WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert spoke to the media before the WNBA All-Star game on Sunday. She hit on many pressing topics about the WNBA, including expansion.
Engelbert on Expansion
“I’d say probably 10 or 15 cities very interested in hosting a WNBA team,” Engelbert said. “So we’re meeting here and there I’ll call it with interested ownership groups. We’re looking for the right ownership groups with the right commitment. The right arena situation, the right city to support a WNBA franchise.
Yes, I’m hoping that it’ll be a couple teams by no later than ’25, but I’d love it in ’24. But probably looking out to that kind of timeline, and again, lots of cities interested. That’s the good news, and now we have to find the right ownership groups with the right commitment and financial wherewithal to really be committed to standing up a WNBA team in their city.”
Adding more teams would help the WNBA gain more exposure and add more roster spots for players. Over the weekend, many fans that attended the All-Star festivities complained about the lack of access. For example, no fans were allowed at the skills challenge and the three-Point contest.
Fan Access
“When we picked Chicago as a place for the All-Star Game, we knew we weren’t going to be able to have Wintrust Arena yesterday,” Engelbert said. “It was already committed. So given that then we found out Nike Nationals were going to be here. We took this great opportunity to integrate the elite youth sports into our three-point and skills competition.”
“Coming off two tough COVID years and not having Wintrust available yesterday, it just wasn’t possible to have a fan event. We didn’t have an arena to have it in here in the city of Chicago.”
“But understand the fans are frustrated not attending that, but again, last year we didn’t have it, the year before we didn’t even have an All-Star Game, so we’re kind of just trying to build what All-Star Weekend will look like. This year, again, planning it back in October, Omicron came and we’re like, oh my gosh, should we have this festival or not, so we just tried to do the best we could with the cards we were dealt this year.”
Charter Flights and Marketing
Engelbert annouced that the WNBA will charter flights for the teams in the WNBA Finals. Also that the league will double down on player marketing.
“We’re going to really double down on player marketing agreements this year. Probably spend about $1.5 million, planned to be spent this year to help players grow their personal brands, elevate marketing. Help the league market because it’s all-around exposure and marketing as we set forth on this transformation. We’re seeing tremendous interest in the game, evidenced by viewership, and everything from draft on to today.”
Traveling has been a big issue for the WNBA. The players fly commerical and the have to deal with flight delays and cancelations. Sometimes teams don’t get into the cities their playing untill the day off the game and thats not good.
Engelbert went over a lot today; hopefully, things will get better for the WNBA. It will start with a new TV deal; if they can score big on a TV deal, the WNBA will grow fast.
Follow me on Twitter: @raiderway83 and read other amazing articles on Beyond Women’s Sports.
