WHAT WE STAND FOR.

Project: The St. Louis Steamers – a concept for a new expansion team for the WNBA based in St. Louis, Missouri.

Rationale: In order to make women’s sports relevant, especially women’s basketball, the leagues need to continue to keep expanding, not diminishing. By cutting back on the number of teams, only makes the pools fewer and takes away from the hype and competitiveness of the playoffs. Adding teams to cities that have a huge interest in women’s basketball and a need for community outreach, will increase the interest in the WNBA and help to create a more competitive level of play.

Initial Research: The WNBA is the first women’s pro league, yet it hasn’t been given the same chance to shine as the NBA. WNBA players are paid a fraction of what NBA players make even though they do the same thing. It is wrong to say WNBA players get the same treatment as NBA players. The WNBA has been losing money for at least the last 10 years. The WNBA season was shortened and some franchises were disbanded in a bid to cut operating costs. Can you imagine if this happened in the NBA? The WNBA no longer has an Eastern and a Western Conference or even divisions. The 8 teams with the best record are automatically in the playoffs at the end of the season. There are only 12 teams. My proposal would bring the number of teams to 20 by 2032.

The key to expanding the league’s fan base is greater TV exposure. It is important not just to grow the fan base but to increase the fan base’s exposure to the product as well. Fans need to be reminded of what’s going on in the WNBA, where to find games on TV and be exposed to the sports highlights. When things become familiar to people and it’s not like ‘Oh, this is an anomaly,’ or ‘Oh, I just saw this random WNBA play,’ but they actually see it every day and it is part of the sports world or sports culture, that is when we’re taking steps in the right direction.