Blog Hound: Fight During Tuesday's Game Good Or Bad For WNBA?
Bloggers discuss the implications of the fight during Tuesday’s WNBA Sparks-Storm game for the league and women's basketball.
Craft is the New Black
Posted by: meganwegan |
| "Wait, what? So…a brawl, something that not too long ago had fans and officials crying foul in the NBA is a good thing in the WNBA?” |
ToastedRav.com
Posted by: Mike Flynn |
| "That was the night they became a lead story on ESPN, and the world perked up and said: ‘Wait the WNBA still exists?’ … Yeah it was quick, but you gotta take your moments in the sun when you can get them WNBA!” |
You Been Blinded
Posted by: HG |
| "I’ll give the ladies an A for effort, but a game outdoors and a few girls pulling each other’s hair isn’t gonna create any new WNBA fans.” |
MVN Outsider
Posted by: Anthony Hall |
| “The league has been fighting perceptions that, although it provides a level of fundamentally-sound play that the NBA cannot match, it lacks the excitement and intensity of the men’s game. If it takes a skirmish to help defuse those perceptions, then so be it.” |
Rethinking Basketball
Posted by: Q |
| "Can the WNBA afford to lose endorsements? Or the even bigger question, can the WNBA afford a decrease in (“savior”) Candace Parker’s marketability? Given all the challenges the WNBA already faces … it cannot afford to lose popularity due to non-basketball distractions.” |
BUILDING THE BUZZ: Sports Media Challenge's Buzz Manager analyzed online discussion about Tuesday's fight, specifically focusing on what effect it would have on the WNBA as a league. Bloggers who thought the incident was good publicity for the league and could generate more fan interest were tallied as positive, while bloggers who thought it was bad for the league or were making fun of the fight and/or the WNBA were counted as negative. Visit www.SportsBusinessDaily.com for more info. See more info on this topic.
- The Buzz ranked 10 out of 10, a topic of a very high level of interest among sports bloggers.
- Bloggers in the positive category subscribed to the "any publicity is good publicity" theory, with one blogger saying, "If this doesn't help the WNBA, I don't know what can."
- Many bloggers in the neutral category posted video footage of the fight and discussed what happened, but did not give any indication as to how they felt it would affect the league.
- Bloggers in the negative category tended to dislike the WNBA before the fight and did not think it would do anything to improve the league's popularity. These bloggers tended to make jokes or ridicule the league. Those that weren't making fun of it simply disliked that the two teams were fighting at all.
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