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JS's avatar

OK, first off, do we believe those attendance numbers in the graph?

Second, if Clark is the reason for the spike (or blip, if you believe the graph) in league interest, and she retires or keeps getting hurt, does anyone know for sure if the WNBA will keep those fans? Paying players based on a short-term increase in interest seems a poor idea. Good for the players to strike while the iron is hot, but any long-term agreement must be tied to (real) revenue numbers. My guess is that a lot of $ numbers around the WNBA have derived from PR as much as reality, and now that there may actually be money involved, people need to be careful to get out of that PR headspace and deal with actual dollar values.

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Matt Klein's avatar

Hey Neil - This will be fascinating to see how it progresses, but something in the data pops out from the link you shared in the other comment string that immediately raises a data question for me.

When looking at Low attendance for Away games in 2025, 8 of the 13 teams have the exact same figure which is 3,265. I didn’t dig further but perhaps it’s ATL’s home games causing the “issue” as ATL’s Low figure for Home games happens to be 3,265.

How is it possible so many games had the exact same Low figure? Is it ticket sales vs actual turnstile attendance?

I’m not sure if that observation and question matters in the long-run, but it is peculiar and raises at least a data question.

It would also be interesting to know if the attendance figures changed in definition since the league launched and if/how it changed over the years.

I’m not here taking a side on this discussion. I’m a free market capitalist and our country has CBA rules for all industries so the market will eventually get it right….this journey will have a lot of eyes on it.

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