Tag Archives: sports

The WNBA Revolution: Unprecedented Growth in 2024 Season

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This past season, the WNBA saw unprecedented growth in viewership, attendance, and player endorsements. The league’s regular season viewership soared to an average of 1.19 million viewers across ESPN platforms, marking a staggering 170% increase from the previous year. This surge in popularity was reflected in attendance figures, with the league averaging 9,807 fans per game, up 48% from the 2023 season.

The increased visibility has translated into more lucrative endorsement deals for players. Angel Reese, for instance, recently signed a multi-year contract extension with Reebok, including plans for a signature shoe in 2026. This deal places her among an elite group of only six active WNBA players with signature shoe contracts, compared to over 30 active players in the NBA.

The WNBA also partnered with Kim Kardashian’s brand SKIMS as the “official underwear of the WNBA.” The campaign included basketball legends like Candace Parker and Cameron Brink, as well as DiJonai Carrington, Kelsey Plum, and Skylar Diggins-Smith.  

Despite the league’s growth, player salaries remain a point of contention. The current collective bargaining agreement provides for a rookie minimum salary of $64,154 and a veteran supermax of $241,984. In response to the league’s success, the WNBA Players Association has opted out of the current CBA, aiming to negotiate better compensation and benefits that reflect the sport’s growth. To further underscore its upward trajectory, the league’s expansion plans include increasing the number of regular season games to 44, and adding new teams including the Golden State Valkyries in San Francisco in 2025, and two others coming to Toronto and Portland in 2026. With record-breaking social media engagement and a 413% increase in WNBA social media interactions in addition to the increases in viewership and game attendance, the stage is set for continued growth in the 2025 season.

Rescheduled Olympics Now In Doubt

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One of the largest casualties of the coronavirus pandemic was the 2020 Summer Olympics, which had been scheduled to take place in Tokyo from July 24 to August 9. The competition has been rescheduled for this summer, but it is far from certain that it will go ahead as planned: According to Wall Street Journal, 80 percent of the Japanese public does not want the influx of foreign athletes and spectators at a time when Covid-19 cases have spiked in the country.

The athletes are ready, but is Japan?

Those concerns are exacerbated by the example set by the Australian Open tennis competition, currently underway in Melbourne. Competition organizers there have been criticized for allegedly putting profits ahead of public health by allowing foreign players into the country.

In addition, Yoshiro Mori, the head of Japan’s Olympic Committee, faced calls last weeks to resign after complaining that “talkative” women in sports organizations caused meetings tended to ‘drag on’.