The WNBA and the ABL, two start-up professional women's
basketball leagues, are "battling for talent, TV exposure,
marketing dollars and the nation's attention, according to David
Halbfinger in a front page piece in today's BOSTON GLOBE. The
ABL and its eight teams begin their 40-game regular season next
Friday, while the WNBA's eight teams begin play in June for a
short summer season "that some have called a slight to women
athletes." The game plans for the two leagues "are as different
as can be ... [and] it's anybody's guess whether either will
survive long enough to profit. Increasingly, this matchup looks
like a death struggle." In a "preemptive publicity strike," the
WNBA is scheduled to announce "several high-profile player
contracts" next week before the ABL season starts. Sources tell
Halbfinger the WNBA will name Sheryl Swoopes and Rebecca Lobo as
spokespersons for the league. But, a "muddled marketplace isn't
all that has sports marketer concerned." Reebok, for example,
fears their six-figure ABL investment, which includes outfitting
four teams, "might turn sour" if Nike takes a big role in
promoting the WNBA. Reebok VP/U.S. Brand Marketing Jo Harlow: "I
wouldn't say we feel like we're boxed in." But she conceded that
Reebok would "feel compelled" to bid on the WNBA if the footwear
category were offered (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/11).
ATTENDANCE: ABL founder Gary Cavalli has sharp words for the
WNBA, which he claims stem from the "blindsiding his league took"
when the NBA announced their plans. Cavalli: "If I were a women,
I'd be insulted if somebody told me I had to play in the off-
season, 10 weeks in the summer. You're basically saying, 'You're
not good enough.'" Cavalli feels the WNBA will regret its "big-
city" strategy of playing in NBA arenas: "The game's not ready
for 22,000-seat arenas." But, Halbfinger notes, for the WNBA,
the summer was "the only sensible season," as they didn't want to
compete against its own product. Regarding arenas, WNBA
President Val Ackerman said the league would use an MLS-type
pattern of "some kind of in-arena draping system." The league
will announce it's teams and major sponsors October 30.
Ackerman: "Will it make money in the first year? It may not.
We're in it for the long haul." Halbfinger: "If the ABL survives
its first season ... it can expect to face the full media
onslaught of the NBA's celebrity machine. ... About the only real
marketing edge the ABL has, it seems, is a head start" (BOSTON
GLOBE, 10/11).
TWO THOUSAND PEOPLE, MAYBE MORE: A crowd of 2,754 watched an
ABL exhibition last night between the Richmond Rage and New
England Blizzard at St. Joseph's Fieldhouse in Philadelphia
(Debbie Woodell, PHILA. DAILY NEWS, 10/11). "Good Morning
America" gave a brief look at the ABL in their "What's Hot in
Sports" segment ("GMA," ABC, 10/11).
