Writers Discuss Several Top Issues Facing WNBA This Season
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Writers Not Fans Of Chicago
Sky Playing In College Arena |
USA Today’s Oscar Dixon has covered the WNBA since the league’s inception
in ’97, and Jayda Evans has served as the Seattle Times’ beat writer
for the Storm since the team began play in ’00. With the WNBA beginning
its 11th season Saturday, both took time this week to discuss the state of the
league and several key issues facing it with Staff Writer Rick Ellington.
Q: In the past year, several teams, including the Comets and Sparks, have been
sold to independent ownership groups. How is this trend beneficial to the league?
Evans: The league wants to secure ownerships that are really
enthusiastic about having the team, and it opens up the opportunity to have teams
anywhere and find those niche markets where it’s going to work. While basketball
is basketball, in some sense you have to have the right city, the right location,
the right owner. And that opens it up instead of forcing it into an NBA setting.
Dixon: We have to wait and see if it actually succeeds. It’s
called the non-NBA ownership business model, but there are variations to that
model. Houston and L.A. are non-NBA owners in NBA cities using NBA infrastructures
and arenas. You have Connecticut, which has a built-in infrastructure and executives
who have marketing experience from [Madison Square] Garden. Then you have Chicago,
which I think is a true indication of the model and one that I’m not necessarily
a fan of. You don’t have to play in the United Center, but there is a perception
that you’re not a professional league if I’m walking onto a mid-major
college campus to play a game.
Evans: Chicago would be one I’m not a fan of either. I
don’t think any pro team should play on a college campus. But at the same
time, I don’t mind there are these different types of owners. You have a
situation in Connecticut that I feel is ideal. With those owners and the setting,
it feels professional and they put money behind it.
Q: Are we going to see more ownership groups not affiliated with the NBA? If
so, can the WNBA maintain its status as a major sports property without the backing
of NBA teams?
Dixon: The short answer is yes, we’re going to see more
enthusiastic owners that at least have the initial investment capital to embark
on this endeavor. That being said, with the Chicago model being the worst and
Connecticut being the ideal, there is a lot of in between. Infrastructure is an
issue, and like Jayda said, being in a market that will support women’s
basketball is key. Simply put, if you have a league of your own, you need a home
of your own. That approach has to be there for those models to succeed. You can
be in a Pittsburgh, and you can be in a Kansas City, and you can make it work.
Evans: If the league truly does break away from the NBA in terms
of cross-over owners, the other cities that still have NBA partnerships might
be a matter of wait and see. There are some owners willing to put up the $10M
upfront cost to purchase a team and take a couple financial hits the first couple
years. But your longstanding owners in the future may be sitting back a little
bit just to see how well that does work. We’ve only had a few years of a
test, so you want to see how well it works on its own before you jump in.
Dixon: One reason these non-NBA owners are here and the franchises
are available is because they weren’t profitable and their NBA owners were
deciding to go away. The league says that’s because they were not marketing,
they were not really pushing those teams. The new owners will obviously have a
vested interest.
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Storm Could Be Leaving A
Viable Market In Seattle
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Q: The immediate future of the Storm is obviously up in the air. Where do you
see the team playing a year from now, and how does this uncertainty around a marquee
team resonate around the league?
Evans: This is a business ... mess, for lack of a better word.
A year from now, there’s a strong possibility the Storm could be playing
in either Oklahoma City or Kansas City. I don’t see [Sonics & Storm
Owner Clay Bennett] splitting the teams because he said over and over he can be
profitable in both cities. Kansas City has been on the map for a while now with
a new arena, and they have wanted a WNBA team for quite a while now. It does hurt
the league though, from the standpoint of a strong fan base that is secure and
interested. I’ve traveled around the league and there’s really nothing
like that — Washington used to have a really strong fan base, and that’s
dipped a little bit. And there’s so much passion here. Not just “Let’s
go to the game,” but as you’re driving around you’ll see a “Go
Storm” license plate. You have that fever here that the WNBA shouldn’t
want to lose, and doesn’t want to lose, and there’s no certainty that’s
going to happen in Kansas City or Oklahoma City. That could really hurt the league.
When you show the product on television, you want people in the seats, you want
that fever. But there’s nothing the league can necessarily do much about.
Dixon: With the Charlotte Sting, when Bob Johnson decided he
was out, he was out. In Miami, when they decided they were out, they were out.
There’s no consequence for teams leaving. Seattle was a franchise that was
borderline until they won a title [in ‘04]. You’ve got [coach] Anne
Donovan and stars like Lauren Jackson that have stabilized it. But just like across
the board in the league, attendance is down. You’ve already lost Portland
in the northwest market, and now you might lose Seattle — you’re losing
a region of the country that is supportive of women’s basketball if the
Storm leaves.
Q: You both have mentioned in passing that attendance league-wide has been
down in recent years. Why is that and what can teams do to bring it back up?
Dixon: The numbers were a little inflated to begin with. There
were a lot of freebies given out that were being counted. Now with this new trend
of owners, [Mystics Owner Shelia Johnson is] not giving away tickets. If you’re
coming, you’re paying, so you’re getting an actual count. That being
said, teams did a great job of marketing personalities initially and there was
a lot of support for the WNBA through what I call “cause marketing”
-– people were going because there were women playing and they thought they
should support them. The league now is trying to get across the play is better.
The only way the WNBA will survive is to be a legitimate, viable sport that you
will go see. Not because it’s women, because it’s good basketball.
The league is trying to get out that they have those players.
Evans: My biggest problem with the league from the get-go is
that it lacked honesty. The numbers were inflated and they were handing out tickets
left and right, and then counting them in the turnstile count. It’s coming
back to hurt them right now. You need to throw in there, though, that Chicago
is a new team and their numbers were really low, and different teams were moving
around. From a marketing point, I actually saw for the first time the league tell
you the two teams that were going to be playing in a promo [for an upcoming telecast]
during the NBA playoffs. That’s what you really need to see. If you’re
a basketball fan, you want to see who’s playing, not “Did you see
her?” What is that? As a fan, I want to see what I’m going to get
when I tune into the game. It is a good product, but they need to market it as
such, not just as good personalities.
Dixon: That’s something [WNBA President] Donna Orender
has to address because you want the play, but you want your sponsors that care
about the personalities and the emotions and the connections with women, which
is a unique market for the WNBA. You’ve got to get into a legitimate sports
arena. We care about Venus Williams as a designer because of her 120mph serve,
not because we think she’s the next Tommy Hilfiger and can hit a tennis
ball.
Q: We see some teams sell fans solely on the on-court product and others sell
it as family entertainment. If you ran a team, how would you market it?
Dixon: I would market a hybrid of the two. I’m trying to
get anyone with a dollar to come to my arena, I’m not excluding anyone.
The NBA markets itself as great entertainment; I think the WNBA should do the
same thing. You can have great basketball with tremendous athletes and still have
a fun family atmosphere.
Evans: I agree completely with that. There are so many different
types of people in the audience that I think the game crosses a bigger section
of America than the NBA or any other sport out there. You have to market in many
ways –-not just family night and not just to the hardcore sports fan. You
also have to go into the gay community. You have to reach all those audiences.
Dixon: I’ll say this about the WNBA –- instead of
going after someone who will not give women’s sports a chance, I say forget
them. You need to maximize the market that is interested, and I don’t think
they have nearly tapped the people who are interested or could be interested or
who’d be willing to give it a chance.
Q: We’ll conclude with a couple short-response, rapid-fire questions.
What’s the one off-court issue you’re looking at closest this year?
Evans: An arena [in Seattle].
Dixon: Ownership.
Q: What three cities would you target to expand to?
Evans: I don’t know if San Francisco specifically has enough
space for an arena, so I’ll say the Bay Area, another team in the Northeast
and I’d go back to Portland.
Dixon: I agree with the Bay Area, I’d go Midwest in Kansas
City and look at Pittsburgh.
Q: You’re starting a franchise from scratch -– factoring in on-court
skill and off-court marketing, what one player would you build that team around?
Evans: If we’re talking on the horizon, Candace Parker.
In the league now, I’d go Diana Taurasi or Lauren Jackson.
Dixon: I echo Parker, and I’ll say for a player in the
league, Diana Taurasi.
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