WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert joined ESPN’s “First Take” to discuss the league and the growing viewership of women’s basketball. The women’s NCAA Tournament championship game outperformed the men’s side of the game in viewership by four million, with an average viewership of 18.7 million viewers.
“We’re seeing this confluence of a ton of positive things on both the basketball and the business side of women’s basketball,” Engelbert said. “Obviously, generational talent with big followings because of social media and increased media coverage thanks to ESPN and Disney, our asset values are going up. We raised some capital a couple of years ago and where we can expand the league. We’ve announced one expansion team and more to come, so we’re really excited to carry this momentum into the WNBA’s 28th season.”
Stephen A. Smith asked Engelbert how she sees Caitlin Clark factoring into the growth of the WNBA. Clark will likely be the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft, which takes place on April 15 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York (ESPN, 7:30 p.m. ET).
“I think using the platform she has that she’s gained with all these followers nationally, but also globally now, she’ll be able to have a big global platform coming into the professional (level),” Engelbert said. “I just think her style of play resonates with the big basketball fan, the big game fan, but because in sports, as you know Stephen A., you need household names, rivalries and games of consequence.
“Obviously, March Madness had all of that and we’re hoping certainly to replicate it. Now we have a 40-game season, so not every game you might call ‘a game of consequence,’ but we’re really excited for what Caitlin and this really strong rookie class with Cameron Brink and Kamilla Cardoso and so many others coming. I’ve had fun the last couple of days calling them to invite them to Brooklyn for our draft next Monday night, so it’s kind of a fun time of year for us.”
Host Chris Russo believes Cardoso and Clark could elevate the WNBA like NBA legends Larry Bird and Magic Johnson did in the 1970s.
We’ve seen it before Kathy: I know it was two players, but you had Bird and Magic in 1979. Bird goes to Boston, Magic goes to L.A. — highest-rated college basketball game of all time. The NBA was really struggling and all of a sudden those two lifted the league. Obviously, the South Carolina center, you could see the same sort of thing developing here for the WNBA. She is that dynamic as a player and Bird and Magic same thing say 50 years ago.
Engelbert shared that a big rivalry coming out of college made way for the rise of NBA media rights and Michael Jordan with Nike. She believes the WNBA’s moment has arrived which is due to the hard work of players, teams and staff, both past and present.
