WNBA’s Donna Orender Expects Attendance Increase This Season

WNBA Commissioner Expects Attendance To Rebound From ’06 Season

The WNBA’s 11th season tips off this weekend, and President Donna Orender said that she “expects an increase in average attendance” this season despite an 8.6% drop last year, according to John Lombardo of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. The 7,479 fans-per-game average was the lowest in league history, but Orender said, “Attendance will be up.” Lombardo notes the league this week is debuting a season-long ad campaign with the tagline “Journeys,” which features players “explaining how they made it to the WNBA.” The ads follow the “Dads and Daughters” campaign, which launched in February and shows Sonics G Ray Allen and Pistons G Chauncey Billups with their daughters “extolling the virtues of the WNBA.” In addition to games on ESPN2 and ABC, NBA TV will air 70 WNBA games this year, up from 50 in ’06, and Orender said, “There will be more broadcast hours this year than in other years” (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 5/14 issue).

BUILDING ON FIRST DECADE: Orender said of the league entering its 11th season, “I think people are always surprised that we’ve been around that long” (“Daily News Live,” SNY, 5/16). Orender added, “There was a lot of foundation laid down in the first decade. It’s our responsibility to respond and build on those fundamentals.” In DC, Tim Lemke wrote the league “continues to operate with both the moral and financial support of the NBA, which injects about $12[M] annually to keep the league viable.” While most teams are not profitable individually, league officials said that the WNBA “as a whole is on track to make money as soon as this year.” Sports Business Group President David Carter said that the WNBA “is financially strong but that it’s important to avoid comparisons with other sports properties.” Carter: “It’s settling in to being a viable league but not a wildly viable league. It’s always going to be on the sports landscape but on the second-tier of that landscape.” Lemke noted Orender put a “positive spin” on the loss of the Charlotte Sting, claiming that the “loss of a weak franchise only could help the league as a whole.” Orender: “We want to operate from a position of strength, and you can’t do that when you have a franchise that’s holding you back” (WASHINGTON TIMES, 5/15).