Women's College Basketball Stars Are Changing the Game, Here’s What the WNBA Can Learn
To grow the game, you have to spread the names -
By Mykell Mathieu
March Madness is upon us with women's college basketball, and this season may be one of the best NCAA tournaments we have seen in years.
With big names like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers — basketball fans everywhere are excited.
Many believe that this year's women's college basketball tournament will attract more eyes and attention than the men's. Those eyes are tuning in to see great teams and the amazing plays we've seen all year long. Because let's face it, the biggest stars in college basketball this year all reside with the women.
With Clark breaking the all-time scoring record in college basketball history and Reese winning the SEC Player of the Year while continuing to build her off-court appeal, women's college basketball clearly understands how to capitalize on its most prominent stars to elevate the game.
The question is, how will these NCAA legends of today become household names and legends in the WNBA? Clark, Reese, and Stanford great Cameron Brink will play their final games as college athletes this March and will hear their names called next month in the 2024 WNBA Draft. While they have all excelled and learned how to become pros in college, now it's time for the pros to learn from the college game.
I love the WNBA! The game, its history, the legendary players, and so much more. When I was younger, the WNBA was just getting its star. You knew all of the top players who were expected to carry the league, including Lisa Leslie, Cynthia Cooper, Rebecca Lobo, Sheryl Swoopes, and others.
You saw these women in commercials, magazines, TV shows, award shows, and other platforms. The WNBA was all about making sure its star players were well-known, something that I feel they have struggled to do now.
With social media, podcasts, and a plethora of other platforms available, the WNBA has failed to highlight players throughout the year in the same way the NBA does. The W isn't doing enough to maximize the talent & superstar names that come from the college ranks.
I don't know who to blame, the players or the league itself, but most sports fans should know today's superstars! It's a damn shame that A'ja Wilson isn't seen all over social media, billboards, and commercials, having her own shoe, and hello, even having her own podcast that is booming right now.
Look at the NBA. They have understood that sometimes players' stardom can be more significant than any of the teams, which has carried the brand forward from the 60s to the present day. Women's college basketball has understood this for quite some time as well. Look at how much love even a freshman like Juju Watkins has received since day one. But somewhere down the line, the WNBA has lost its way.
The 12 teams have to do more with their social media. The WNBA marketing team has to do more. The players have to do more. The owners of these teams have to do more. It should be all hands on deck to keep the player's names, images, and likenesses in as many places as possible. This will make it easier for college athletes joining the league to continue engaging with their audiences and, consequently, bring more fans to the W.
Follow the leader: What the WNBA needs to learn from college basketball -
By Nick Hamilton
The popularity of women's college basketball continues to soar among fans and sponsors alike. With Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Juju Watkins, the women's game has risen to heights not seen by its professional counterparts in the WNBA.
Clark and Reese's performances enticed approximately 10 million viewers to watch the 2023 NCAA championship game, which set a record in viewership for the ESPN networks. This is a drastic contrast to the 2023 WNBA Finals, which averaged 728,000 viewers each game.
Fans experienced the excitement and promotion of the country's biggest stars in college hoops. The WNBA, however, has yet to capitalize on its star players, such as A'ja Wilson, Brianna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, and Jewell Loyd, to gain fandom and sponsors.
Between Clark setting excellent records, Reese (a national champion), and the freshman phenom Watkins, who put the fight back in USC, women's college basketball has usurped men's basketball in interest and connection. The marketing strategy of college hoops understands the emphasis of shining light on a star player pays dividends when it comes to fans and monetary rewards back to the advertisers and the university who receive tens of millions of dollars back to their respective conferences and universities of the skills of their star athletes for years to come.
Expansion could help the WNBA, which has 12 teams and a 40-game season. The redundancy of teams playing each other often in a season can cause fans to lose interest until the playoffs, versus college fans who are faithful to follow the intrigue of March Madness and the college game to stay engaged in the sport of women's basketball.
The bigger mystery remains: How will Clark, Reese, Cameron Brink, and others' popularity translate to the WNBA?
The WNBA needs to aggressively focus on selling the voluptuous personalities of these collegiate stars. Secondly, instead of marketing teams and focusing more on expansion, focus more on individuals and incoming superstars to sell the game. There is no reason why the jerseys of the incoming college athletes drafted to the WNBA should be available to the public before the season begins.
One can't continue to use the slogan "women support women" when the league has yet to utilize celebrities like Beyoncé, Rhianna, Taylor Swift, Latto, Cardi B., Zendaya, and other top women of the culture showing up to the WNBA games. One Coi Leray song is insufficient to entice other women fans to support the growing league. Granted, the WNBA has made some significant strides in its 27-year existence, yet they have yet to maximize its popularity when it translates into revenue for its players and the league.
Imagine Beyoncé or Taylor Swift cutting commercials for the league with actual WNBA players in them. Or if they performed during the halftime shows of the league's All-Star games.
Another idea is for the WNBA to constantly highlight its former players and institute throwback jerseys, especially worn by the league rookies, to keep pace with the excitement of the women's college game. Making Clark, Reese, and Brink wear a WNBA throwback on the cover of Slam Magazine like Allen Iverson did decades ago for the NBA, or be the feature on Complex or USA Today.
Developing a culture that translates from women's college hoops to the WNBA and draws fans into the league could be extremely helpful, especially in storytelling.
The WNBA could market its stars during the March Madness tournaments to increase fan awareness. The league understood the "super team" aspect but turned the ball over when developing the organic rivalry between Wilson and Stewart.
They now have a golden opportunity to develop a pure, unadulterated rivalry between Reece and Clark in the new era.
Unlike the women's college games, the WNBA has yet to fully capitalize on basketball cities with various fans. The league must continue to find ways to close the gap between them and the college game, and that mission must start now. Before, a tsunami of popularity far surpassed the WNBA, so much so that college basketball and its stars will remain higher than what the WNBA will be able to reach.
If you build it, fans will come: Unleashing the WNBA's potential with existing assets -
By Jackie Rae
My colleagues have the same point. The WNBA needs to take a lesson from the skyrocketing success of the NCAA women's game. The truth is, they are correct. When was the last time you heard a sports commentator on a major network talk about the star power of an NCAA men's basketball player? Instead, Shaquille O'Neal used his G14 classification while on the NBA on TBT to sing Catlin Clark's praises by saying, "I'm gonna go on the record and say she's the best female collegiate player ever."
The star power of all the college players listed by my colleagues is truly undeniable — but everyone who thinks the NCAA is showing up the WNBA is overlooking a glaring detail. College basketball has built-in fans.
Students, their families, alumni, rival schools that will travel, friends of the cheerleaders, the band, and their family and friends — have been a constant resource for any NCAA team. Of course, a team has to be good. Of course, a team needs start power. But once that is achieved, the playbook writes itself.
Make no mistake—I'm not giving the WNBA a pass. But I will say the league's biggest problem is trying to dictate who will be a star instead of acknowledging when a star is born. The league has been obsessed with New York Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu. Don't get me wrong—she is a phenomenal player. And you can't blame the WNBA for wanting to capitalize on her proximity to the late great Kobe Bryant. But it didn't work.
Ionesco is not the best player on her team. I would argue she is third behind Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones. So why is the league obsessed with creating a fan favorite out of a woman who is the third-best player on a team that has never won a title? This is the United States of America; I will let you figure that one out yourself.
The lesson the W should learn from the NCAA is to let the stars shine naturally. Then you follow the star power. If they want to avoid taking a lesson from the college game, at minimum, they should take a lesson from Las Vegas Aces owner Mark Davis.
Davis has done everything right when it comes to building a franchise that can win over fans in Vegas and around the country. He made sure the team has an environment to succeed. He's provided the best practice facility. Michelob ULTRA Arena, fittingly called "The House," provides a true home for the Aces. Who, by the way, not only led the league in attendance last season with 9,551 fans per game and had nine sellouts. They are the first team in WNBA history to sell out season tickets.
Davis has also behaved like the leader of the three wise men, flawlessly following the North Star that is A'ja Wilson to the Promised Land. While the W may have trouble acknowledging that she is the one true face of the league, Vegas has no problem letting their brightness star shine for all to see.
From building a team that is the definition of squad goals with Wilson, Kelsey Plum, and Chelsea Gray leading the way, the stars are endless on this team. Even the addition of the aging Candace Parker, who is the GOAT, seems calculated. Why? Because Parker brings a fanbase. Then you add a head coach like Becky Hammond, and now you have a team that many people love and a lot of teams hate. Let's not overlook adding a name like Tom Brady to the mix, and now it just doesn't seem fair.
But imitation is the best form of flattery. The league likely missed the opportunity to build a true rivalry between A'ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart. They also haven't adequately empowered teams in major markets like Los Angeles to tap into an expanding fanbase. However, Mark Davis has proven that responsibility doesn't fall squarely on the league. Owners have to step up as well.
All is not lost, though. Angele Reese and Catlin Clark are on the way. While there is always a learning curve between college and the pros, the league's best bet to gain NCAA fans is to cultivate that rivalry. It worked for the NBA with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, and it will work again. But if the league continues to try to reinvent the wheel, conversations on why fans don't fully support the league will never stop spinning.