The WNBA Must Capitalize on Fan Engagement and Bring About League Expansion.
With record-breaking attendance at games and the league reaching all-time television viewership, interest in the WNBA has been at its highest since its inception in 1996.
Saturday, May 13, 2023, the WNBA held its first game in Canada in front of 19,923 fans at the Scotiabank Arena. It was the most people in attendance for a WNBA preseason game ever, as well as the most-watched WNBA preseason game.
The Chicago Sky defeated the Minnesota Lynx 82–74 in the inaugural WNBA Canada game.
The excitement for basketball is nothing new to Toronto, as they have been hailed as one of the best fanbases in their support of the Toronto Raptors of the NBA. But this desire for basketball and women’s basketball is explicitly evident, it is tangible.
It’s evident from 98% of all merchandise at Scotiabank Arena being sold out. Toronto wants a WNBA team.
And Toronto is not alone.
The idea of WNBA expansion has been prevalent for years, yet the WNBA has remained as an 8-team organization since 2010. With record-breaking attendance at games and the league reaching all-time television viewership, interest in the WNBA has been at its highest since its inception in 1996.
Opening weekend attendance increased 24% year-over-year, while the opening night game between the Phoenix Mercury and the Los Angeles Sparks had 683,000 average viewers — peaking at 1 million viewers.
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has commented on expansion multiple times as of late and has acknowledged the “huge demand for WNBA content” and plans to launch more global events in the future. She has also mentioned Toronto as a leading destination for a potential expansion team.
Many cities may also fit the bill for being host to a WNBA franchise. The Bay Area, Denver, Portland, Austin, and Charlotte are all cities and locations mentioned to be in the mix for expansion.
Is fan interest the only thing driving the calls for WNBA expansion teams? Not at all. The beautiful truth about the WNBA is that there is an abundance of talent in the association. The ugly truth is that there is too much talent.
Currently, there are 12 teams in the WNBA and each team is allowed 12 players on their respective rosters. 144 players compete in this league night in and night out. What happens to the players who aren’t able to make a WNBA roster? They are free agents who await a team in need of their service.
This creates a lack of availability on a roster for players that may need a little time to transition to WNBA competition — specifically collegiate athletes who declare for the league and are drafted. This is a freedom franchises in other organizations like the NBA or NFL are afforded due to their roster sizes.
In the 2023 WNBA training camp, many top draft picks were waived including the fourth overall selectee in the 2022 draft Emily Engstler and the number one overall pick in the 2021 draft Charli Collier. In the 2023 WNBA draft, only 15 of the 36 players drafted were on a roster on opening day.
Of the 144 players drafted since 2020, only 46 remain on a WNBA roster.
Some players have been vocal about the need for more roster spots and teams in the association such as Washington Mystics guard Natasha Cloud and Connecticut Sun guard Natisha Hiedeman.
The talent pool dictates that there needs to be some form of expansion to the league or suffer talented players being unable to find a home with an organization.
This problem will only be worse in a few years as talented players continue to enter the league such as Iowa standout Caitlin Clark, UCONN star Paige Bueckers, and leader of the National Champion LSU Tigers, star Angel Reese.
These names have set the collegiate world on fire with many viewers watching the Women’s March Madness tournament. The women’s national championship game recorded 9.9 million viewers according to ESPN, making it the most-watched women’s basketball championship game ever.
The game was a 104% increase from the previous year and had a peak of 12.3 million viewers, while also becoming the most-watched college event ever on the streaming platform ESPN+.
Since ESPN began broadcasting the championship game in 1996, the previous record-holder was the 2002 matchup between the Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi-led UCONN vs Oklahoma. The game drew 5.68 million viewers. For comparison, the 2023 semifinal matchup between Iowa and South Carolina drew 5.6 million viewers and was ESPN’s third-most viewed women’s college basketball game on record.
While interest in women’s college and professional hoops continues to grow, the WNBA would be in its best interests to capitalize on both the fan interest and talent at the association's disposal.
Waiting to make sure the financials align before settling on a new expansion team is a tedious process. The quick solution that can be negotiated in the CBA is for there to be more than 12 roster spots per team. Adjusting from 12 to 14 roster spots immediately creates the potential for 24 more spots in the league, the same number as 2 expansion teams joining the league.
While Commissioner Cathy Engelbert believes the roster size is fine the way it is, others disagree. And it is easy to see why.
Why not capitalize on all of the talent coming into the league? Why keep a system that does not grant security to top picks? Why not reward fanbases who love the sport of basketball and crave more women’s hoops with what they desire?
Popularity is growing and will continue to grow. The time to expand the league is now.
