The WNBA, its origin and speculation on its future, has
garnered significant media attention. A sampling:
FATHER OF PRO HOOPS? In L.A., Earl Gustkey: "The WNBA
PR blitz would have you believe that NBA Commissioner David
Stern is the father of women's pro basketball in the
country, as the league's ESPN infomercial indicated Monday
night. In truth, the ABL was first and remains the better
league." Despite talk of a possible merger between the ABL
and WNBA, Gustkey quoted one WNBA "insider" as saying, "If
we can go out and raise that kind of money through
sponsorships, why do we need to buy out the ABL?" Gustkey's
source added that lawyers "are already trying to put
together a WNBA players' union." The "insider:" "That has
to happen, once all the players become fully aware --
especially those making $20,000 -- that the league has been
so successful with sponsorships. The salary scale will have
to go up next year" (L.A. TIMES, 6/18). In N.Y., Richard
Sandomir: "Now unleashed, the W.N.B.A. comes to the sport
nurtured as no new league has ever been, armed with the
privileges of the pampered child of the marketing-mad
N.B.A.: some of its sponsors, eight of its arenas, and its
employees." ABL CEO Gary Cavalli: "I don't want them to
bomb. If they do, people will say that even with the
N.B.A.'s support, women's basketball can't succeed" (N.Y.
TIMES, 6/19). On ESPN SportsZone, Mechelle Voeple writes
"Whatever else you may say about the ABL, you cannot
question the passion behind it. It is almost certainly
among the purest motivations ever behind the founding of a
professional sports league. The WNBA is seen by some in a
completely different light -- just a money making venture by
the greedy egotistical lord of hoops, NBA Commissioner David
Stern" (ESPN SportsZone, 6/19).
WILL IT WORK? The CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR's Ross
Atkin: "Just how much the American public desires to watch
more basketball after a 7 1/2 month exposure to the [NBA] --
in the heart and heat of summer, no less -- appears the
major question" (CSM, 6/17). WNBA President Val Ackerman:
"[W]e have some teams that are going to be operating in
markets where we think people will welcome the opportunity
to come inside to a beautiful, air conditioned building"
(Valerie Lister, USA TODAY, 6/18). In Toronto, Chris Young:
"[T]he WNBA's time is here. It represents the best chance
for the concept of women's professional sports to take hold
in North America" (TORONTO STAR, 6/20). In Chicago, Julie
Deardorff: "[L]arge camps of doubters still think the league
is as unnecessary and outlandish as it seemed a decade ago.
Who is going to watch women's basketball in the heat of the
summer in an already saturated sports market? And why?"
(CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 6/20). In Philadelphia, Bob Ford: "Will a
wide enough audience care about the women's pro game to make
it anything more than a niche baby -- a minor enterprise
that barely survives on the crumbs that fall from the big-
league table?" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 6/20). In Detroit,
Neal Shulenburger: "Eight teams, 80 female professional
athletes and one big question mark" (DETROIT NEWS, 6/20).
Also in Detroit, Steve Crowe: "[I]t will take much more time
to tell whether there is any more of a niche for the WNBA
than for 'American Gladiators'" (FREE PRESS, 6/20).
