The WNBA is making major strides.
On Tuesday, The Athletic reported that the WNBA’s upcoming media deal is valued at approximately $2.2 billion over 11 years, marking a groundbreaking financial investment into the women’s league.
The NBA negotiated the WNBA’s media deal alongside its own massive media rights agreement with Disney (ESPN/ABC,) NBC and Amazon. Those companies will have their own WNBA packages, according to the report.
The NBA’s board of governors approved the new 11-year, $76 billion broadcast contract on Tuesday, but finalization is still pending as TNT’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, insists it can match one of the new partner’s offers and is weighing whether to do so.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver confirmed on Tuesday that the media deals were not finalized yet.
The WNBA has experienced a significant boost in viewership and popularity this season due to the arrival of a talented rookie class, led by stars like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, Rickea Jackson and Kamilla Cardoso.
Games are averaging 1.32 million viewers across the networks of ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and CBS, which is triple the average of 462,000 last season.
The month of May saw the largest attendance in 26 years for the opening month of a WNBA season. Half of all the games were sellouts, which was a 156% increase from the prior year.
WNBA arenas across the league also found themselves being filled with an average of 94% capacity.
“What’s happening now in women’s basketball is confirmation of what we’ve always known: The demand is there, and women’s sports is a valuable investment,” WNBA chief growth officer Colie Edison said in a statement back in May. “We’re encouraged by growing engagement across all our verticals, especially as we welcome new and diverse audiences into our fandom. The WNBA continues to experience sustained growth as our league embraces this heightened momentum.”
Long-standing tension over WNBA players flying commercial while NBA teams flew private eased when WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced the launch of a full charter program for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, which she described as “a testament to the continued growth of the WNBA.”
The W’s current CBA, which runs through 2027, permits the league’s top players to earn cash compensation exceeding $500,000. This eight-year CBA, which began in 2020, marked the first time in WNBA history that the average cash compensation surpassed six figures, according to WNBA.com.
While a better CBA, similar to the NBA’s 50 percent media rights guarantee, is needed, the influx with the new media deal could help raise players’ low salaries and ensure new stars, like Clark, who is making a base salary of just $76,535, don’t start with annual salaries under $100,000.
When Clark, the Iowa product who broke Pete Maravich’s all-time NCAA basketball points record, was selected No. 1 overall in the 2024 draft by the Indiana Fever, discussions about the pay gap between WNBA and NBA players heated up.
selected as the No.1 pick to the Indiana Fever. AP
LA Sparks rookie Brink, who recently suffered a season-ending ACL tear, highlighted how low the salaries are for female basketball players in an interview with Flaunt Magazine.
“To be frank, as a female basketball player, our salaries are hard to sustain ourselves, especially for our needs throughout a whole year,” the 22-year-old said. “That’s why endorsements are so important, and that’s why I’m so thankful for every brand I work with because that’s the majority of the money I make. It’s not from my basketball salary.”
An increased media rights revenue, now worth about $200 million a year compared to the previous $50 million, will provide more funds for both the players and the teams.
This new deal will exceed Engelbert’s goal to “at least double” the value of the league’s current contracts.
“We need the ecosystem, essentially, the sports ecosystem to step up,” Engelbert said in an interview with “NBC Nightly News” Sunday anchor Hallie Jackson back in May. “And I feel really good that that’s going to happen with our next media rights negotiation, as well as our corporate partners. Our phones are ringing off the hook.”