Why don't more women care about the WNBA?

[thepieeatingjay]

When the WNBA first started, it was all about drawing in the women audience and giving women equal say in the world of basketball. But the league has been around for over ten years. It still is just as desolate now as it was when it started.

Women constantly speak about wanting "equal say" in sports yet aren't even trying to support their pro basketball league.

 

[Kayla109]

As a woman, I could understand your point of view, but for a fair understanding, I would ask you to take a look at it from a woman's perspective.

To start, I do agree that the lack of fans is a problem. However, I do not believe it is due to the non-existence of fans. I know their are fans out. I am one and have been one for years now. In my opinion, the dilemma is the overall competition between the WNBA and the NBA.

The NBA was established first. At that point of time, all funds for any pro basketball endeavors where delegated there. That it all fine and good. When the WNBA came into play, I am sure many assumed that the league would reap the same benefits. As we know, that is not the case. The differences are vividly present: number of games played, the pay, and most importantly, the marketing/advertising activities.

Before a NBA season starts, it is the talk of the town. It's being broadcasted over the radio, shown on multiple TV stations and is trending on almost every social media site. When we flip to a beginning of a WNBA season, there are some commercials, but if you are wanting detailed information, you have to find it out yourself. I know this for a fact, because I have done it personally. Without an effect marketing/advertising effort, there is no awareness; with no awareness, there is no results.

As far as the whole "equal say". I think it more of equal opportunity. There are females that can play sports as well as males. All they wanted was a chance to do so, which they currently have.

To make it known, I am a WNBA and a NBA fan. There's nothing better than seeing Chris Paul throw the alley-oop to Blake Griffin, or seeing Kevin Durant knock down a 3-pointer in the last 0.9 seconds to win the game. I love it! I also loved seeing Candace Parker dunking the ball on a breakaway layup, or Brittney Griner sends shots backwards to half-court. It's all excitement. I just feel there are things that still need to be done. If we, as a whole. could get behind the WNBA and supply sufficient and effective efforts to do more, I honestly believe that things would change dramatically.

 

[joshposh]

As a woman, I could understand your point of view, but for a fair understanding, I would ask you to take a look at it from a woman's perspective.

To start, I do agree that the lack of fans is a problem. However, I do not believe it is due to the non-existence of fans. I know their are fans out. I am one and have been one for years now. In my opinion, the dilemma is the overall competition between the WNBA and the NBA.

The NBA was established first. At that point of time, all funds for any pro basketball endeavors where delegated there. That it all fine and good. When the WNBA came into play, I am sure many assumed that the league would reap the same benefits. As we know, that is not the case. The differences are vividly present: number of games played, the pay, and most importantly, the marketing/advertising activities.

Before a NBA season starts, it is the talk of the town. It's being broadcasted over the radio, shown on multiple TV stations and is trending on almost every social media site. When we flip to a beginning of a WNBA season, there are some commercials, but if you are wanting detailed information, you have to find it out yourself. I know this for a fact, because I have done it personally. Without an effect marketing/advertising effort, there is no awareness; with no awareness, there is no results.

As far as the whole "equal say". I think it more of equal opportunity. There are females that can play sports as well as males. All they wanted was a chance to do so, which they currently have.

To make it known, I am a WNBA and a NBA fan. There's nothing better than seeing Chris Paul throw the alley-oop to Blake Griffin, or seeing Kevin Durant knock down a 3-pointer in the last 0.9 seconds to win the game. I love it! I also loved seeing Candace Parker dunking the ball on a breakaway layup, or Brittney Griner sends shots backwards to half-court. It's all excitement. I just feel there are things that still need to be done. If we, as a whole. could get behind the WNBA and supply sufficient and effective efforts to do more, I honestly believe that things would change dramatically.

The NBA did have financial problems in it's early existence. In fact it never started making decent money until well into 20 years into existence. Grooming a professional will not lead to success overnight. But the WNBA needs players that will bring excitement and drama to the game. Good fundamentals alone will not sell tickets.

 

[Sugarhill]

The basic problem with women's basketball is because it looks like basketball from the 50s and early 60s, very grounded basketball. While it is fundamentally sound and in many ways, much easier to watch, it is also the equivalent of looking at kids playing ball due to the height of the rim.

If women's basketball wants to ever take off, lower the rim to about nine feet, so the women that can jump out of the building can dunk and really dunk or at the very least, do some finger rolls. Basketball has an artistry to it, but a lot of it is an aerial artistry.

The other problem with women's basketball is insecure men and women.

Plain and simple.

Some men, a lot of men, really don't want to cheer for women that could destroy them on the court. They will only be able to concede their athletic ability by trying to lessen the fact that they are women. The way to do that is by implying that they aren't women, at least not like the type of women, "men like." That's why it looks like now, you almost have a divide in the girls and women that play ball.

They either try to overemphasize that they are girly girls off the court and even sometimes on the court, or you have the girls that grew up playing with boys and it is not that they are trying to act like boys, but they walk and talk like ballers, but "ballers" is something that is usually associated with boys.

A league full of women, that men only want to see as lesser men, makes for an unwatchable experience for them.

As for the insecure women, it's the same issue, but from a different perspective. They actually need athletic women that aren't afraid to be athletic women, as it makes them look more feminine and more of the ideal, but at the same time, they also wish that they could play something or even learn enough of the sport to communicate with the men in their lives.

When they are around the men that do appreciate athletic women, they too will try to label them and imply anything about them to elevate their place in womanhood. There is no way that a "real woman" wants to compete with another woman that can do and be everything she is and is also incredibly athletic and has the body to show it, so she must be gay.

Those are the problems that will always plague women sports outside of tennis. In my opinion.

 

[JoanMcWench]

How many ridiculous dunks over cars do you see during halftime at any WNBA event? In fact, it's immensely rare to see A dunk let alone a fantastic one. There's little showmanship. That's the reason I don't watch. It has nothing to do with the fact that they have ovaries.

I shouldn't, as a woman, HAVE to watch a sport because women are involved. You know what I watch? Women in the MMA. Is it because they are women? Absolutely not. It's because, more often than not, their fights are better than the main event male bouts. That's how the WNBA has to start behaving in order for me to care.

 

[queenbellevue]

It's kind of sad, I agree. I don't know why, but it's just not getting as much marketing and therefore as much hype as the men's league. Plus, here's the thing, women are generally not guided towards sports (sometimes even discouraged since it's considered a "guys thing", so they don't really notice the WNBA

 

[Intriisst]

I love basketball, and I have for years, but women's basketball just doesn't do if for me like the NBA does. There was a documentary about this on ESPN awhile ago, about what can be done to help elevate the WNBA, Many people don't like to hear, let alone implement, some of the obvious answers.
A lot of women in sports want to be treated just like the men, but guess what, they aren't men so they need to get over it. The players of the game have to appeal to more than just a niche audience in order to it to be successful. Even in the NBA, a man has to do things other than just "play" in order to bring that certain something to the franchise.

 

[LuckyNumber13]

It just doesn't interest me. There is no thrill of the game when I watched a couple of games. I respect the goals the WNBA had in mind but I just can't bring myself to watch them play.

 

[KNH]

I love basketball, and I have for years, but women's basketball just doesn't do if for me like the NBA does. There was a documentary about this on ESPN awhile ago, about what can be done to help elevate the WNBA, Many people don't like to hear, let alone implement, some of the obvious answers.
A lot of women in sports want to be treated just like the men, but guess what, they aren't men so they need to get over it. The players of the game have to appeal to more than just a niche audience in order to it to be successful. Even in the NBA, a man has to do things other than just "play" in order to bring that certain something to the franchise.

I agree. WNBA players don't really do anything exceptional or out of the ordinary that could draw attention.

I also just find watching WNBA games boring. I have heard they are better in person, but I have never actually made an effort to get tickets. It's just not as interesting as watching men dunk and fight

 

[alexjackson]

Women's basketball and women's soccer are both very enjoyable for me to watch. Mostly because women seem to have better and more assertive approach to the technical aspects of the game. They understand they're just not as athletic as men and the know they can't beat their opponents on pure athleticism like so many male players rely on and therefore they perfect the tactics and the technical aspects of the game. I don't watch a lot of WNBA (not able to), but I've seen a lot international women's basketball and it seems like all they need in their game is a little mental toughness and it'll be very fun to enjoy ladies; basketball.

 

[thejamal]

It just doesn't interest me. There is no thrill of the game when I watched a couple of games. I respect the goals the WNBA had in mind but I just can't bring myself to watch them play.

Agreed with this 100%. It's boring to watch. And ultimately, as fans, we watch sports and pro basketball because of the excitement it brings. You just don't get those big time plays or jaw-dropping displays of athleticism in women's pro ball that you do in the men's game.

And just like with anything, the WNBA will always struggle because it's an inferior product to the NBA that has nothing to do with gender. Men's basketball is simply more fun to watch, thus will maintain the viewers and fanbase.