Maya Moore was the biggest star in women’s college basketball — perhaps ever — when the Minnesota Lynx drafted her first overall out of Connecticut in 2011.
A three-time college player of the year, Moore broke barriers as the first woman to sign an endorsement deal with Nike’s Michael Jordan Brand. Time The magazine argued that she played in the NBA. She was so good and so charismatic.
Although Moore continued to win with the Lynx – two WNBA titles in her first three seasons, plus a league MVP award last year – something didn’t seem right. Moore discovered what many WNBA players before her learned: Once you leave college, the public eye turns elsewhere. Even the league’s national television contract with ESPN can’t match the spotlight of an NCAA Final Four.
Privately, players blame the WNBA for ineffective marketing. That’s why Moore said he heard “a lot of amens” from his peers after his essay, “(In) Visiblity,” published April 30 in The Players’ Tribune, which addressed an issue that vexed many WNBA players and coaches: How can a league with so much to offer generate so little national buzz? And what can we do about it?
“Marketing must match our product” Moore wrote. “Celebrate us for the things that matter: the stories, the basketball, the character, the fiery competitiveness, our professionalism.”
“I just remember being moved by her thoughtfulness, the way she phrased it, the title of the play,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “Maya is someone who is passionate not only about basketball, but about moving the game forward. The same can’t be said for many players in the league. I was so moved to have a player here with the Lynx who understands, accepts it and knows that she is part of the equation to move it forward.
The Players’ Tribune, founded by retired Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, solicits first-person stories from professional athletes on topics of their choosing. When editors contacted Moore, she said it took about 10 minutes to choose a theme.
“I try to be very thoughtful about a lot of things, and this is one of them,” Moore said. MinnPost in the new Mayo Clinic Square team practice facility. “I’m not the only one who thinks these things. I just have a platform to speak for many.
How the WNBA lost ground
After the WNBA’s great success in the late 1990s, the league lost ground nationally and never caught up.
The problem, players say, is not the product on the field. If you doubt it, watch a Lynx game (season starts Friday). Players shoot, defend, muscle to rebound, share the ball and perform quick blocks with a skill and panache that dazes many men of a certain age. I still remember MinnPost colleague Doug grows up describing his first game of Lynx with amazement and wonder, as if he were chasing a golf ball in the woods and came across Brigadoon. Moore said she hears similar stories all the time. If you like Ricky Rubio’s game, you’ll love Lindsay Whalen’s.
Friday night at Target Center, the Lynx will take on the Tulsa Shock, with former University of Minnesota All-American center Amanda Zahui B. making her WNBA debut. This should be a big problem locally. However, it’s not on television. And if this is the first time you’re hearing about the game, you understand the players’ point of view.
Lynx officials say the television decision was not their choice. Fox Sports North finalized its nine-game broadcast schedule on Lynx before Tulsa selected Zahui B., according to FSN spokeswoman Becky Ross Mielke. All but one of the Lynx shows take place on nights when the Twins are off or playing during the day. As the Twins host the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night, Lynx fans are out of luck.
“Our efforts are aimed at scheduling Lynx games without Twins conflicts as much as possible to maximize ratings for both properties,” Ross Mielke wrote in an email.
Missed opportunity.
Getting more attention to games, even on TV, is part of a marketing solution. Between ESPN2 (three games) and FSN, only 12 of the 34 Lynx games will be televised. However, it is difficult to argue for more airtime. ESPN averaged 659,000 viewers nationally for the WNBA Finals, featuring Phoenix and 6’8″ dunk center Brittney Griner, a big jump from its 345,000 average for the Lynx and Atlanta the year before. But its 19 regular season broadcasts averaged 240,000 viewers. This is less than the last World Series of Poker (459,000 viewers).
Moore suggested showing historical video of great teams, like the Houston Comets during their 1997-2000 championship run. I’d vote for Moore’s 48-point game against Atlanta last July, which aired on FSN Plus.
“You see comeback plays all the time,” Moore said. “I think the fans would enjoy that, seeing a throwback to an old regular season rivalry, or the playoffs or finals, or a career high for someone. Because we have a fundamental core of fans that you can always talk to and report new fans who missed the beginning of our origin.
“We don’t ask men to wear shorts”
That made more sense than some of the ideas Lynx guard Seimone Augustus had already heard from league sources. Like paying rappers or celebrities to sit courtside to create a cool vibe. (As if the news wouldn’t leak out and embarrass the league.) Or have players wear shorter shorts, tighter tops, and even makeup.
“They suggested fixing your face a little,” Augustus said. “I tell myself that this is not a beauty contest. I play basketball.
“Some of the things we’re asked to do are sometimes just outrageous,” Augustus said. “It’s like we’re prancing around in tutus and skirts and not here physically sweating, punching, competing, playing basketball. We don’t ask guys to wear short shorts.
Moore and Reeve both opposed another potential increase in attendance – which has been floated for years and was revisited this week in a New York Times opinion article – lower the edge so more women can dive. “There’s so much to like about our game that focusing on dunks would be a bad thing,” Moore said.
Reeve added: “It’s not good for our game. It’s a gimmick, and it’s not what our game needs.” It is disrespectful. »
The issue goes well beyond basketball
Over the past 16 years, the Lynx have won two championships with an entertaining style that is starting to appeal to older men and couples. The team finished second in the WNBA in attendance over the past three years, averaging more than 9,000 each season – just shy of the franchise record of 10,494 from 1999, its inaugural season, but still solid. The WNBA’s annual preseason general managers’ poll on Thursday honored the Lynx as the team with the best home-field advantage, ending Seattle’s five-year run. This encourages Reeve.
“I think it’s a little generational,” she said. “I noticed we gathered some of these brothers from SportsCenter who really liked Seimone, Maya, our style of play. I think just having an open mind is what it takes.”
“As a society, we are conditioned to believe that women are inferior to men in everything. We have been struggling with this for many, many years and many generations. That’s why the WNBA is so much more than basketball in what we do. Societal norms, gender bias, gender equity issues. There are just a lot of them.
Players need the WNBA to thrive and avoid having to play in Europe seven months a year. European teams pay much better than the WNBA, where salaries top out at $107,000. Augustus confirmed that a European team offered her a deal like the one Phoenix’s Diana Taurasi got from her Russian Premier League team, a higher salary in exchange for sitting out the WNBA season. This hasn’t convinced her yet.
“For me and others – Maya, Whalen – we think we need to build this brand and continue to help this league grow,” she said. “Money is not everything. I’m all about heritage and brand.
Augustus hopes Moore’s article and the conversation it started will spark a marketing solution. “I think it’s close. It’s close, said Auguste. “We have to find the path we want to take. We have a fork in the road. It’s either left or right. So take action and let’s try to make the most of it.
