The WNBA: Its Problems and Potential
The Women’s National Basketball Association is the most famous professional basketball league for women in the world. It has grown from a small concept in the mind of a few executives at the NBA to becoming a very popular sport watched by scores of people all over America. The league has had its problems as well, from not being taken seriously when it first started to spectators not showing up to games and teams losing money to one of the biggest teams in the league folding because of financial issues. Some have said that the league needs to adapt its rules, others say that people should support women’s basketball more and still others say that women should not play basketball at all. It will be interesting to see what happens to this pinnacle of women’s basketball in the future.
The sport of basketball was invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith when his bosses at Massachusetts YMCA ordered him to invent an indoor game to keep his students busy during the winter months. Soon basketball was born and what is interesting to note is that women started to play the game exactly one year later. Those first poor, brave women played the game in corsets adhering to strict societal rules. Slowly things started to get better for the women who wanted to play the sport they were getting excited about. In 1892 the pioneer of women’s basketball was a woman named Senda Berenson Abbott who adapted the men’s rules to be played by women. Almost a year after she initiated the new rules, an inter college game was played for the first time in America. In order to play during those harsh and restrictive times, women had to adapt the game they loved. One of the ways was to serve snacks or a full dinner after a game so that people felt that women were still following the rules set out by society. They could indulge in a little fun and games only if they were behaving like proper women.
This scenario continued to improve and get better and it was revolutionised in 1996. That was the year the NBA introduced the concept to start a women’s basketball league. The idea proved to be popular and in the space of a year, players were drafted and teams were formed. The league was born and women’s basketball was forever changed. During the first draft in 1997, the league looked for talented college players as well as unsigned veterans to fill spots on teams. From these humble beginnings, the league is now very popular all over America and is watched by countless fans all over but it still has its problems.
In its early years spectators did not take the games seriously and the league was ridiculed for being nothing more than a poor imitation of the men’s game. However, that image was dropped as the style of play became better and spectators started to take the games and the women playing the games more seriously. Then the next problem faced by the league is the fact that it just does not get the same level of huge sponsorships or television deals that the NBA or other professional sports get. This is the reason the league cannot afford to pay its biggest stars the high salaries that other sports can afford to. The massive difficulty for the league is the fact that it might lose players to overseas markets. The best players in the league such as Diana Taurasi, also play in other markets during the offseason. She plays in Russia where she earns three times what she earns in the States. She might be tempted to leave the WNBA for a season and play solely in Russia to give herself a break.
Whether people say that the WNBA is a non starter and should be scrapped, it is still alive and kicking after almost 14 years. With some more support and some more money pumped into it through maybe government support, the league could experience a huge boost and could become as popular as other women’s sorts out there, such as tennis or golf. Even though it has problems, the WNBA is a fighter as are all its players and they will not let their league die so easily.
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