THE WNBA made history when they signed their biggest media rights deal with Amazon, NBC, and Disney for $2.2. Billion. It is 150% higher than the current deal, with the league collecting 3% of the new contract agreed upon. Accumulating $200 million annually for the W. Some fans wonder if the league is being undervalued. This deal was agreed upon before Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark skyrocketed women’s basketball fandom into a new stratosphere.
The overall viewership has gone up 183%, both sensational rookies played in their first All-Star game together. The viewership broke records, garnering over 3.442 million people, close to tripling the 2003 WNBA All-Star game that engaged 1.441 million people. The NBA owns 60% of the WNBA, so both leagues’ media rights deals were negotiated cohesively.
The executive director of the WNBA players’ union Carmichael Jackson provided a statement to the Washington Post where she spoke about how she believes may be undervalued in the newly agreed upon deal.
“We have wondered for months how the NBA would value the WNBA in its media rights deal,” Jackson told the Post. “With a reportedly $75 billion deal on the table, the league is in control of its own destiny. More precisely, the NBA controls the destiny of the WNBA. We look forward to learning how the NBA arrived at a $200 million valuation- if initial reports are accurate or even close. Neither the NBA nor the WNBA can deny that in the last few years, we have seen unprecedented growth across all metrics, the players continue to demonstrate their commitment to building the brand, and that the fans keep showing up. There is no excuse to undervalue the WNBA again.”
There is a clause in the deal that allows the league in three years to reassess the rights deal after three years. So in three years with the addition of two expansion teams and high-level college players like freshman sensation JuJu Watkins the W’s value will only surge. This is a good step in the right direction for growth for the league and it’s about time.
