The WNBA has talented female athletes and strong supporters, but lacks attendance and primetime exposure, so how can the LA Sparks attract new fans?
The WNBA, including the LA Sparks, has been overall a successful league for the most part. They are the longest running women’s professional sports league in the continent of North America. The league had begun play in 1997, with only eight franchises, and has had its shares of ups and downs.
One of the main upsides has been the ability to possess some of the best players in the world. From the likes of Lisa Leslie, Rebecca Lobo and Sheryl Swoopes to those of Sue Bird, Diana Tarausi, Chamique Holdsclaw, and Tamika Catchings. In the last few years, we have been treated to seeing the talents of Candace Parker, Angel McCoutry, Cappie Pondexter, and Maya Moore. While last year, we were introduced to an infusion of next-generation talent when Elaine Delle Donne, Britney Griner, and Skylar Diggins made quite of an everlasting impression in their rookie seasons.
Another upside has been the ability to put and keep franchises in the cities that have large media markets, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. As well as maintaining a couple of smaller market cities, such as Tulsa, Oklahoma and Uncasville, Connecticut.
A major downside has been a bunch of teams folding because of no ownership or corporate sponsorships. The most notable franchise to have folded was the Houston Comets, who had won the league’s first four championships. Another downside is the decrease in television coverage, which is now reduced to ESPN once a week and NBA TV, a digital cable network. Other than these major downsides the WNBA has still remained consistently successful, but with all that in mind, there’s still room for enhancement to make the 12-team sport a better, more entertaining league. So with that in mind, here are three possible ways that could make the WNBA much more popular to their growing fans.
1. Implement WNBA All-Star weekend to set up the All-Star game
The WNBA should add all the events that the NBA All-Star weekend has, probably minus the slam dunk contest, considering. The three point contest could provide excitement for the fans as they cheer on their favorite shooters to showcase their talents in attempt to be the best shooter. The skills challenge could show off the ball handling and passing skills of a player. Plus, it would be nice to also see an event with NBA players and WNBA legends, as well as a celebrity all-star game so the fans could live an all-star experience, WNBA-style.
2. Implement the league as an application to the NBA 2K video game franchise
With the new video game systems of Playstation 4 and X-BOX One out, the NBA 2K franchise has their video games featured on there with downloadable applications, which means that the WNBA should create an application to where a person could download the teams and its’ player rosters onto the game. Fans could enjoy their chance to be able to play as their favorite WNBA superstar. The WNBA has never had a video game made for them since the league has been formed.
3. YouTube channel that streams all of the out-of-market games with quality commentators.
WNBA games are currently televised once a week on ESPN, while most are televised on NBA TV. The only problem is, NBA TV is a digital cable network and not all people have access to the channel. The WNBA should just sign a package with YouTube to live stream most of their out of market games weekly. Fans could have access to live games while on a computer or mobile devices.
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