We’ve seen it with the WNBA vs the NBA. No real mystery here. The NBA generated a whopping $11.34 Billion (with a ‘B’) vs the WNBA which barely managed (or woman-aged) $200 Million in the 2023/24 season. That’s roughly 56 times as much revenue for the men vs the women.

And that is even with the viewer generating phenom Caitlin Clark. The NBA has been subsidizing the women for years even as the women continue mounting up the yearly losses.

It’s always amusing how the Left-Libs in this country bemoan the patriarchy while gladly holding out their hands for the men to give them money to exist.

It’s much the same with soccer. The World Cup generates $6 Billion for the men vs a paltry $400 Million for the women. The men only receive 7% of the revenue they generate vs the women who receive 20%. Professional women’s sports only exist because Libs demand it and that men pay for it even though they don’t watch it.

Men pay lots of money to look at women without their clothes or to have sex with them. Women pay almost no money to see naked men and none at all to have sex with them. No matter how much the Left pretends otherwise women seek men for protection (from other men and wild animals) and to provide shelter, food and clothing while men seek women to look at and to have sex with and to cook, clean, sew and raise the next generation of mankind (not womankind).

Our extremely fragile Western civilization allows women to thrive in the fields of medicine, primary & secondary education, law, elected office, and healthcare. Three powerful and opposing systems of economy and governance – communism, paganism and Islam – oppress women who continue to exist much as they have for the past 10,000 years – as baby producing servants. Yet the Left, stupidly supported by young, college-educated women, strives with all its evil might to overthrow Western culture and society.

WNBA ‘expected to lose’ US$50m in 2024 despite surging interest

Losses set to increase five-fold as league continues to bleed money amid record attendances and viewership.

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 14 June 2024  Ed Dixon

Getty Images

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The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) is reportedly set to see losses rise to around US$50 million this year despite a record-breaking start to its 2024 season.

The North American league ended May with its highest-attended opening month in 26 years and record viewership across ABC, ESPN and CBS.

However, the WNBA remains unprofitable in its 28th year. National Basketball Association (NBA) commissioner Adam Silver said in 2018 that the WNBA had lost an average of more than US$10 million annually since its founding and The Washington Post has now reported that the league and its teams are expected to lose around US$50 million in 2024 – a five-fold increase on the current average.

Securing a lucrative domestic rights deal from 2025 will therefore be crucial in the WNBA’s quest for profitability, but its recent audience growth means the league is in a strong negotiating position.

The influx of college stars such as Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese has helped fuel fresh interest in the WNBA. Notably, Clark’s regular season debut for the Indiana Fever averaged 2.12 million viewers on ESPN2, making it the most-watched WNBA game in 23 years.

The Fever have already surpassed their total home attendance for the entire 2023 season after just five games thanks to the arrival of Clark, who is arguably the most talked-about athlete in the US.

The WNBA will welcome Toronto as its 14th franchise – and first outside of the US – in 2026 and league commissioner Cathy Engelbert said last month that she was “pretty confident” of expanding to 16 teams by 2028. The ownership group of the Golden State Valkyries, who begin play in 2025, will reportedly pay a record US$50 million expansion fee.

Engelbert has therefore been bullish about the WNBA’s next domestic broadcast rights deal from 2025 and said she hopes to “at least double” the value of the league’s current contracts with ESPN, Ion and Amazon, which are reportedly worth up to US$60 million a season.

The NBA, which owns roughly 60 per cent of its female counterpart and has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the league, remains in negotiations for rights deals for both competitions which reports say are set to be deliver more than US$7 billion in total per year. That would represent a significant uplift on the annual US$2.7 billion that the NBA gets under its current arrangement.

According to The Washington Post, the WNBA could be in line to triple its annual rights revenue to between US$180 million and US$200 million in the next cycle.

It was reported in March that the WNBA could seek to unbundle some of its media rights from the NBA to try and maximise those revenues. The NBA, though, is not separating the rights of both leagues in the ongoing negotiations and Silver has said that the WNBA should continue to do integrated media rights deals with its male counterpart.

Engelbert, though, remains supportive of the league going to market with the NBA, describing the proposition as a “huge advantage” which appeals to streaming services who rely on a 12-month subscription model and want to fill their sports content slate year-round.

SportsPro says…

The WNBA is going from strength to strength on the court, but this reported loss for 2024 highlights that the league still relies heavily on the NBA. It also shows that even the most high-profile women’s sports leagues still need to invest ahead of revenue before they can be expected to turn a profit.

The league is in line for several cash injections in the coming years from its new rights deal and expansion fees. Its sponsorship roster also remains healthy, with La Crema, Opill and Mortgage Matchup all signing on as new partners this year.

While revenue looks set to rise, only 40 per cent of WNBA revenue reaches clubs and athletes, according to The Washington Post, which reports that the NBA pockets around 40 per cent and outside investors also get a cut. It means the WNBA’s financial windfall from its next TV deal is affected, as are franchise valuations. In contrast, revenue is distributed equally among the NBA’s 30 clubs.

Meanwhile, WNBA players have previously expressed frustration over an apparent lack of transparency about the league’s finances and they could opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA), which runs until 2027, before the 2025 season.

The NBA remains an active partner in the WNBA and its support has undoubtedly helped grow the league. Yet stakeholders must ensure a strategy is in place to support the WNBA’s path to profitability, which would eventually enable the league to operate more independently and make more of its own decisions.