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- Thread starter calibuck
- Start date
ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Fouling Caitlin Clark; plus, a shoplifting panic!
sbnation: The vitriol WNBA players face for fouling Caitlin Clark is unacceptable — and racistESPN: Caitlin Clark knocked to court on flagrant foul by Diamond DeShields. Diamond DeShields receives a flagrant 1 for a rough foul on Caitlin Clark on a fast break.
WNBA touts 48% jump in regular-season crowds
WNBA regular-season attendance was up 48% over the 2023 season, the league announced, as the league averaged 9,807 fans per game in 2024.
WNBA touts 48% attendance jump; over 2.3M fans attend games
WNBA regular-season attendance was up 48% over the 2023 season, the league announced Friday.The WNBA averaged 9,807 fans per game in 2024, a hefty increase from last season's 6,615 per game.
The league said 2,353,735 fans attended WNBA games, the most in 22 years, and the teams combined for 154 sellouts this season after having just 45 in 2023.
Three games drew more than 20,000 fans, including a record 20,711 when the Caitlin Clark-led Indiana Fever visited the Washington Mystics on Sept. 19. The other two games also involved the Fever: 20,366 against the Las Vegas Aces on July 2 and 20,333 versus the Mystics on June 7.
The impact of rookie Clark was a big reason for the increased interest in the league. The Fever set a single-season home attendance record of 340,715 fans, breaking the mark of 250,565 set by the New York Liberty in 2001.
Just sayin': I suspect it has something to do with "race". However regardless, what a bunch of morons. You don't continually commit "flagrant fouls" on the one WNBA player that increases attendance by 48%. The other WNBA players (in lieu of committing flagrant fouls on her) should be taking her out for a steak dinner after the games. You just don't kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
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calibuck
Too soon old, too late smart
Always thought I was above the curve, or below it, but never 'on it'. However with the Fever out of the playoffs, just don't have the desire/incentive to turn on the games (if they were on regular TV). Doesn't make sense to me that the WNBA players are out to hurt CC, who truly has elevated the game attendance, plus sales of over-priced goods, let alone beer/popcorn sales, who almost single-handedly has led this charge. Maybe that was the advantage of Magic/Bird, each was on a different coast, doing their things, and really didn't meet up until NBA finals.... Truly, I would fire ALL the WNBA refs, who wouldn't know a good call if it was told to them, and would have tossed several of the flagrant fouls on CC. However on the other hand, CC pushes off on many a play, the one getting the most play- pushing Jacy away before stopping and popping - really was a push-off, instead of CC's ostensibly making a great stop-n-pop shot. Plus she travels, stopping, picking up her dribble while bunny-hopping back two steps before shooting. FYI, Angel Reese is the MOST egregious walker I've seen, both double-dribbling AND walking on the same drive. Must be an accepted thing however, because not alot of the on-court players are complaining to the refs.
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DubCoffman62
Lazy Slob
My theory is they just want the game to be over. The WNBA is so inconsequential really.
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Seems like the sport is growing in popularity
I think Clark Mania helped a bit overall but she wasn’t in this series
I think Clark Mania helped a bit overall but she wasn’t in this series
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They are still $40 million in the hole this year. It's going to take sustained Clark-mania to even make a dent in that.
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calibuck
Too soon old, too late smart
Kinda surprised that hearing the league is $40m+ in the hole. Watching all the stadia when CC played, it looked like most were filled, and read about moving to another venue, which was larger? Flying private is expensive, but certainly not enough to cost $40m. Anyway, not nitpicking the numbers, but surprised by the vitriol coming out of WNBA players about, I guess, mostly bottled up stuff. Guess the reporters aren't going up to them after the games before this year. Anyway, certainly not one to be 'in the know' about what's 'right or rubbish' via the newsies. Since don't know what to believe, guess I'll just wait until next WNBA kicks off, and amuse myself by watching college women play.
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Hard for any sports to break even without a big media deal. WNBA makes “only” $60M a year. It will reportedly go up significantly in a couple of years.
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I know I didnt watch until this year but I watched several times per week. The production jumped significantly this year along with the quality of play in my opinion. The customers will dictate whether they start getting paid or not like everything else. My opinion is it will only get better and next year Brink will hopefully be healthy and Bueckers will be a rookie. I think that is the style of play people want to see and it's occurring in the college game enough to build a better professional platform here in the U.S.
Now if we can get American soccer to make the same jump we might actually field a better World Cup team (mens).
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calibuck
Too soon old, too late smart
Not to take anything away from the ones that went before, the Lieberman's, the Cheryl's, etc. although it seems like there's a big bulge of talent in last year's class, considerably more than one or two superstars per year. Brink was doing great, CC, and even Jacy earned starting spots as the season wore on. More than I've mentioned as well, just not as prominent. Butts in the seats are wonderful, but the TV revenues are certainly key. Totally agree. The streaming services and ancillary channels (B10+ comes to mind), are stepping in to fill the tv void. Guess some major station or other will have to take a measured plunge on televising WNBA to make them solid. Heck, I'd probably pay a bit more for a WNBA channel.
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