The WNBA and women's sports are featured in the current
NEWSWEEK, as John Leland writes, "Jammed into the nexus of
prime-time sports and gender politics, the WNBA offers an
untested combination of old and new, a game of naked female
aggression played below the rim." Leland: "Commercially,
the league is less a revolution than a brand extension. ...
So far the returns are good." One sports buyer for a N.Y.
ad agency: "I don't see any liabilities. I see a growth
factor. But whether the novelty wears off in the second
year, nobody knows." NEWSWEEK's Leland writes that the
rival ABL "can't compete" as a "machine for manufacturing
celebrity." A Nike exec said that the company "steers
players toward the WNBA." The exec: "[T]hey are encouraged
to go the route where there is the most visibility. The
ABL, just doesn't have the type of exposure that sells
product, and that's the business we're in -- selling
product." For the record, Nike "denies that it nudges"
players one way or the other (NEWSWEEK, 9/1 issue).
FAN BASE: The WNBA's fan base of "young girls -- and
grown women ... have finally found conquerors they can
relate to. ... The league also has another, less trumpeted
core constituency. Though TV broadcasts pan moms with their
kids, plenty of women come on their own." Out magazine
editor Sarah Pettit: "Next to the 'Ellen' episode, this is
the biggest news in the lesbian community all year long."
Leland writes that the WNBA, "for its part, does not
acknowledge any gay following." NBA Exec VP Rick Welts:
"I'm not aware of that. We don't take attendance that way.
The league does not discriminate" (NEWSWEEK, 9/1 issue).
DEFORD'S VIEW: In an afterward, Frank Deford writes on
women's sports: "Now, sorry WNBA, sorry ABL, but the
question of whether enough people of either sex want to pay
to watch women play sports together is one that has not been
answered yet" (NEWSWEEK, 9/1 issue).
TIP-INS: In Salt Lake, an editorial entitled "Starzz
Shine," writes that WNBA turnout "demonstrated that, yes, if
given some of the same exposure advantages that men's sports
have enjoyed, women's sports can succeed where it counts --
at the turnstile. ... It was a bonus for Utahns to get in on
the ground floor of the WNBA experiment" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE,
8/28). USA TODAY's Valerie Lister writes under the header,
"WNBA Exceeds Expectations" (USA TODAY, 8/26).
