The WNBA Draft is this evening starting at 730pm. Liz Kitley will be in the Draft Room. Projections have her now going 21st to the Washington Mystics due to injury.
Next Stop WNBA Draft 📍Tune in on April 15th at 7:30pm/ET on ESPN to watch the 2024 WNBA Draft presented by @StateFarm pic.twitter.com/GPNrFhtctD— WNBA (@WNBA) April 7, 2024
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But is she going Pro or to Medical School?
Her being at the draft lends me to think she is still planning to try the WNBA. Due to her injury she will likely miss this upcoming WNBA season entirely. She might spend her time rehabbing knocking out another year of school.
Washington would be a fantastic landing spot for her.
Close to home.
Hall of Famer at C who can teach her the pro game.
After seeing Caitlin Clark's 1st pick salary I'd recommend Kitley go the medical school route. $97k/year?
Yep. despite what ESPN mouthpiece NBA shills tell you, nobody watches or cares about the WNBA. Never have. They are subsidized by the NBA and never generate revenue, thus the low salaries. Nobody watches or cares about that league
Women's college basketball is being affected by TV contracts and NCAA NIL market distortions.
They haven't so much infiltrated the WNBA yet.
Yes, women's college basketball fans identify with those schools and watch their teams in march. Suburban dad has shown over 20 years to not give one shit about anything going on in the WNBA. It's a horrible product smack in the middle of MLB and NFL seasons. 90% of the league makes the playoffs. It's an NBA charity that nobody buys tickets for. Caitlin Clark won't change that. Everyone on this board knows who Georgia Amoore is. Nobody on this board could name more than 1-2 WNBA franchises without googling it.
This is me, I wanted VT, I cheered for VT, I won't watch Kitley in the pros, I hope she does well but the jersey matters way more to me and she's no long in a jersey I care about.
This is likely me, too.
I did buy a couple of Kitley shirts for cheering VT women's basketball, and I enjoyed watching her play.
I wish her the best.
A couple of things.
-NCAAW basketball viewership - in previous years sure I agree that most folks watching are watching their favored school. Over the last couple of years though I think the parity has improved and the on court product has gotten more exciting. I remember my uncle saying one time years ago that he couldn't watch women's basketball because it moved too slowly. Anybody watching this years Final Four couldn't say that is true anymore. The ratings back that up. An average of 18.7 million watched Iowa/USC vs 14.82 million for the men's final.
-As to the WNBA, full disclosure, I've lived in the DC metro area for a lot of my life and have never caught a Mystics game. I think if it is ever going to catch on, the time is now with the current popularity of NCAAW basketball and the drafting of Clark, Reese and others that people were tuning in to watch play college ball. Maybe it still doesn't move the needle, but there are definitely eyes on the women's game that weren't there in years past.
Mystics are hamstrung by the arena deal in Virginia falling apart. The last three seasons they have sold out the ESA and if the new arena deal had gone through the Mystics were going to move to Capital One. Now it appears they are stuck at ESA. Ted would be an idiot if they play Indiana at home this year to not move that to Capital One.
WTOP had an article today that admitted they were looking at other venues because they realize 4200 seats inst going to cut it.
Here
Great point. UCONN has dominated the sport like non other in any sport the past 20 years until very recently. There was zero parity in womens hoops until about 5 years ago. The WNBA will never move the needle. Never. It sits in the worst spot on the calendar and it's an inferior product.
WBB is like 80s mens bball, the dominance of one team is over and it's opening up.
Per stubhub right now, for Indiana Fever road games:
@ Connecticut Sun get in price is >$130
@ NY Liberty get in price is >$100
@ Las Vegas Aces get in price is >$120
@ Atlanta Dream get in price is >$220
@ Chicago Sky get in price is >$170
@ LA Sparks get in price is >$310
@ Washington Mystics get in price is >$230
also, anecdotally sure, it has been a water-cooler topic at my job, with multiple coworkers looking to get tickets to games in Brooklyn for their daughters to see, and even floating splitting a box among a group (which is $$$ in Barclays but super nice).
Yes Caitlin Clark will spike ticket demand when she is playing in cities. Where I agree with you is that the demand to see her is unlikely to spill over to other games or make a sizable change in league revenue, and is unlikely to be "sticky" -- many people buzzing to get to a game right now won't care about doing it again any time soon, let alone in 2029.
Just full disclosure, i attended an Aces @ Liberty game last year in a Finals preview for my now-wife's birthday, as she and her best friend played together competitively at multiple levels. It was a lot of fun and the atmosphere was pretty great with >11k people there. Ionescu went off and it was a good time, and hearing the positive report from us is making my mom want to get to a game this summer lol
America not giving one flip about the WNBA is a 20 year trend now. Not a fluke, not hating, not anything. It doesn't work here. The ONLY reason it exists is because Silver and the "governors" (can't say owners) in the NBA are willing to lose money hand over fist on it. If it stood alone, there is no WNBA. Is Caitlin Clark hot at this moment? Sure. Meh. 20 years - needle has not moved one inch.
I think you project a lot of your own personal thoughts onto the rest of america.
Yes the WNBA is not financially viable to stand alone. No that doesn't mean nobody cares at all.
Your Phoenix Mercury outdraw the Arizona Coyotes in the same market.
A lot of that is because people are too dumb or lazy to learn the rules and realize hockey is almost more fun to watch than football and basketball.
In-person viewing, hockey goes toe to toe with any sport
playoff hockey is unbeatable
Same argument about soccer, but I still don't care to watch it. Hockey? Same reaction from me. Yes, I've seen a live game and other than the fights, I would say I was bored, just like most soccer games I've watched. Some sports are just not for everybody regardless of how much of the rule book they memorize. And for the record, the fights in that one hockey game disgusted me enough to dismiss the sport.
Pile on, you fans, pile on. I won't hit back, I promise.
I hope you realize that the Coyotes moved to a 4K seat college arena? yep. And come on man... 20 years... not my personal opinion. Franchises have folded, they pay peanuts, they don't draw ratings... but its me... lol OK. 20 years of data.
in 2021-22 when the Coyotes played in Gila River Arena it was about the same as Phoenix Mercury per game
Awesome. Look at 20 years of data on the WNBA. Don't take my word for it.
This isn't the own you think it is. Could it simply be that more people go to WNBA games than you think? In 1997, the Phoenix Mercury averaged 13.7k fans for home attendance while the coyotes had 15.4k
You can post every day about how the WNBA is popular, thriving and financially viable. The facts and data from 20 years says you are wrong. Again, don't take my word for it. Nobody watches and they don't make money. The would have folded years ago without the NBA taking it on as a loss leader. You can wish it true all you want. Sorry. To add prospective. WNBA viewership was it's highest on TV ever in 2023. averaged 550K viewers including the playoffs. 550K... some comparisons.. NFL PRESEASON games- 4.2 million. ND regular season football games 2.5 million. Little league world series games- 900K. Regular NASCAR races -2.3 million. PGA tour regular events 1.4 million.
I think it would make more sense to look at average attendance year over year to see if more people are going to WNBA games would it not?
Or perhaps not compare arguably the most popular WNBA franchise to a nomad team that was fighting stadium deals, etc. I never said that there aren't WNBA fans- I'm sure you could find a few out there.
Looks like about 6,000 a game to be exact!
You, in this thread, just two days ago: "Yep. despite what ESPN mouthpiece NBA shills tell you, nobody watches or cares about the WNBA. Never have. They are subsidized by the NBA and never generate revenue, thus the low salaries. Nobody watches or cares about that league"
Me, two days ago: "Yes the WNBA is not financially viable to stand alone. No that doesn't mean nobody cares at all."
You, today: You can post every day about how the WNBA is popular, thriving and financially viable.
My whole point has always been that the WNBA has a small, niche, but dedicated enough following in multiple markets that the NBA feels it's worth (a) the cost of 50% ownership and (b) $15m annual endowment. It's not exactly "hand over fist".
You, above: I'm sure you could find a few out there.
Glad we agree on this and that you don't actually believe that nobody watches or cares. 20 years of data says otherwise 😜
Caitlin Clark Effect will wear off after Year 1 I think.
Something about college for the public rallied around her. That will carry over but wear off fairly quick and I don't see the normal sports fan or the general public caring about her after her first season.
I had no idea there were only 12 teams. I only learned that because Kitley was the 24th pick and also the last pick of the 2nd round. I thought there would have been more, but that's another metric to show how small the market size of the WNBA.
I only could for following Traylor, Sheppard and Soule. I have maybe watched 4 WNBA games though. One preseason where Soule played Traylor, one more of each of them and one Aces game that Sheppard was playing in because of injuries. I catch occasional Mystics highlights only due to proximity.
WNBA Average attendance was around 6500 per game with lower ticket prices. NBA Average attendance was 18,324 with higher ticket prices. TV Viewership numbers are even more disparate. 1.6M is Average NBA views. WNBA was 505K. You then have a multiplication with 30 NBA teams to 12 WNBA teams. NBA plays 82 regular season games. WNBA plays 40. More games overall bring in more money. 2460 NBA Vs 480 WNBA. TV views for NBA almost 4B to WNBA 264M. That doesn't include playoffs. There the number grows way more for NBA. WNBA teams play a max of 12 games to win championship. Total max of 23 games. NBA Total is 35 games max per team. NBA Total is 112 max games. Just more Viewership with scale. That doesn't even touch on merchandise sales, advertising or other areas that make the NBA even more profitable.
The WBNA is fully subsidized by the NBA. As in, they would fold in one day without the NBA paying for it. NBA franchises own the WNBA ones. Like the Orioles own the Norfolk Tides- no different. The WNBA literally does not generate positive revenue.
Orioles don't own the Norfolk Tides. They have an affiliation agreement but the team is owned by Diamond Baseball Holdings, which owns quite a few minor league teams (10 I believe).
The WNBA is as you said though. Completely funded by the parent company that owns each NBA team.
I did not know that about the tides. I made an assumption based on the traditional MLB model. Thanks for informing me on that
NBA teams can sell the WNBA franchises to each other too -- NY Liberty changed ownership (and home courts) from Knicks at MSG to Nets at Barclays
They do this with G League too and sometimes share teams between franchises.
They are well past 10 teams at this point. 32 according to Wikipedia. I think they own all of Boston's affiliates.
Thanks Been awhile since I read about them. They bought another team I used to cheer for a long time ago.
But doesn't Clark stand to make far more off of endorsements? For example, could she be the first WNBA player with her own shoe? My 21 year old daughter said she would buy them if they aren't too ugly, LOL.
There have been a good amount that have their own signature shoes. I imagine, if not too horrendous, Caitlin's would break all records.
Sabrina Ionesco (sp) has a shoe that a ton of NBA players wear now
Sabrina's shoes are awesome. I wear them for just pick-up. As you said, very popular in the league as well.
Sure, but is it because her name is on them, or fashion, or because the shoe is a good design?
Her deal with Nike was for $24M but includes some naming right stuff for Oregon apparel
Clark is getting a huge deal with Nike. but given that she probably will get a lot fewer eyeballs in the pros as she did in college it's probably a deal Nike will lose on, ultimately
Rumored to be Eight Figure deal.
Hearing the new Nike Clarks are black and yellow flip-FLOPS
this is a solid joke - had me laughing in the office
That's a pretty sweet deal, given that she's likely at the peak of her celebrity.
But given the deals given to guys, I suppose they really had to, in order to appeal to women.
good for her. I think eventually this bubble is going to burst, though. My personal opinion: a lot of these athletes are getting paid way more than they are worth and when the companies/entities paying them don't get the ROI they expect they're going to stop paying obscene amounts of money to these athletes. Clark (and others) are benefiting from this being so new. I'd expect this to resolve in a few years. I just don't think Clark is worth 8 figures to Nike. They're going to end up losing on this deal.
Just wait until someone can convince T Swift to endorse some sports gear. She changed the demographics for the Super Bowl imagine what she can do for a shoe or a sport like flag football at the Olympic, national and even collegiate level. I wish Tech would step up and be an early adopter of flag football for women as a collegiate sport.
Even Hokiesports getting sucked into Swifty Social...I had to look up the hashtag to know this was about Swift.
She got hundreds of thousands of under 30 year old women and girls to watch the Super Bowl. I reward my girls with a good practice with a 5 minute T Swift dance party.
who here wants to see video of Hokie Fireman dancing to TSwift for 5 minutes? We could raise funds for NIL!!
i might even pay not not to have to see that
.... competing fundraisers? 🤔🤔🤔🤔
double negative...?
I think subconsciously you really DO want to see it
My two youngest teams K-2 and 3-4 team are teaching me choreography for if we win the Super Bowl this season.