TV ratings go up, attendance goes up
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported Candace Parker’s time in Chicago. He played with Sky for two years.
NEW YORK – The WNBA season is over, and what a time it was. Skyrocketing TV ratings. Great conditions exist. Jerseys of the best players flying off the shelves. Chartered aircraft and other equipment for the purpose.
The success made this season has been transformative and will help push the league to the next level. Expansion is on the way, a new TV deal will help support earnings significantly and the incoming talent will only help raise the level of the game.
There was so much demand this season that prior to the 2024 WNBA Finals – which the New York Liberty won in a thrilling Game 5 – commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced that the 2025 Finals would go to a seven-game series , showing the NBA. Additionally, the first round matches will switch to a 1-1-1 format, allowing both teams to host matches.
Simply put, there has never been a better time for this league.
With that in mind, here are the winners and losers of the 2024 WNBA season.
JUDGES
Passengers
Those low wages will soon be a thing of the past.
The current collective bargaining agreement doesn’t expire until after the 2027 season, but no one expects it to last that long. Not when a league that was already on the rise had the explosive growth that the WNBA has.
The new media rights package alone is worth $200 million a year, more than three times the current package. Supporters flock to individual leagues and teams. The Portland team’s expansion fee was $125 million, and there is another team to come.
As the players weigh their options, they are expected to exit before the Nov. 1 deadline. 1 for the WNBA Players Association and the league. If either side does so, the CBA would expire at the end of next season.
“It’s a tough thing to go through as time goes on. I think we’re pretty much in a place where we know what we want to do,” Breanna Stewart, vice president of the WNBPA, told the Associated Press recently. .
While the players may be looking for improvements in work conditions and family benefits, salaries are expected to be a priority. The minimum league salary is $64,154 and the supermax is $241,984.
New followers
Here we go, W fans whose loyalty was based on one player.
You supported Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese in college, and followed them to Indiana and Chicago, respectively. But once you got there, you realized there was more to the league than just one or two players. You’re impressed with A’ja Wilson’s record-breaking season and you’re impressed with Napheesa Collier’s tough defense. You loved Kahleah Copper’s genius and you can’t believe that Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins-Smith have only been playing together for a year.
By hosting the entire league, you’ve improved it and we’re glad you’re here.
Early bird supporters
It’s not just a way to invest in women’s sports these days, it’s also good business. But to praise the companies that were the first hosts of the WNBA (and the NWSL, too). Companies like American Express, State Farm and Pepsi. And let’s not forget the OGs, Gatorade and Nike. They saw that opportunity decades ago instead of waiting to follow the herd.
Germany
New York’s first title would not have been possible without the play of rookie Leonie Fiebich (13 points, seven rebounds, two steals) or Nyara Sabally (13 points, seven rebounds, 71% FG), two young German stars who played this summer. the Paris Olympics. Germany is the fastest growing team in the world, and the next step in the development of the WNBA involves the globalization of the game. Could more young Europeans be heading to America to play in the summer soon?
Free agency
Free agency was never considered as big a business as the WNBA until a few years ago. Candace Parker left LA for her hometown of Chicago – and led Heaven to the title in one of her two seasons there – she started this trend. The Liberty then traded Stewart, a seven-year star for the Seattle Storm, and veteran guard Courtney Vandersloot, then from Chicago. The Liberty were bold in their statement of wanting to win the title and promised to treat the players the right way if they are willing to go to New York.
It took an extra year, but their plan worked. And you can bet other teams will try to follow suit and be even more aggressive in free agency.
LOSS
Some new followers
The only side effect of the season ending is that we no longer have to hear or see the trash people who used Caitlin Clark as an excuse to direct racist and hateful abuse at other characters . The W’s are desperate enough to need these people for the sake of their fans, and league officials now have six months to find a way to get them out.
Owners still think they can work on the cheap
One super team won it all (New York), the other super team (Las Vegas) went to the semifinals. The other two teams that will play in the Finals (Minnesota) and semifinals (Connecticut) are franchises that have made a serious commitment to winning.
A clear message has been sent across the league, with players paying attention to whether owners are investing in their teams (like state-of-the-art gym facilities) and what not. The gap between the haves and the haves in the WNBA will widen if all owners don’t meet that deadline.
HBO
How come the cable giant hasn’t committed to “Hard Knocks: WNBA” and what do we have to do to get them there?
While we’re at it, since Unrivaled has signed a TV deal with TNT to broadcast the new 3-on-3 league, can the W get its own version of “Inside the NBA,” please? Sydney Colson on women’s hoops will be must-see TV.
Us
No more WNBA for six whole months. It’s great that the regular season schedule is expanding in 2025 and up to 44 games, along with a best-of-seven Finals series.
If you need a women’s basketball fix, fear not, because the college season is right around the corner. The best part about college hoops, of course, is that you can see the future of the WNBA by watching young stars like Paige Bueckers (UConn), JuJu Watkins (USC), Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame) , Flau’jae Johnson (LSU) and MiLaysia Fulwiley (South Carolina), among others.
#ratings #attendance