Cujo Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 If we're still gonna debate there being a #5 pro league, I'd argue WNBA over MLS. Being real here, and as an outsider to both leagues, I feel the WNBA gets more press and casual sports fan attention than MLS. Unless it's a past-their-prime name player showing up on an MLS field for an easy payday, they get virtually zero mainstream attention. WNBA's popularity seems to be growing bigger and bigger, especially with the popularity of women's college hoops over the last couple years. That, and the WNBA actually features the world's best players at their respective sport. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont care Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 On 3/10/2024 at 9:15 AM, Cujo said: If we're still gonna debate there being a #5 pro league, I'd argue WNBA over MLS. Being real here, and as an outsider to both leagues, I feel the WNBA gets more press and casual sports fan attention than MLS. Unless it's a past-their-prime name player showing up on an MLS field for an easy payday, they get virtually zero mainstream attention. WNBA's popularity seems to be growing bigger and bigger, especially with the popularity of women's college hoops over the last couple years. That, and the WNBA actually features the world's best players at their respective sport. The WNBA can’t support itself without the NBA financing them. They pay there players are paid at most 241,000 a year, most are around 60g. I made more than half the league last year. MLS highest paid player is Messi at 12 million per year, highest outside of the exemption is 1.1 million and average being 312g. all of this to say. NBA is improving marketing for WNBA, including them in AllStar events, and paying ESPN to mention them. Doesn’t change that WNBA viewership numbers are still averaging 700k for the finals compared to MLS that reaches 340k average for a regular season game (same as the NHL) and final of 2.16 million viewers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zubazpirate Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 It's not impossible to imagine a scenario where the WNBA leapfrogs ahead of MLS and becomes the first true major league focused on women's sports (leaving aside well established individual women's leagues like the LPGA, WTA, etc.) . If the WNBA got a critical mass of personalities it could take the "next step" the same way that the NBA did in the late 80s/early 90s. ...but we are nowhere near that point right now. MLS is a niche league but the WNBA is ultra-niche. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont care Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 The WNBA can’t support itself and half the women make less than me working a regular job. I understand people loving Caitlin Clark and angel Reese but them going pro won’t magically make WNBA more important. They’ve had stars in college go into the league for decades and become even bigger stars the issue is the league has only a few star players and the rest are crap. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrutigerAero Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 What is the definition of a major league? Is it the premier league in the sport? Is it the premier league in the sport in the country? Is it a revenue threshold? What is a league? What is it, to be major? What are sports, really? 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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