.

• The WNBA set an all-time high for League Pass subscriptions last month with a 355% increase vs. last season.

So, in simple terms, business is booming


https://x.com/JoePompliano/status/18...PJnCPgGLQ&s=19

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booming maybe also might simply be new excitement kind of like a movie release. The key has to be will the league be able to sustain this 'excitement' throughout the season? For the next few seasons at least? Or will it decrease over time like when a movie has been out in theater week after week?

[BGT Masters]

Back when the WNBA first started I actually cheered for the Comets because the Rockets were my favorite NBA team. I would collect what few cards they had, watch games when I could, etc. I just now realized they no longer exist and haven’t in almost two decades. Pretty sad the team that won 4 titles in a row, in one of the largest cities in the country had their team fold.

[Archangel1775]

NBA tax write-off. The WNBA is apparently $50 million in debt. Prior years they were $10 million in the red. Someone estimated the charter flights this year cost almost $25 million. Looks like they are prepping for the next TV deal though.