(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
So the WNBA Conference Finals are set.
In the East, it’s the Shock vs. the Fever; in the West, it’s the Sparks vs. the Mercury.
Hoping to whet WNBA enthusiasts’ appetites, ESPN.com writers pepper their prose with clever word play, like whether the Fever can “Solve the Shock,” or wondering aloud whether it will be CP3 (Candice Parker) or DT3 (Diana Taurasi) that takes home the Western Conference crown.
But WNBA writers would be better off asking their readers the following: Who, other than you, knows the WNBA even exists?
Though ESPN airs WNBA games, you’d be hard-pressed to find a game breakdown on SportsCenter or game recap on their "BottomLine."
Their Web site makes it easy to find columnists and their columns, the big three in professional sports (NFL, MLB, NBA, in that order), and a simple scroll of the mouse wheel reveals links to MMA, horse racing, and Olympic sports news.
No such luck, er, link on the front page for the WNBA.
Obviously, this lack of exposure stems from the league’s perpetually poor ratings share.
Last year, when the economy was booming rather than busting, the WNBA saw minor improvements over 2007, increasing their attendance a mere 2.7 percent, and their TV ratings two-tenths of a percent.
When the 2008 season kicked off in June, the WNBA posted numbers that painted a much rosier view, but the shuttering of the WNBA’s winningest franchise last December due to finances belied those assertions (i.e., Houston Comets).
Defenders of the WNBA will point out the fact that any increase is positive, but not when the bar at which improvement is measured is remarkably low.
How low?
The average number of viewers last year was 413,000, which amounts to a 0.32 ratings share. Niche news commentary programs like The O’Reilly Factor and Hannity get well over that number on re-runs, never mind live programming.
In this the WNBA’s 13th year of existence, who’s to blame for their lack of limelight?
Poor marketing is partially to blame.
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