HBO's "Real Sports" profiled the WNBA and ABL in "Two
Leagues of Their Own?" In the segment, HBO's James Brown
examined the marketing, philosophies and exposure of both
leagues, and the possibility of an eventual merger.
START ME UP: Brown: "[The WNBA] has embarked upon its
inaugural 10-week summer season with a confidence and
swagger that reflect its envious number of committed
investors, including its primary backer, the NBA. Never
before has a new sports league been launched with so much
already in place." WNBA President Val Ackerman, on the
WNBA's TV contracts with NBC, ESPN and Lifetime: "That sort
of television coverage is unprecedented for a start-up
sports league, men's or women's." Brown added that, in
comparison, the ABL was launched "in such relative obscurity
that while everybody knows who's got next, few know the ABL
got off first." ABL CEO Gary Cavalli: "I've often said that
the ABL is like the little engine that could. ... We don't
have the money that they have, but we've got players they
don't have. They've got great TV, they've got great
marketing. We've got heart" (HBO, 7/28).
MUST SEE TV: Brown: "For the ABL to remain in business,
Cavalli knows the league needs TV exposure greater than its
current deals with cable networks." Cavalli: "We have to
get a national TV contract. ... We have to get more TV
exposure because TV exposure will unlock the sponsorships
that we also need. We'll also be able to promote our
players better." Cavalli: "If we don't have a national
contract by '99, we're in trouble. And we really need one
by '98, and I'd like to have one by '97." Brown: "Although
Cavalli argues that the ABL would make excellent counter-
programming on the jammed fall/winter sports schedule, the
ABL's chance of getting a national TV contract in the near
future seems slim. Networks have been lining up for months
to court the WNBA's namesake, whose current TV deals are up
after next season." Cavalli: "There's no question that the
fact that the NBA's men's contract is up for grabs right now
is making people be a little bit cautious. Do they want to
risk offending the NBA and not have an opportunity to sign
that NBA contract? And I'm not even sure if I wouldn't do
the same thing if I were in their shoes." But former CBA
and current AFL Commissioner Jim Drucker said the ABL's
emphasis on the smaller markets puts them at a disadvantage
in signing a national TV deal. Drucker: "[T]he ABL, the way
it's constructed now with the cities they're in, can't
possibly be a TV success, which will make it harder for them
to get a TV contract in the first instance" (HBO, 7/28).
COME TOGETHER: Cavalli, on a possible merger: "[W]e
don't want to have a war that ends up in both leagues
failing because we're diluting each other's value leaving
nobody strong enough to stand. And I'm not sure if the NBA
feels this way, but we feel that way. We won't let that
happen. If it makes sense to sit down and talk merger at
some point in the future, we'll do that." Ackerman: "We
don't see things moving in the direction of a merger. The
ABL has a plan and it has markets that at this point don't
fit into our strategy" ("Real Sports," HBO, 7/28).
ONE-ON-ONE: Afterward, Bryant Gumbel and Brown
discussed both leagues. Gumbel mentioned the WNBA's short
summer season and asked Brown if NBA Commissioner David
Stern's "marriage to the women's game" was one of
"convenience." Brown: "I see this as being the proper way
to go about things." Brown added the summer season is
"heightening the visibility" of the league as "more
attention is being drawn to it." Brown: "But their ultimate
game plan is, in fact, to do it during the traditional
basketball season." Brown, on the chance of the ABL holding
a bidding war to force a merger: "There is the determination
in the early going, by the backers on the ABL, to hang in
there. There is some concern, no question about it, but
only one investor has backed out. ... If the ABL can be
successful in garnering some of the top names again, then I
think we may have the same kind of scenario that existed
with the ABA" ("Real Sports," HBO, 7/28).
