WNBA: Is success leading to profit?
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 796 Ratings
🗓️ 17 September 2024
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The 2024 women's basketball season has broken records from attendances at matches, to points scored by rookie Caitlin Clark.
As it draws to a close, we look at whether success on the court is leading to profitability off it.
Despite some major media deals, the WNBA is still struggling to turn a profit.
So is it really a major player in the sports industry?
Produced and presented by Izzy Greenfield
(Photo: A'ja Wilson, on court for the Las Vegas Aces. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, welcome to Business Daily on the BBC World Service with me, Izzy Greenbills, on today's |
| 0:08.5 | episode. |
| 0:09.3 | It'll take off as long as they're stars who can help it take off. |
| 0:12.6 | As long as the economics follow the popularity, I think the teams and the sport can grow. |
| 0:19.4 | As the 2024 season reaches its conclusion, we're taking a closer look at the women's |
| 0:24.3 | basketball in the US and the WNBA League. |
| 0:27.5 | It's seen impressive growth in recent years, and particularly this season, with a boost |
| 0:32.6 | in sponsorship and broadcast deals, increased media attention and higher viewership. |
| 0:37.0 | You know, the number of people watching on television, the number of people purchasing tickets, |
| 0:42.8 | the number of people becoming season ticket members and really aligning with us has been |
| 0:47.6 | unprecedented. |
| 0:48.9 | But is this momentum translating into profitability? |
| 0:52.2 | Is the WNBA getting closer to making money? And can its growing fan base turn into profitability? Is the WNBA getting closer to making money? |
| 0:55.6 | And can its growing fan base turn into sustainable business success? |
| 0:59.9 | The business of women's basketball, all coming up on today's program. |
| 1:07.3 | The WNBA has experienced somewhat of a breakout year in the 2024 season, which runs from May to October, success both on and off the court. |
| 1:17.0 | Launched in 1996 as the women's counterpart to the NBA, the professional basketball league for women is based in the United States. |
| 1:24.0 | And this year, players like Brianna Stewart and rising superstar Caitlin Clark |
| 1:28.2 | have captivated fans, and the league has seen record attendance and viewership numbers. |
| 1:35.4 | On the sidelines, the WMBA has secured some landmark broadcast deals, a new 11-year |
| 1:41.2 | media rights deal was reached, featuring partnerships with Disney, Amazon Prime |
| 1:45.3 | Video, and new rights holder NBC Universal. The deals valued at about $2.2 billion, and additional |
... |
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