CHICAGO — Benita Harrison-Diggs traveled from Virginia Beach to spend WNBA All-Star weekend with friends. She recalled the excitement surrounding the league’s “outstanding” inaugural season in 1997 and hoped 2022 would match that.
Harrison-Diggs, 63, was one of hundreds of fans outside Wintrust Arena eager to cheer on the best women’s basketball players in the country. “The atmosphere is electrifying,” she said, smiling.
But as excited as Harrison-Diggs was to be in Chicago for All-Star weekend, she also felt disappointed.
“I’m a little disappointed that these women, as hard as they play, don’t get the same recognition that the NBA gets,” she said. “They don’t get the same exposure, coverage, and especially not the same money.”
Harrison-Diggs came to the arena with friends for the WNBA skills competition and 3-point shooting contest, only to find they were closed to the public and being held at a convention center next door. Instead, she and her friends were in a nearby yard, watching the events like people do at home: on a television screen. The matches were supposed to be broadcast on ESPN but were moved to ESPNU at the last minute while ESPN showed the end of the men’s doubles tournament at Wimbledon. Many fans are unable to access the lesser-known ESPNU channel, and some have complained on social media. ESPN later announced it would televise the skills competition.
“They wouldn’t hit the men,” Harrison-Diggs said.
There is a surge of engagement and enthusiasm for the WNBA as it enters its 26th season, but the league’s growing fan base is taking a critical view. Much of the league’s goodwill has been built around a core group of stars like Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Sylvia Fowles and Candice Parker. But as they begin to retire, the WNBA is moving into a new era of younger, social media-savvy talent and a fan base demanding more from the league.
“I’d like to see it really feel like they put some thought into it, some foresight into what they actually want a weekend to look like,” said Anraya Palmer, who traveled from Atlanta for the All-Star Game.
Palmer, who is black, was 6 years old when the WNBA made its debut. She was instantly hooked. “It was the first time I saw female basketball players, especially female athletes, who looked like, ‘Oh, I can really grow up and do this,'” Palmer said.
Palmer grew up a teacher, but he’s also an Atlanta Dream fan. She said the league has changed for the better in many ways, but All-Star weekend is a prime example of an area for improvement. “It looks like some things may have been thrown together at the last second,” she said. “But die-hard fans will still come out and have a good time.”
The WNBA said it did not have access to Wintrust Arena until Saturday night because it was being used by a cookout convention. The league hosts outdoor fan events and invitation-only concerts, but commissioner Kathy Engelbert said security concerns over mass shootings contributed to the league’s decision to close the concerts to the public. Chicago city and police spokesmen declined to comment on the tape.
On Sunday, 9,572 fans packed Wintrust Arena, which seats about 10,400, for the All-Star Game. Aja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces and Fowles of Minnesota captained Team Wilson, while Breanna Stewart and her Seattle Bird teammate led Team Stewart. Team Wilson defeated Team Stewart 134-112.
Brittney Griner, the seven-time All-Star center for the Phoenix Mercury, was named an honorary starter. She has been detained in Russia on drug charges since February. Griner’s wife, Cheryl Griner, sat off to the side. All 22 stars wore jerseys with Griner’s name and No. 42 for the second half.
Chicago’s Aaron Brown, a longtime Fowles fan, said he wouldn’t have missed the All-Star Game “for the world.” Brown said most men think women’s basketball is “boring,” but to him the women’s game is “cleaner and more fun.”
“The beauty of women’s basketball is at the core — they play with an IQ and skill level that even men don’t have,” he said. “In fact, you have to use not only your body, but also your mind. Most men can handle athleticism, but they lack the fundamentals.
His favorite player is Ace guard Kelsey Plum. She tied Maya Moore’s record for points in an All-Star Game with 30 and was named Most Valuable Player. Brown said Plum, like many other players, doesn’t get the same attention as the bigger names in the league.
“They kind of only push the same five or six,” he said. “There are so many other good players who are here now and they won’t leave in two years. They deserve to shine.”
Patrick Schmidt of the Detroit area agreed, saying he would like to see the league “showcase more of their black superstars in addition to the legends that they do.”
Some fans also talked about the pay gap between WNBA and NBA players.
In 2022, the salary cap for each WNBA team is about $1.4 million, and the maximum player salary is just under $230,000. In the NBA, the team salary cap will be over $123 million for the 2022-23 season, and top players make nearly $50 million a year.
“It doesn’t make sense for a star women’s basketball player to earn less than a bench player in the NBA,” said Sterling Hightower, a Chicago fan. “I’m a big NBA fan. There are people in the NBA that I don’t even know who are making more than Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird.”
Cynthia Smith, a Liberty season ticket holder for 24 years, put it bluntly: “Out of sight is out of mind,” adding, “I don’t know if we’re going to get pay equity, but we need exposure equity.”
Over the weekend, many players, such as Mercury guard Skyler Diggins-Smith, echoed the sentiment of fans: “Put us on TV more,” she said.
Fans have long complained about how difficult it can be to watch games, such as having to switch between multiple platforms, such as ESPN, Twitter, Facebook and a buggy WNBA app.
“You’re telling me I have to go through three applications, I’m not looking at that. Let’s be honest, Wilson said. “I think that’s key to how the league can grow.”
Plum agreed, saying she would like the league to make it easier to watch games. “We understand that the product is great, and when we get people to watch the game, they love it,” she said. “But the hardest part is getting people there.”
Bird, who retired this year after 21 seasons in the league, said the key will be renegotiating TV rights over the next few years.
“This is the moment,” Bird said. “It could really open things up and change the whole trajectory of our league.”
Nneka Ogumike, a forward for the Los Angeles Sparks and president of the WNBA players’ union, said the league is “on the cusp of something that could really become something big.”
Ogwumike said “the magic word is expansion”.
There are 12 teams, each with 12 places in the squad. Engelbert said the league is analyzing demographics, women’s basketball “fandom” and viewership data for 100 cities and new teams could be on the horizon through 2025. She also said finding the right media package is her “core business priority” for this year.
One of the biggest growth areas for the league is social justice activism. The next wave of activism may be around abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Stewart called the decision “disgusting” and “heartbreaking” and said he expected discussions soon about how to handle the events in states where abortion is banned.
“As we continue to fight these social issues and injustices based on race, gender, sexual orientation, all the things, the league has to have our back in any way it can,” she said.
Byrd said the shift to addressing social and political issues marks a huge transformation among players.
“I look back on my career and I was definitely part of a hush-hush and dribbling generation where we did just that — we didn’t complain too much or talk too much about things because we were afraid,” she said. “We found our power in our voice and I’m just proud to be a small part of that at the end of my career.”
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