I’ve heard that the WNBA is subsidized by the NBA. The WNBA can’t survive financially without the subsidy from what I’ve heard. Attendance and TV money just isn’t there for women’s basketball.
That could all change with new popular players such as Caitlin Clark. Sad some see her as bad news for the game.
I guess Adam Silver is n okay with it because it's a tax write off for the NBA.
It's not much money in the grand scheme of the NBA, something like $15 million? The NBA probably more than makes up for it by attracting the casual female fans.
I’ll make four observations:
1. WNBA crowd numbers for 2023...averaged at 6,615 per game. NBA? Just over 18,000 per game. Clark and the Heat for this season? Selling out almost every home game (17k seats).
2. If you sit down and watch an entire WNBA game (big-screen TV)...you will quietly notice a ton of turning the ball over, and traveling situations...none of which are called by the refs. I can probably count a minimum of 30 occasions per game. It’s to the point of bothering me....this crappy style of play, and the officials do nothing about it.
3. Watching after-the-game interviews...very few of the WNBA players can articulate what happened or provide analysis of the play. It’s like asking 4th grade kids what happened and you get stupid commentary. Rolling of eyes in these interviews? You probably see this at least three or four times for each interview.
4. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think Clark will last 2 seasons and exit the WNBA (retire), and a year later...be part of a start-up ABA-like league (out of Iowa, Kansas and Missouri) and drop all connectivity to the NBA or WNBA...finding that various networks are more interested in it...than the WNBA. After 3 years of this...half the teams in the WNBA are folding up...economically unable to operate with the lackluster crowds.