Do they really "need" to play... overseas?

[j66kicker]

ask J66kicker... he's the one that mentioned Foxwoods

Sorry for the confusion - I meant Mohegan Sun

 

[mbr33ct]

Sorry for the confusion - I meant Mohegan Sun

It's ok, it's the "off season"...anything goes.

 

[Shades]

That seems to be the biggest problem right now. With labor negotiations on the horizon, the NBA seems to actively be sabotaging the WNBA.

I suspect that the NBA wants the league around for optics but they don't care if it succeeds or not and they are certainly aren't interested in investing more now in the hopes of future returns. There is an argument that if the NBA really got behind the WNBA and pushed it that the WNBA could be more successful. We will never know because they don't care enough to make that investment.

If half the owners make a little profit and half lose money, how does giving the players a raise right now make the league more profitable? Will the product suddenly be better and gain viewership? Shouldn’t they put that money into marketing instead?
What the league really needs to do is to expand so more people are likely to take it seriously. It’s kinda hard to find prospective owners that are willing to take on the WNBA as an “investment” if you’re asking them to lose money from the start, and now you’re asking them to lose even more money.
I’m curious exactly what percentage stake the NBA has in the WNBA that it would be worth it to them to pump a lot more money into the WNBA?

 

[willtalk]

I believe that women's college ball is the best litmus test for the prospective popularity of the WNBA. As we all know title nine is what is keeping WCBB afloat. It has over time increased the popularity of the game so that now more than just a few teams draw a decent crowd. There are quite a few teams drawing more than 5000 a game and even they are not self-supporting. I can see it's popularity increasing incrementally but not over night. The players cannot realistically expect an increase in pay until the league is more viable or teams get financial support of sponsors like the leagues overseas do.

There are some very rich women ( or men ) who are constantly on record for gender equality. Well, why don't they put their money where their mouths are and buy a team to help support the league. It would be a drop in the bucket for them but might help support and give a leg up to the league. the WNBA would be a perfect vehicle to promote gender equality. I am not trying to be sarcastic. I mean this seriously. However, I have found that most people - especially high profile individuals are all talk. When it comes to them actually living what they promote the quickly become invisible. It's generally do as I say and not as I do.