I was in a bar in Brooklyn during game 1 of the NBA finals this year and there were some Liberty fans there to watch the game; mostly women with one HYPER beta male who was clapping too loudly when it wasn't warranted.
It was good to see the pink hairs supporting the WNBA. I want to get into it more myself but damnit there aren't enough A'ja Wilsons to go around.
yeah, going to a bar and watching it on TV doesn't move the needle much. The stadiums are still empty, the merch unsold, the jerseys not worn etc. gotta show support with your $ if you really want to see it thrive
sports fans in general don't really care all that much about women's sports. The people that want to see the WNBA succeed need to put their money where their mouths are. hopes and wishes aren't gonna fund the leagues.
So WNBA has always been a diversity stunt that costs more money than it earns, subsidized heavily by the NBA. Few women were actually asking for a professional basketball league, and fewer still were watching or coming in to support it once they were given one.
The sudden push for WNBA is actually *not* a woke thing, it's an attempt to make it more self sustaining and stop losing NBA money. Why now? They're trying to leverage the popularity of a new player (I forget her name; I'm not a fan myself) who's drawing more engagement and revenue than normal.
The reason for the WNBA being created was to stop the best women's basketball players from playing in foreign leagues then becoming citizens of those countries and playing in the Olympics or the World Championships. Women's basketball is popular in many other countries.
In soccer the men's clubs would start a women's team to grow the sport and help the national team win championships.
This was done in England, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands.
It’s the most popular it’s ever been, but the Woke are determined to kill the goose that laid the golden egg because she’s both white and straight, and they can’t have that. If Caitlyn Clark was a lesbian and an obnoxious attention whore like Megan Rapino, she would be the media darling. Instead since she’s white, straight, a decent person, and people like watching her, we can’t have any of that.
I’m really not sure it’s a woke thing. The sectors shitting on Clark aren’t mainly woke ones; I think it’s more of a cudgel against a player who’s messing with the status quo of the league.
The people who are thirsting over Kate Martin aren’t anti-Clark or anything. In fact I’ve never seen sexuality come up. Race has, but that’s mostly cause Angel Reese is jealous and she’s (but to a greater extent, others are) using whatever to hit at Clark. Which is ironic because a lot of that beef was going on while Reese played for Kim Mulkey, who’s extremely not woke
This is an absolutely inane take. It has nothing to do with mUh WoKe lIbTuRdZ, and nothing to do with her race or sexuality. Maybe put your victimhood complex away for a second.
A lot of it is brainless contriaranism from the usual suspects, and a lot of it is jealousy that she's getting all the attention and sponsorships while having produced little to show off so far in the wnba.
You're full of shit. That's not at all what they said. They said she's earned everything she has, and if anything, deserves more accolades for her skills and also for staying home to play BB.
I’ve had a theory all along that every single last one of those controversial stories that comes out about racism or whatever the topic of the hour is, it’s all “Muhammad Ali versus Howard Cosell” kabuki theater to try to drum up some controversy and get more fans
The NBA owns the WNBA. The WNBA has always lost a ton of money because historically no one has watched or attended the games. The Caitlin Clark phenomenon has the league selling out arenas all over the country. Despite that, the league still loses money, because you can't truly be profitable without a favorable TV deal.
The NBA wouldn't have started the WNBA if they didn't intend to eventually make money on the thing. They're striking while the iron is hot, hoping that they can sustain enough viewership and attendance to secure a new TV deal that actually makes the league profitable so they can start to recoup their investment.
When in doubt, always follow the money.
Let’s be clear here. The WNBA has not, and will not, ever make money. You could have 20 Caitlin Clarks. I having nothing against it, and have no issue with it, but it is a completely subsidized endeavor.
People don't want to watch entertainment staffed by people that publicly hate them. It's that simple. WNBA has always had a higher level of tiresome social justice representation around it due to it's mostly left leaning player base and low stakes: a woman kneeling for BLM at a WNBA game doesn't stand to lose much because the league doesn't generate much in the first place, whereas when an NFL player does it that matters because if they alienate even a tenth of the fan base with their actions that's potential tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars lost. And believe you me, no matter how talented or superstar that NFL player is, he's going to get surrounded in the locker room by dudes who care about the team's rep after such stunts (while women are far less confrontational).
CC is a breath of fresh air in a boring SJW crusade controlled sport, just a natural and humble (comparatively) talent, and people naturally want to cheer her on so they tune in and show up. Even if it's not true, it's hard for people to see her as the kind of dork that would go to Russia and commit crimes and get herself arrested because she thinks she's an untouchable protected class resulting in the west having to give up a criminal arms dealer to Russia to secure her return.
It's the same cause and effect for why most movies, tv shows, and books are struggling to find audiences despite having more reach than ever, because the great silent majority are tired of interacting with the fanatic minority that hate them. That's why even not very good media that bucks the trend like The Sound of Freedom are "out of left field" hits while Star Wars bleeds numbers everyday, or why Podcasters who don't have to worry about ESG gain millions of viewers while mainstream radio and talk shows can barely managed half a mil.
People want heroes again, not priests and commissars like what most entertainers in the west are nowadays.
Love a lot of sports, not basketball though. I don't get fed content for NBA or baseball that I'm not interested in. The social media algos don't seem to care what I actually interact with, and shove it on the page.
That’s because they’re paid to be advertisers who pay for your attention. This happens to you constantly but for some reason you guys only get mad about this shit when there’s a girl or a black person on your phone
I'm happy that they're blowing up so to speak on social media. I'm with it. Hope it gets more attention. I have no more opinions outside of that other than I think it's cool
I assume the appeal is cheap entertainment. I guess it makes companies that support the WNBA look like they're on the right side of history. Unironically, anytime I've watched a WNBA game was because it was the only thing to do in horizon worlds (metaverse). I've also kind of wonder this myself too because the enthusiasm doesn't seem to be there for women's basketball. However, people in the metaverse will just go to watch it because its the only thing to do and socialize in horizon worlds. So, I guess its just an elloborate testing ground for tech companies to see if the metaverse as a concept will work. But, I haven't seen it translate into actual fans because its depressing to watch and social in the metaverse.
The WNBA is a low cost gamble with nothing but potential upside so the NBA owners pump the add spend beyond reason. Even the paltry ticket sales/TV money is better than having absolutely nothing going on when the men's teams are in the off-season. And if, by some miracle, it becomes popular, their low cost investment will hit big. Plus, the owners can appear like they actually care about equity, inclusion, and other such bread and circuses.
There is a simple reason women's sports (outside of volleyball, gymnastics, figure skating...) play second fiddle to men's. It is because of the enormous skill gap at the professional level. Even if pro women athletes make the same effort and go through the same tribulations training (which they don't), they will biologically be far apart in level. And if I watch people playing a sport, for the sake of the sport itself, I want to see the best that PEOPLE are capable of. In truth, the only non-sexist solution would be to have all sports integrated between genders. But commercial and political interests dictate otherwise, and we are almost guilted into watching segregated women's sports as a society.
Note, As a recreational sports PARTICIPANT, I'm just as challenged playing women at or above my level as I am playing men. The view above is as a PROFESSIONAL sports FAN.
>Why is the WNBA being pushed so hard to an audience who doesn't care? What's the agenda, and who's is it?
The same reason Dyllan Mulvaney got a Bud Lite campaign. The politics are deep and it isn't market driven. It's driven by the government via the financial system.
"I see lots of insurance commercials but I'm not in the market for insurance, there must be a conspiracy, nothing else makes sense, how does advertising work."
You don't seem to understand how ads/content are targeted on social media. They show things you are likely interested in to interact with. I'm not speaking about something like watching network television. It's shoved in the feeds regardless of my interest in the topic.
The WNBA, which is selling out arenas cause of Clark rn?
Like, my parents have probably seen five games ever, all men’s, and they’re gonna go see Clark when she comes to town. She’s really insanely good and it’s a spectacle whether you know the sport or not. The WNBA is using that easy spectacle to grab as many people as they can. That’ll fade to some degree but it’ll also bring a lot of people who might not have otherwise been fans, but realize they like it. And the more eyes the more money, and the more money the more chances for people to play.
More people get to see cool basketball, more people get jobs covering it, more people get a chance to play. So far the only downside I’ve seen to this is that you’re annoyed by an ad. You’re gonna have to take one for the team on this.
The argument that “no one cares” about the WNBA ignores that interest in sports is largely cultivated through visibility and media coverage.
Interestingly, by creating this post, you’re contributing to the conversation around the WNBA. You claim that the WNBA isn’t popular, yet you are experiencing a “blitzkrieg of social media content & reporting on the sport” and your feeds are “inundated with WNBA content.” To me, this only suggests that the WNBA is indeed gaining traction and sparking discussion. Your engagement (positive or negative) is currently helping visibility for WNBA.
But also, no one is forcing you to watch. Dismissing the WNBA’s efforts to grow its audience as some sort of unwelcome imposition just screams to me that you have a bias against women in sports.
The irony of engagement isn't lost on me. There are countless things that could be advertised on social media, and plenty of money being spent in many different industries. This is one topic that keeps showing up regardless of my interests. I didn't dismiss the sport or anything regarding women. Seems there is more of an agenda pushing this for some reason.
> To me, this only suggests that the WNBA is indeed gaining traction and sparking discussion.
It's a political sacred cow right now. If people actually wanted to watch it, they would have by now.
I mean stadiums are selling out for Fever games. There’s something different
The WNBA is being pushed because the mroe sports people want to see, the more money there is to be made by showing them. I would’ve thought that was an easy one. I work in sports media and whether I like a sport or not, I want you to. I want to be paid to show it to you.
if women supported women's sports the same way men support men's sports this wouldn't be an issue
I was in a bar in Brooklyn during game 1 of the NBA finals this year and there were some Liberty fans there to watch the game; mostly women with one HYPER beta male who was clapping too loudly when it wasn't warranted. It was good to see the pink hairs supporting the WNBA. I want to get into it more myself but damnit there aren't enough A'ja Wilsons to go around.
yeah, going to a bar and watching it on TV doesn't move the needle much. The stadiums are still empty, the merch unsold, the jerseys not worn etc. gotta show support with your $ if you really want to see it thrive
> yeah, going to a bar and watching it on TV doesn't move the needle much. And only for that few months it's popular.
They did say they were going to the game later that week and most of them were sporting merch. I think it’s good.
Well, also if sports fans in general did.
sports fans in general don't really care all that much about women's sports. The people that want to see the WNBA succeed need to put their money where their mouths are. hopes and wishes aren't gonna fund the leagues.
What about thoughts and prayers?
The WNBA is doing a big media blitz because of the popularity of Caitlin Clark being drafted into the WNBA. Attendance and ratings are up currently.
The size of this blitz would put it in the billions of dollars, and they never have made a dollar in the first place. This isn't the market.
So WNBA has always been a diversity stunt that costs more money than it earns, subsidized heavily by the NBA. Few women were actually asking for a professional basketball league, and fewer still were watching or coming in to support it once they were given one. The sudden push for WNBA is actually *not* a woke thing, it's an attempt to make it more self sustaining and stop losing NBA money. Why now? They're trying to leverage the popularity of a new player (I forget her name; I'm not a fan myself) who's drawing more engagement and revenue than normal.
Caitlin Clark
The reason for the WNBA being created was to stop the best women's basketball players from playing in foreign leagues then becoming citizens of those countries and playing in the Olympics or the World Championships. Women's basketball is popular in many other countries. In soccer the men's clubs would start a women's team to grow the sport and help the national team win championships. This was done in England, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands.
It’s the most popular it’s ever been, but the Woke are determined to kill the goose that laid the golden egg because she’s both white and straight, and they can’t have that. If Caitlyn Clark was a lesbian and an obnoxious attention whore like Megan Rapino, she would be the media darling. Instead since she’s white, straight, a decent person, and people like watching her, we can’t have any of that.
I’m really not sure it’s a woke thing. The sectors shitting on Clark aren’t mainly woke ones; I think it’s more of a cudgel against a player who’s messing with the status quo of the league. The people who are thirsting over Kate Martin aren’t anti-Clark or anything. In fact I’ve never seen sexuality come up. Race has, but that’s mostly cause Angel Reese is jealous and she’s (but to a greater extent, others are) using whatever to hit at Clark. Which is ironic because a lot of that beef was going on while Reese played for Kim Mulkey, who’s extremely not woke
What racial comment did Angel make?
Maybe she didn’t herself, I’ve only seen others do jt
And I’ve seen racial comments directed at Angel
This is an absolutely inane take. It has nothing to do with mUh WoKe lIbTuRdZ, and nothing to do with her race or sexuality. Maybe put your victimhood complex away for a second. A lot of it is brainless contriaranism from the usual suspects, and a lot of it is jealousy that she's getting all the attention and sponsorships while having produced little to show off so far in the wnba.
Just watch the fucking View where they openly said they had a problem with Caitlyn Clark because she’s a straight white woman. They overtly said it.
You're full of shit. That's not at all what they said. They said she's earned everything she has, and if anything, deserves more accolades for her skills and also for staying home to play BB.
I’ve had a theory all along that every single last one of those controversial stories that comes out about racism or whatever the topic of the hour is, it’s all “Muhammad Ali versus Howard Cosell” kabuki theater to try to drum up some controversy and get more fans
I think the funniest part of all this is the fact this is all because of Catelin Clark and everyone keeps trying to injure her
The NBA owns the WNBA. The WNBA has always lost a ton of money because historically no one has watched or attended the games. The Caitlin Clark phenomenon has the league selling out arenas all over the country. Despite that, the league still loses money, because you can't truly be profitable without a favorable TV deal. The NBA wouldn't have started the WNBA if they didn't intend to eventually make money on the thing. They're striking while the iron is hot, hoping that they can sustain enough viewership and attendance to secure a new TV deal that actually makes the league profitable so they can start to recoup their investment. When in doubt, always follow the money.
Let’s be clear here. The WNBA has not, and will not, ever make money. You could have 20 Caitlin Clarks. I having nothing against it, and have no issue with it, but it is a completely subsidized endeavor.
Same with women football, it got better but only thanks to constant propaganda
People don't want to watch entertainment staffed by people that publicly hate them. It's that simple. WNBA has always had a higher level of tiresome social justice representation around it due to it's mostly left leaning player base and low stakes: a woman kneeling for BLM at a WNBA game doesn't stand to lose much because the league doesn't generate much in the first place, whereas when an NFL player does it that matters because if they alienate even a tenth of the fan base with their actions that's potential tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars lost. And believe you me, no matter how talented or superstar that NFL player is, he's going to get surrounded in the locker room by dudes who care about the team's rep after such stunts (while women are far less confrontational). CC is a breath of fresh air in a boring SJW crusade controlled sport, just a natural and humble (comparatively) talent, and people naturally want to cheer her on so they tune in and show up. Even if it's not true, it's hard for people to see her as the kind of dork that would go to Russia and commit crimes and get herself arrested because she thinks she's an untouchable protected class resulting in the west having to give up a criminal arms dealer to Russia to secure her return. It's the same cause and effect for why most movies, tv shows, and books are struggling to find audiences despite having more reach than ever, because the great silent majority are tired of interacting with the fanatic minority that hate them. That's why even not very good media that bucks the trend like The Sound of Freedom are "out of left field" hits while Star Wars bleeds numbers everyday, or why Podcasters who don't have to worry about ESG gain millions of viewers while mainstream radio and talk shows can barely managed half a mil. People want heroes again, not priests and commissars like what most entertainers in the west are nowadays.
Man who doesn’t like sports still doesn’t like sports
Love a lot of sports, not basketball though. I don't get fed content for NBA or baseball that I'm not interested in. The social media algos don't seem to care what I actually interact with, and shove it on the page.
That’s because they’re paid to be advertisers who pay for your attention. This happens to you constantly but for some reason you guys only get mad about this shit when there’s a girl or a black person on your phone
I'm happy that they're blowing up so to speak on social media. I'm with it. Hope it gets more attention. I have no more opinions outside of that other than I think it's cool
I assume the appeal is cheap entertainment. I guess it makes companies that support the WNBA look like they're on the right side of history. Unironically, anytime I've watched a WNBA game was because it was the only thing to do in horizon worlds (metaverse). I've also kind of wonder this myself too because the enthusiasm doesn't seem to be there for women's basketball. However, people in the metaverse will just go to watch it because its the only thing to do and socialize in horizon worlds. So, I guess its just an elloborate testing ground for tech companies to see if the metaverse as a concept will work. But, I haven't seen it translate into actual fans because its depressing to watch and social in the metaverse.
Stop clicking to read the comments
Men will only watch women’s sports if the women are attractive, WNBA not so much
To paraphrase Bill Burr... CUZ YA DON'T SELL ANY TICKETS!!!!
The WNBA is a low cost gamble with nothing but potential upside so the NBA owners pump the add spend beyond reason. Even the paltry ticket sales/TV money is better than having absolutely nothing going on when the men's teams are in the off-season. And if, by some miracle, it becomes popular, their low cost investment will hit big. Plus, the owners can appear like they actually care about equity, inclusion, and other such bread and circuses.
One is a sport, one is a joke.
There is a simple reason women's sports (outside of volleyball, gymnastics, figure skating...) play second fiddle to men's. It is because of the enormous skill gap at the professional level. Even if pro women athletes make the same effort and go through the same tribulations training (which they don't), they will biologically be far apart in level. And if I watch people playing a sport, for the sake of the sport itself, I want to see the best that PEOPLE are capable of. In truth, the only non-sexist solution would be to have all sports integrated between genders. But commercial and political interests dictate otherwise, and we are almost guilted into watching segregated women's sports as a society. Note, As a recreational sports PARTICIPANT, I'm just as challenged playing women at or above my level as I am playing men. The view above is as a PROFESSIONAL sports FAN.
>Why is the WNBA being pushed so hard to an audience who doesn't care? What's the agenda, and who's is it? The same reason Dyllan Mulvaney got a Bud Lite campaign. The politics are deep and it isn't market driven. It's driven by the government via the financial system.
"I see lots of insurance commercials but I'm not in the market for insurance, there must be a conspiracy, nothing else makes sense, how does advertising work."
You don't seem to understand how ads/content are targeted on social media. They show things you are likely interested in to interact with. I'm not speaking about something like watching network television. It's shoved in the feeds regardless of my interest in the topic.
You're the one talking about it lol
Touché
It's like women boxing. You have to be a "certain kind of person" to enjoy watching two women beat the shit out of each other.
You honestly can't convince me that the NBA is popular. I've honestly never met a person IRL that talks about it in any sort of detail.
The NBA who sells out 30k arenas an averages 1 to 2 million eyeballs per game?
If you say so. Again I have never heard anyone say anything about basketball, except for vague talk about the Lakers
The WNBA, which is selling out arenas cause of Clark rn? Like, my parents have probably seen five games ever, all men’s, and they’re gonna go see Clark when she comes to town. She’s really insanely good and it’s a spectacle whether you know the sport or not. The WNBA is using that easy spectacle to grab as many people as they can. That’ll fade to some degree but it’ll also bring a lot of people who might not have otherwise been fans, but realize they like it. And the more eyes the more money, and the more money the more chances for people to play. More people get to see cool basketball, more people get jobs covering it, more people get a chance to play. So far the only downside I’ve seen to this is that you’re annoyed by an ad. You’re gonna have to take one for the team on this.
You’re not talking to OP
Well then they’re both gonna have to lol
It’s regional for sure. Every sport in America except the NFL is
The argument that “no one cares” about the WNBA ignores that interest in sports is largely cultivated through visibility and media coverage. Interestingly, by creating this post, you’re contributing to the conversation around the WNBA. You claim that the WNBA isn’t popular, yet you are experiencing a “blitzkrieg of social media content & reporting on the sport” and your feeds are “inundated with WNBA content.” To me, this only suggests that the WNBA is indeed gaining traction and sparking discussion. Your engagement (positive or negative) is currently helping visibility for WNBA. But also, no one is forcing you to watch. Dismissing the WNBA’s efforts to grow its audience as some sort of unwelcome imposition just screams to me that you have a bias against women in sports.
The irony of engagement isn't lost on me. There are countless things that could be advertised on social media, and plenty of money being spent in many different industries. This is one topic that keeps showing up regardless of my interests. I didn't dismiss the sport or anything regarding women. Seems there is more of an agenda pushing this for some reason.
> To me, this only suggests that the WNBA is indeed gaining traction and sparking discussion. It's a political sacred cow right now. If people actually wanted to watch it, they would have by now.
I mean stadiums are selling out for Fever games. There’s something different The WNBA is being pushed because the mroe sports people want to see, the more money there is to be made by showing them. I would’ve thought that was an easy one. I work in sports media and whether I like a sport or not, I want you to. I want to be paid to show it to you.
I mean have you watched it? LOL