ការផ្លាស់ប្តូររ៉ាឌីកាល់នេះនឹងជំរុញកំណើន WNBA: បន្ថយគែម

The WNBA season has begun and women’s basketball has made encouraging progress over the past few years benefiting from the tailwinds of the movement towards more gender equality in sports. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has done a phenomenal job creating marketing partnerships and public visibility for the WNBA and has enjoyed revenue and viewership growth in the past two years. In fact, last year’s WNBA playoffs enjoyed the best TV in the past twenty years.

Just Women’s SportsWNBA playoff TV ratings up to highest mark in 20 years – Just Women’s Sports

However, I would present a more sobering viewpoint and advocate a dramatic change which would give women’s basketball a chance to become truly mainstream, as opposed to a being satisfied as a growing and successful niche sport. Despite recent progress and the push for gender equality the salary of WNBA players average roughly $100,000 where the average NBA salary is around $10 Million per year. The difference is shocking and the pay disparity is greater than in any other profession. But the reason is simple and quite logical namely that the WNBA’s audience is exponentially smaller than the NBA’s audience.

The Struggle to Attract a Wider Audience

The statistics do not lie. Despite its recent incremental gains, the WNBA has failed to attract a significant TV audience when compared to the other sports.

The WNBA ratings over the past 10 years pales in comparison to other major men’s sports. For example, the NFL has averaged 17 Million viewers per telecast, NASCAR 2.2 Million, MLB 1.4 Million and NBA 1.6 Million. On the other hand, the WNBA averages only 321,00 and that’s the best it’s done in 20 years.

នាឡិកាប្រព័ន្ធផ្សព្វផ្សាយកីឡាRatings: TNF, WNBA, racing, MLB

Lower The Rim and Attract Mainstream Basketball Fans

The goal for the WNBA should be to at least triple its TV audience to average over 1 Million viewers per game in the foreseeable future. That would at least get it in the ball park of major sports. That would be an increase of roughly 50% per year audience increase for the next 5 years. This would only be achievable through a major shift in perception of the league which would require dramatic change.

I have for years been an advocate to lower the height of the rim from 10 feet to 9 feet in women’s basketball. When I was representing the great Lisa Leslie, WNBA legend, she played in the first ever WNBA game and there was quite a bit of hype leading up to it. I recall an exciting moment in the game when Lisa had a breakaway lane to the basket and tried to go up for a dunk. The fans rose to their feet in anticipation but as Lisa rose up to attempt to dunk she couldn’t quite get high enough and pinned the ball on the rim and the crowd sighed in disappointment. While Lisa later did manage to become the first women to dunk in a game, I couldn’t help thinking how exciting it would have been if she had been able to pull off a monster jam in that first game.

From that point forward I kept urging David Stern and later Adam Silver to lower the rim to adjust for the differential in men’s and women’s height and jumping ability. They seemed sympathetic but David Stern said that the players were reluctant and it would be too dramatic a change. I pointed out that in volleyball the net for women is 7 feet 4 inches and the men’s net is 8 feet. With the lower net, women are able to freely spike a volleyball in a manner similar to how the men do on the higher net. As a result, women’s volleyball and beach volleyball has become equally if not more popular than the men’s form of the sport.

Fans’ Love for Dunks and Alley-Oops

Twenty years later, I am more convinced than ever that lowering the rim would super charge mainstream popularity for women’s basketball. Consistent with what David Stern told me, lots of WNBA players have gone on record as vehemently opposing this kind of rule change—attacking it as sexist. You may have heard Candace Parker arguing with Shaquille O’Neal about this on TNT. Diana Taurasi said it would be like putting women back in the kitchen. But the opposite is true because lowering the rim actually empowers women to level the playing field so they can perform the same athletic feats associated with the part of basketball most loved by fans. It is understandable that athletes performing at the top of their game will always be resistant to change because they are dominant in the current system. But none of these women are complaining that they are playing with a smaller ball.

There is no denying that basketball fans crave breathtaking displays of athleticism, and there’s no denying that dunks and alley-oops are among the most electrifying moments in the sport. Fans revel in the explosive power and the sheer spectacle of players soaring through the air to deliver thunderous dunks. These awe-inspiring feats generate excitement, captivate audiences, and often become the highlights that dominate sports media coverage.

Research supports this notion, as multiple surveys have consistently shown that fans value dunks and alley-oops more than anything else in basketball. The visual spectacle and sheer athleticism displayed in these moments create a sense of awe and captivate viewers of all ages and backgrounds. This is effectively absent from the women’s game.

WNBA players, you need to jump on board this bandwagon. It will make your game more popular. You will quickly adjust to a 9 foot rim and be dunking and dancing down the court to the delight of your fans. Most importantly, you’ll be making a boat load more money because your audience will be dramatically bigger and instead of making an average of $100,000 per game, you’ll quickly be getting multi million dollar deals like your NBA counter parts. Join me in this movement.