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Message: [QUOTE="Orangutan, post: 3141240, member: 4946"] Oh hey, another thread on WNBA salaries. I'm sure this will be just as productive and useful as the last 20 on this topic. If you wonder why the WNBA isn't more successful, start with how many fans of women's college basketball seem to root openly for the league to fail. It's amazing to me that the discussion points on this topic are: -- "It's a niche sport" -- "Maybe players shouldn't play in the WNBA?" -- "Don't they make enough money already?" Instead of: -- "How can we grow the game and make it a more mainstream sport?" -- "Does the NBA do an adequate job promoting the WNBA?" -- "How can we change the largely negative conversation around the WNBA?" People say "it's just economics" like that is some immutable law. But it isn't. Yes, the demand for the WNBA's product is tiny compared to the demand for the NBA product. So let's figure out how we [I]create more demand.[/I] It was said for a long time that there would never be women in the UFC. Then they brought in Ronda Rousey and she became one of the two biggest draws in the sport and made the UFC millions of dollars. Now, women's fights routinely headline PPVs. There's evidence that women's sports *can* make money. It's going to be difficult as long as the NBA treats the WNBA like a red-headed stepchild that they are obligated to support financially. It's going to be difficult as long as the mainstream media latches on to negatives like Stewart's injuries or Candice Wiggins' inflammatory comments from a couple years back while being generally happy to ignore the actual games. It's going to be difficult as long as the WNBA is treated like a laughingstock and every singled social media post is flooded with "kitchen" jokes in the comments. But those things don't have to be that way. There's an opportunity to change the conversation. The lack of above the rim action in the WNBA is going to put off some fans. However, I've seen plenty of basketbloggers online who nerd out over pick-and-roll coverages and other strategic details that aren't exclusive to the men's game. Yet they take the summer off or cover Summer League instead of analyzing the WNBA. If you could convert just a quarter of those strategy nerds and their twitter followers, you would have a huge new fanbase. Shea Serrano's twitter feed since he started following Oregon and Las Vegas is a one-man testament to the idea that if they right people start promoting the game, a new audience can be reached. I've read dozens of "I've never watched women's basketball, but this game is great!" comments on his twitter feed. Up until 2013, I couldn't have cared less about women's basketball. I thought I would check out the local girl, Kayla McBride, playing for Notre Dame. I got hooked on ND. And later on the Sky when they drafted Delle Donne. I just can't help but think that there's more like me out there who never gave women's basketball an honest chance and would love the product if they did give it a try. To me, that's always the question - how can we get more basketball fans to give this league a try? In my opinion, there is much more to be done. It's not simply a case of "We're doing everything we can but people just won't come. Oh well." [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

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