The WNBA has been growing more popular than ever thanks to the interest in Caitlin Clark and that could lead to big bucks in the boardroom.
According to Front Office Sports, the WNBA could be on track to quadruple its annual television rights payout in new negotiations.
Currently, the 12-team league makes a horrifically low $60million per year from its television and streaming deals.
The league has divided its rights with Disney, Amazon Prime Video, CBS and Ion.
But thanks to new long-term agreements that are being discussed, the league may be able to increase its payout within the range of $240million.
Increased attention in the WNBA, thanks to Caitlin Clark among others, could mean big bucks
The league is trying to negotiate a new deal which could reportedly triple its rights payouts
Front Office Sports says that the discussions are being led by the NBA, which owns more than half of the women’s basketball league that was started 28-years ago.
The NBA itself is currently in discussions with multiple media companies for $75billion in long-term television rights extending through the 2030s.
‘The NBA is soliciting one total bid from media companies that does not separate the values of the NBA and the WNBA rights, according to people familiar with the process, and some media companies involved in the bidding are not assigning a specific figure to the WNBA rights,’ per The Washington Post.
‘That means the NBA’s massive deal could be rocket fuel for the WNBA—or that the WNBA’s increased popularity is more of an afterthought. It also could be a bit of both.’
Front Office Sports adds that the league has reserved the right to try to negotiate a separate media deal on its own if they don’t like the number the NBA gets for them.
While Clark may not be the sole reason for the increase in attention, it’s impossible to ignore that she has been its biggest catalyst.
The league drew its most watched opening month ever – with 1.32million average viewers watching on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, CBS, Ion, and NBA TV. That’s up from 462,000 viewers.
In race demographics, viewership bumped up 60 percent among people of color – with viewership among Black and Hispanic people up 96 percent and 67 percent respectively.
Television viewership, in-person attendance, and merchandise sales are all up this year
In-person attendance is also up huge – with the league experiencing it’s best attended opening month in 26 years.
The WNBA saw 400,000 fans attending live games through the end of May.
In addition to all this, the league has seen WNBA branded merchandise sales jump up 236 percent year-over-year.
