The Rise of WNBA
Even though the NBA was every sane man’s dream come true, there is still a problem with it. That problem is that the league allowed only men to play the game of basketball. Naturally, the women of our world felt left out. Thus
to please them, the WNBA was born.
The WNBA was approved by the current owners of the NBA league during April, 1996. The league started off with only eight teams which included the Houston Comets , the Los Angeles Sparks and the Phoenix Mercury just to name a few.
In the beginning, the WNBA had already received deals with NBC (for television broadcasting but that was mainly because they already had rights to NBA), Walt Disney, ESPN and Lifetime Television Network. The WNBA was not the first woman’s basketball league
to be formed in America, but it was the only one with the full backing of the NBA (National Basketball Association). Even their logo was similar to that of the NBA. In the late 1900’s the WNBA started its “We Got Next” campaign which revolved around the star
WNBA players Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie, and Sheryl Swoops (who was the first player to be drafted into the WNBA). This campaign was later replaced by the “We Got Game” campaign.
The WNBA gained its grounds when its main competitor the American Basketball League (ABL) closed down. This was due to the fact that many of ABL’s key players and some prominent college players decided to join the WNBA. This shift
in sides caused the quality of the WNBA to increase drastically.
The early 2000’s were important years in the history of the WNBA league. The Houston Comets became the very first all women sports team to be invited to the White House Rose Garden. This was important because before this, only
men’s sport teams were invited there. By the year 2000, the WNBA had grown twice its size with the addition of eight more teams including the Detroit Shocks, Seattle Storm, and Portland Fire, just to name a few. Until 2002, these teams were owned by the NBA
themselves, but soon they were sold to their respective cities, or a third party. This caused two of the teams to move (Utah went to San Antonio and Orlando went to Connecticut). After this move, the Connecticut Sun was the only team to be owned by a third
party.
During the late 2000’s one of WNBA’s original teams, the Cleveland Rockers, had to disband due to the owners’ unwillingness to continue. Also, during the off season, the WNBA passed rules that allowed it to be more like its male
counterpart the NBA. The year 2007 saw the formation of a new WNBA team by the name of “Atlanta Dream” who played their first game against the Connecticut Suns and lost. Another major happening for the WNBA was their agreement with ESPN. This was the first
agreement that paid television rights to a women’s sports team. During 2008, the WNBA bought the Houston Comets. This team had to be dispersed because they could not find any franchise who wanted them. 2008 was a big year for the WNBA as it was the year when
the first ever outdoor professional basketball game was played in North America. Finally in 2009, the Phoenix Mercury team signed a deal with a company called Lifelock to brand their basketball jerseys. This was the first branded jersey in the history of the
WNBA. The other teams soon followed in their footsteps.
Even though these achievements might seem small in comparison to the WNBA’s male counterpart, it is important to understand that it takes small steps to achieve something big. Moreover, if one looks at the brief time period for
which the WNBA has existed, they would see that this organization has come a long way since their beginning. Now, it is being felt that the year 2010 holds big things for the WNBA.
Tags: