All of us have probably experienced going into a beautiful hotel, opening the door to our room, and feeling like a king or queen. A king size bed with a beautiful bed spread, a nice big flat screen TV, and a little work area. Then after we walk around in our white socks for 30 minutes unpacking, we look at the bottom of our socks and they are black and filthy from the hotel room floor.
Last week I was listening to Colin Cowherd on the Herd. He made the statement,”When it comes to the problems of the WNBA, Caitlin Clark is like a black light in a hotel room.” In other words, when you go into the room it initially looks great but if we took a black light to the room, we might be disgusted trying to figure out everything that is showing up.
Why Is Clark A Black Light?
It is not so simple to say that Clark became Clark because of how good she is. That is part of the equation but there are a multitude of reasons for her popularity. Some reasons go back a century like when in most states it was decided not to have high school girls basketball teams. In Iowa when the high schools in the 1920’s voted not to play girls basketball, disgruntled schools broke off and formed a girls sports association that still exists and runs the girls sports today. So for a century, Iowa has been different. It has been playing girls basketball for a century whereas most states started in the 1970’s.
In 1998 when the Fever were about to start up, the marketing phrase was, “In 49 states, it’s just basketball, but this is Indiana.” The reality is that if you added you are talking girls basketball, the phrase fits Iowa.
In this environment, there were decisions and commitments that the University of Iowa made to women’s basketball nearly 50 years ago that grew that program in a similar fashion.
Then ESPN made a decision to televise all of the NCAA tourney just in time for Caitlin Clark.
To understand all of these factors that made Caitlin Clark the right player at the right time, you need to read Howard Megdal’s Becoming Caitlin Clark.
The point is that women’s basketball was ready to explode with interest and Caitlin Clark accelerated that explosion. The WNBA was a league that was operating in the shadows of the sports world. Five years ago most sports fans could not have named half of the WNBA cities or nicknames.
The WNBA was not ready for the scrutiny that would come with the increased interest in the league. Clark brought those eyes to the WNBA, and quickly serious fans began to see all the flaws in the league.
A Big Step Down
The first thing all players became aware of what that the WNBA was a step down from college. College women’s basketball was part of changing landscape. The women’s game changed along with the men’s. Players got NIL’s. Schools were all part of a facilities arms race that meant the women’s teams had plush lockerooms and great practice facilities. The world of college women’s basketball in the 2020’s was not what it had been 20 years before. Whereas the WNBA in many ways was still operating as it had in 2020.
Do You Want Window or Aisle Seat?
One of the first things players noticed going to the WNBA was that the teams were flying commercial. For many of us who fly commercial, we think that should not be a big deal. The difference in flying commercial vs. charter is a huge deal in both college and the pros.
When my son, Allen was at Drake. Amy and I went to Colorado to see the Bulldogs play in Greeley, just north of Denver. Allen and the Drake team flew back charter. Amy and I flew back commercial. We went back to our Denver hotel and while we were eating, Allen sent a text that he had arrived back to Des Moines. Our first flight available was not until 7:30 the next morning.
To the WNBA’s credit, they also recognized that commercial flights were a problem with the increased player’s popularity. The WNBA was willing to change and use some of the increased revenue to start flying charter last year.
Many of the teams are in the process of building state of the art practice facilities. But some are not interested in spending that money.
Second Tier Leaders
In 2024 season, the WNBA seemed unprepared for the excitement generated by the Caitlin Clark. Many of the organizations seemed to have GM’s and coaches who were not close to being the best in the business. There seemed to be a cleaning of the house in terms of some leadership positions during and after the first year.
The Golden State Valkyries are an example of what an organization can do with top tier leadership- management, marketing, and coaching. There is a reason they are averaging 18,000 fans and are fighting for a play-off berth with an expansion team.
Increased Revenue, Increased Profit, Increased Pay?
Basketball Related Income (BRI) covers TV revenue, advertising dollars, ticket sales, merchandise sales. It does not take a rocket scientist to know the WNBA’s BRI is going up.
The problem for the WNBA is that while everything has ballooned in these last two years, the contract between the players and the league locks up the players pay until the end of this year. So the last two years, everything has gone up but players salaries have been frozen.
In the NBA, the contract requires the players receive 49-51% of the league BRI. This seems fair- players get half and owners get half.
In the Unrivaled League this past winter, the players got more than 50% of the BRI. The reason is that the players cut “owners” out of the equation. The players themselves became the owners. Obviously that model allowed for much higher salaries but is not a model that can work for the WNBA.
The WNBA owners would say that the players are getting 50% of revenue. The players are not getting 50% of BRI, more experts put the number at about 9% of the league’s BRI going to the players.
42% of the WNBA is owned by WNBA owners, 42% by the NBA, and 16% by an investment group. So while there are advantages of having the NBA helping the league get going, right now it is a disadvantage to the the NBA taking a slice of the pie. The investment group which is largely made up of WNBA owners was the result of the WNBA selling shares several years ago to get an added cash flow.
Part of the problem with pay is that the NBA and the investment group don’t believe they should be sharing their revenue with players. And then the WNBA doesn’t believe that they should have to share from all areas of revenue. For now, they do not share money from ticket sales.
Right now for players with more than 3 years, the minimum salary is $78k and the max salary is $250k. Each team is capped at $1.5 million. For rookies (first two years) the minimum salary is $66k and max is $78k.
It would seem salary issues would be an easy fix, just follow the model of the NBA where a percent of total BRI is established, and then team salary cap and individual salary standards are set accordingly.
To get the appropriate salaries is going to require a huge change for the WNBA. Kind of like the huge change in fan and TV interest in the league. At the present time in their negotiations, it does not appear they are close at all. WNBA ownership has not shown a history of adapting well to change- sadly my guess is that there will be some form of a lockout or a strike for the 2026 season.
Is The League Financially Healthy?
The best measure of the health of a business is whether other people want to invest in that business. The WNBA expanded to Golden State this year. Over the next few years, they are going to expand to 5 more cities. To get a franchise, new ownership groups need to have their city picked by the WNBA and then they pay an entry fee.
The entry fees:
$50 million- Golden State, Toronto
$75 million- Portland
$250 million- Detroit, Philadelphia, and Cleveland
This money is paid to the owners. None of this revenue is BRI, it will not be shared with the players.
Three of the six expansion franchises are in cities who earlier had a franchise (Detroit, Cleveland, Portland) that all failed. The only franchise in the Southeast of the United States is Atlanta. Many had thought that Nashville had the potential to like Indiana- a mid-sized town that would get behind a franchise.
Presently each roster can have minimum of 11 players and a maximum of 12 players. The NBA has 15 player rosters. These 6 new teams will provide the possibility for 66 to 72 new player spots. This would seem positive.
The expansion will likely bring an immediate “watering down” of the product. It can be estimated that each of the new 6 teams will within 5 years have 6-7 quality players. So that means 36-42 “quality players” will be taken off the rosters of the original 12 teams (before expansion teams). Based on the how expansion was handled for Golden State, it means that most teams will be losing some players from their bench rotation.
It is hard not to look at the rapid expansion as a money grab by the owners. I hope I am wrong and all of the expansion franchises and all of the existing franchises remain successful.
Part 2- The Refs and Rules
Next I will give my take on the refs and rules in the WNBA.
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