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Message: [QUOTE="DefenseBB, post: 2695949, member: 7492"] Wow, is this thread a bit all over the place! There have been some great points though and I will inject my perspective: 1. The WNBA is 22 years old so while the attendance increase is encouraging, the fact is the salary cap is there because the league loses money and wants to cap it. 2. The league has hit a somewhat stabilized number of franchises at 12. This is still rather underwhelming in the big scheme of things if a league really is trying to be in the consciousness of the public. 3. I am not a Dolan fan at all but if he can make more money by renting his arena that holds 19,000+ to other entities, he will. I was hoping that maybe he would let the team go to a bigger venue like Bridgeport's Webster that holds 10,000 and would gather the large legion of UConn faithful potentially but alas he kept them in 5,000 Westchester. His prerogative. FYI, he did try to sell the team and no buyers emerged (sort of telling in itself). 4. The reason the WNBA went to the summer model was 3 fold as I recall- a. They could get television coverage from ESPN, where as in the fall they would have to compete with College and Pro Football, NBA, NHL, MLB playoffs and WCBB and MCB. b. By being in the summer time, the league would have access to the NBA venues which are more available as the other sports listed above are in the off-season and the league would only have to compete with the end of the NBA/NHL playoffs and Baseball. c. As noted in the article, the top 50% of the players will go overseas to compete in less talented leagues but whose ownership pays up to field competitive teams as a money losing proposition. By being in the summer, the league could attract the players to try and build the league up and eventually move to compete with the other leagues in the winter time. My take is Silver sees that the league has maxed out with the summer season, still isn't making money as initially thought when it first was assessed as here we are 22 years in and some owners want out. I guess he is postulating that moving to the fall/winter season would put it back into the traditional seasons and maybe keep or grow the attendance as the group of people watching might be different than the other sports. The league is making some profit in it's current format (or only losing minimal money) do you risk the league folding by going to the fall format and losing the top talent and a TV and public following? Maybe that is what some of his owners are pushing for. Also note that the NBA franchises are opening up the arenas to the Video Game arena where "gaming money" is VERY, VERY real and vastly more than what the WNBA can make for the owners and is a growing sector. Women's sports in general have struggled mightily in the pro ranks except for Grand Slam Tennis. The LPGA is quasi surviving and women's soccer failed. Softball tried and exists but at a very limited level for pro's. Women's Hockey is giving it a go and so far that has been mixed. I had always thought if any sport after Tennis would succeed it would be basketball but the general public seems to only care about "periodic event success" like in the Olympics (see Swimming, Gymnastics, Figure Skating) or World Cup events (see FIFA Soccer or FIBA basketball). The final note I have to hammer Katie Barnes, the author on is her comment to have the league "pony up" money. Nice to say when it's not your money and the owners are frustrated after 22 years of not making a profit. I view that comment as extremely myopic for someone who should know the issues. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach