WNBA has a marketing challenge

[azfan]

From the Commish

WNBA commissioner: 'We have a marketing problem'

Cathy Engelbert, the commissioner of the WNBA, said the league needs to "step up" its efforts.

finance.yahoo.com

Tidbits

"less than 4% of all media covers women’s sports and less than 1% of all corporate sponsorship dollars globally go to women’s sports"

So in this challenge lies a huge opportunity. The commissioner prefaced the above observation

“We’re going to change the way people look at women’s sport"

Very true. Also very, very challenging. Efforts to exogenously change preferences are both very difficult and fraught with unintended consequences.

For example last night at the ASU women's game I spoke to an ASU athletic department employee at length about attendance at women's Sun Devil basketball games.

He had an interesting hypothesis. in our discussion he said one of the things that either ASU or the single individual employee considered was pricing. His observation was that pricing women's basketball too low can lead the public to believe the entertainment experience is an inferior good.

I was rather surprised by this and asked him would he advocate increasing ticket prices for Sun Devil women's athletics and basketball in particular. He said selectively that might increase attendance. Anyone have thoughts on that? I know I did.

And in that the WNBA has a conundrum and an opportunity. In my experience changing preferences can be a very very difficult endeavor.

 

[eebmg]

Unlike many on the BY I suspect, I am the only one in my family (across both genders) that likes Women's Basketball (and Women's sports in general). When I try to get to the bottom of their reasoning, it is a combination of

1) too Boring
2) Not as good (I am guessing athleticism) as the men

and then, when they try to figure out why I like it, they usually interpret (jokingly?) my interest as wanting to look at girls.

The only people in my family that even tolerate my interest is my 20+ age nieces but only to appease their uncle. Clearly, their rooting interests are very tied to their significant others.

Good luck marketing to the human race.

 

[nwhoopfan]

He had an interesting hypothesis. in our discussion he said one of the things that either ASU or the single individual employee considered was pricing. His observation was that pricing women's basketball too low can lead the public to believe the entertainment experience is an inferior good.

I was rather surprised by this and asked him would he advocate increasing ticket prices for Sun Devil women's athletics and basketball in particular. He said selectively that might increase attendance. Anyone have thoughts on that? I know I did.

Hmm. Interesting theory. I can only speak for myself, but I don't believe it. I remember when tickets for Washington women's basketball were $5. Great deal. Then $10. Not bad. Last year they bumped it to $15. Happens to coincide w/ the worst stretch in UW WBB history. To me, you don't get $15 worth of entertainment going to watch this particular team play. It makes me less inclined to go to a game. Attendance has been low throughout Wynn's tenure. Softball team was selling out games last season. Winning draws fans, not screwing around with the price to try to change people's perceptions.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Hmm. Interesting theory. I can only speak for myself, but I don't believe it. I remember when tickets for Washington women's basketball were $5. Great deal. Then $10. Not bad. Last year they bumped it to $15. Happens to coincide w/ the worst stretch in UW WBB history. To me, you don't get $15 worth of entertainment going to watch this particular team play. It makes me less inclined to go to a game. Attendance has been low throughout Wynn's tenure. Softball team was selling out games last season. Winning draws fans, not screwing around with the price to try to change people's perceptions.

I don't think I agree with that theory either and I 100% agree with "winning draws fans".

Of course, this doesn't apply to marketing a league where, by definition, there are winners and losers.

I don't believe prices need to be "dirt cheap", I have never quite agreed with the $5 figure which is, as you say, a "great deal". I think $10 to $15 is the sweet spot when you are growing the game, and $15 the sweet spot for general admission, period, at least in most markets. I think season tix of up to $20 a game would not be off-putting to folks of better programs, heck, RU tix were even a bit more than that in the day and we (sometimes begrudgingly) bought our 3 season tix (so we had a seat for coats and the occasional guest).

 

[azfan]

Unlike many on the BY I suspect, I am the only one in my family (across both genders) that likes Women's Basketball (and Women's sports in general). When I try to get to the bottom of their reasoning, it is a combination of

1) too Boring
2) Not as good (I am guessing athleticism) as the men

and then, when they try to figure out why I like it, they usually interpret (jokingly?) my interest as wanting to look at girls.

The only people in my family that even tolerate my interest is my 20+ age nieces but only to appease their uncle. Clearly, their rooting interests are very tied to their significant others.

Good luck marketing to the human race.

We have very similar situations. When I view sports its primarily women's basketball and soccer - that's it.

I am the only one in my extended family who has any interest in women's athletics. Even the Olympic years with the women's soccer team there is really no involvement by my family. My wife, two daughters and all my sisters in law either not interested in sports or specifically not interested in women's sports. My sons and brothers in law have similar reasons that you cited in your post for having zero interest in women's sports. They also lovingly tease me about my interest in women's basketball and soccer. They don't mean to be mean spirited and I don't take it that way but that teasing is significant and speaks volumes.

Your comment about good luck marketing to the human race is I think apropos. Very very difficult I think to think of a marketing approach that would make inroads against these rather hardened preferences.

 

[JoePgh]

I think the basic problem is that guys in the 20-45 age bracket get a lot of enjoyment out of sitting in front of a TV, beer in hand, watching the NBA/NFL/MLB and fantasizing about how good they might have been, if only ...

Whereas women in that age group get no satisfaction from any similar activity, even if it involves female athletes. Can you imagine that Rebecca Lobo or Jen Rizzotti would spend a minute watching WCBB or the WNBA if they didn't make their living that way? (Maybe Rebecca would if her daughters played the sport and were interested in the games.)

Women have more important things to do, even for recreation, that don't involve nostalgia or fantasy about their grade school or high school athletic "careers".

 

[eebmg]

I think the basic problem is that guys in the 20-45 age bracket get a lot of enjoyment out of sitting in front of a TV, beer in hand, watching the NBA/NFL/MLB and fantasizing about how good they might have been, if only ...

Whereas women in that age group get no satisfaction from any similar activity, even if it involves female athletes. Can you imagine that Rebecca Lobo or Jen Rizzotti would spend a minute watching WCBB or the WNBA if they didn't make their living that way? (Maybe Rebecca would if her daughters played the sport and were interested in the games.)

Women have more important things to do, even for recreation, that don't involve nostalgia or fantasy about their grade school or high school athletic "careers".

And I thought I was cynical.

 

[noirwestern]

I think the basic problem is that guys in the 20-45 age bracket get a lot of enjoyment out of sitting in front of a TV, beer in hand, watching the NBA/NFL/MLB and fantasizing about how good they might have been, if only ...

Whereas women in that age group get no satisfaction from any similar activity, even if it involves female athletes. Can you imagine that Rebecca Lobo or Jen Rizzotti would spend a minute watching WCBB or the WNBA if they didn't make their living that way? (Maybe Rebecca would if her daughters played the sport and were interested in the games.)

Women have more important things to do, even for recreation, that don't involve nostalgia or fantasy about their grade school or high school athletic "careers".

Girls, ahem, women have always been a lot more mature about this than men who seem more inclined to avoid adulthood than ever before. The only thing that bothers me is when I see women actually trying to be more like men regardless of subject.

 

[Plebe]

Ultimately this is a cultural problem. In large swaths of our current culture, it's more "cool" to either ignore or hate on WBB than it is to follow and view it.

What really gets me is when I hear otherwise open-minded folks -- not your run-of-the-mill anonymous online trolls -- who use verbiage like "unwatchable" to describe women's basketball. It's one thing to say you don't like a sport. For example, I find golf and auto racing brutally boring. But "unwatchable"? Why does that slur get hurled at women's basketball in particular?

Another thought: For many decades women's tennis fought against a similar mix of indifference and disdain. As tennis entered the Open era in the late 1960s, the same tropes and rationalizations we hear against WBB were used by the powers of the tennis world to justify relegating the women's matches to 2nd class status and offering prize money at only a small fraction of the men's. Through a variety of forces, most notably their own brazen activism, women players in the 1970s and 1980s succeeded in elevating their profile, popularity and prize money to be on par with the men's game.

Of course, tennis is structurally a very different sport than basketball, but to me it's instructive to see how drastically the cultural sands shifted around women's tennis over a relatively short period of time. That gives me some hope that a similar thing can happen in other sports.

 

[Puppy Love]

I’m in my 50’s and grew up watching sports with my dad...primarily the Yankees and the Giants. It probably would have stayed that way except my first marriage ended in divorce and I was devastated. I found solace watching sports on TV and I didn’t much care what team or what sport. This was the early 90s and there were a handful of women’s games on TV. I got hooked, Rebecca and company won the national championship and I stayed hooked. My point, though, is that young girls in my generation followed the rooting interests of their fathers and brothers. It takes media coverage and exposure to know there are other choices. Since media follows the money, it’s hard for this to change. If you want proof, look at the mediocre XFL games on national TV. These are mostly second or third tier players, but since it is the proven commodity of men and football, it’s on national TV.

 

[southofnorth]

It’s a tough sell. A whole lot of men seem determined to undermine any and all women’s sports and there isn’t a huge population of women dying to watch other women play sports like there’s a huge population of men who can’t get enough of their favorite men’s teams. Whether that’s marketing, sexism, etc. is tough to say with certainty because it might often be a combination of many elements. Still I will support the WNBA and WBB (and any other women’s sports that I can) because they are just as exciting as any men’s sports to me.

 

[Jmsdawg]

We have very similar situations. When I view sports its primarily women's basketball and soccer - that's it.

I am the only one in my extended family who has any interest in women's athletics. Even the Olympic years with the women's soccer team there is really no involvement by my family. My wife, two daughters and all my sisters in law either not interested in sports or specifically not interested in women's sports. My sons and brothers in law have similar reasons that you cited in your post for having zero interest in women's sports. They also lovingly tease me about my interest in women's basketball and soccer. They don't mean to be mean spirited and I don't take it that way but that teasing is significant and speaks volumes.

Your comment about good luck marketing to the human race is I think apropos. Very very difficult I think to think of a marketing approach that would make inroads against these rather hardened preferences.

I remember when NBA basketball was a tough market. Especially in the football crazy south, basketball was a sissy game, football was the topic to be discussed by real men. NBA basketball became popular because of key players, Russell, Wilt, Magic, Bird, Jordan, Kobe, and LeBron. WNBA has some significant talent but no one has emerged with the IT needed to excite the fans. Hopefully, that is coming.

 

[nwhoopfan]

NBA basketball became popular because of key players, Russell, Wilt, Magic, Bird, Jordan, Kobe, and LeBron.

I think out of all of those it was Magic and Bird and their celebrated rivalry that really ignited the League.

 

[Jmsdawg]

I think out of all of those it was Magic and Bird and their celebrated rivalry that really ignited the League.

My interest started with Wilt and Russell, I loved watching those guys battle.

 

[Bigboote]

Ultimately this is a cultural problem. In large swaths of our current culture, it's more "cool" to either ignore or hate on WBB than it is to follow and view it.
. . .

Another thought: For many decades women's tennis fought against a similar mix of indifference and disdain. As tennis entered the Open era in the late 1960s, the same tropes and rationalizations we hear against WBB were used by the powers of the tennis world to justify relegating the women's matches to 2nd class status and offering prize money at only a small fraction of the men's. Through a variety of forces, most notably their own brazen activism, women players in the 1970s and 1980s succeeded in elevating their profile, popularity and prize money to be on par with the men's game.

Of course, tennis is structurally a very different sport than basketball, but to me it's instructive to see how drastically the cultural sands shifted around women's tennis over a relatively short period of time. That gives me some hope that a similar thing can happen in other sports.

Good thoughts. The other thing that happened with tennis is that the marketers and broadcasters bought into the game. Wimbledon equalized prize money and put the women's final on Saturday and the Men's on Sunday, with the same time slot for both. Other tournaments followed suit.

What does the NBA do? The NBA channel more often than not, broadcasts a 20-year-old NBA game rather than a marquee women's matchup. I do think the primary problem is one of marketing, and the first thing that has to happen is the NBA needs to buy in. Put more games on the NBA channel, press ESPN (or Turner, CBS, whoever) to broadcast some W games.

As for price point for tickets: When my daughter was little and we were exposing her to different types of strong women, I wanted to take her to a Washington Freedom soccer match. If we wanted actual seats (rather than GA on the grass), it was gonna be something like $40 a ticket. This was during lean years when they were still trying to build a league, and I thought the price point was way too high. I found a women's baseball league, and the games were really fun.

 

[Jorislove]

Interesting take with tennis being mixed in.
I think one of the reasons that women's tennis had a wave going, was because their game became powerful and flashy. And on top of it they had personalities that mixed in with hollywood.
Serena, Venus, Sharapova, etc had elevated power games, just like men's tennis where powerful serves and groundstrokes were a sight to behold. Women's basketball, it's yet to be seen if it can become relatable in that way to men's game.
And on top of this, tennis stars have a LOT of PR ops from their glamorous tournaments (biggest events are in NY, London, Paris, and Melbourne), and pop culture references.
WNBA and women's basketball definitely has their work cut out for them. Personally I actually like women's basketball and no filter approach in rivalries and interviews as opposed to the scripted Roger Federer PR appearances.

 

[Plebe]

Interesting take with tennis being mixed in.
I think one of the reasons that women's tennis had a wave going, was because their game became powerful and flashy. And on top of it they had personalities that mixed in with hollywood.
Serena, Venus, Sharapova, etc had elevated power games, just like men's tennis where powerful serves and groundstrokes were a sight to behold. Women's basketball, it's yet to be seen if it can become relatable in that way to men's game.
And on top of this, tennis stars have a LOT of PR ops from their glamorous tournaments (biggest events are in NY, London, Paris, and Melbourne), and pop culture references.
WNBA and women's basketball definitely has their work cut out for them. Personally I actually like women's basketball and no filter approach in rivalries and interviews as opposed to the scripted Roger Federer PR appearances.

Well before Serena's time, it was IMHO the combination of Billie Jean King's vision and leadership among players combined with the emergence of Chris Evert, very highly marketable and appealing U.S.-born icon who transcended her sport to attain quasi-rock star status. The cultural spectacle of the "Battle of the Sexes" ended up being a huge boon as well. The truly heavy lifting was done in the 1970s.