Bill Simmons Podcast Guest Says WNBA/NBA Teams Should Share Names: Why Force People To Learn About The Fever?
The WNBA is seemingly all in on making Caitlin Clark the face of the league, hoping to bank on her marketability as a generational talent.
A league frequently in headlines over fake claims of wage disparity, the WNBA is commonly tied to how much revenue it drives due to a lack of consistent popularity.
As Clark enters the league, the WNBA looks to find other ways to expand its appeal to audiences — prompting basketball commentators to discuss different ways to make the WNBA more relevant.
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NBA fan and commentator Bill Simmons chatted with Ethan Strauss (an NBA Substack writer for House of Strauss). They touched on the WNBA as an entity with the potential for growth, and Strauss gave a surprising suggestion to make the WNBA more suitable to sports fans.
Strauss' idea: name the WNBA teams after their NBA counterparts. Men's and women's teams are under the same team name, like colleges. Association alone should pump up numbers for WNBA games. How many are included in the potential increase is a mystery.
The WNBA logo. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
"The one thing they should’ve done — and maybe there’s still time to do it — that they didn’t do from the outset is just use the same team names," Strauss told Simmons on the latest "Bill Simmons Podcast" episode.
"Like, why force people to learn about the Fever? Why not just have the ‘W Pacers’? I think that makes it so much easier to just resonate and cut across," Strauss added.
Somehow, people were offended by the suggestion. The WNBA's contingent on social media bagged the idea as trying to latch onto the success of the men's league to gain relevance. … If more fans pour in to watch games, will it matter how they got there?
The WNBA generated $200 million in revenue last season, a sharp increase from 2022's $60 million. This raises the question of whether the league could suffer a slight ‘fall back to earth’ moment in 2024, even with Clark.
Amid a ‘down’ streak for the NBA, the league generated roughly $4.5 billion in revenue last year.
It's worth addressing that several of the 12 teams in the WNBA are independently owned, a plot hole in a fairly decent proposition by Strauss. The Dream, Sky, Sun, Wings, Aces, Sparks, and Storm are all independently owned … and to test Strauss' suggestion, can you name which cities they're all from?
The WNBA logo. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
The official Spalding basketball used by the WNBA. (Photo by Craig Jones/Allsport/Getty Images)
The NBA has capitalized on All-Star-level players with standout brand recognition, but still struggles to maintain viewership despite its cast of popular figures.
Caitlin Clark becomes the first player with this level of brand recognition to shoulder the WNBA's expectations with audience growth. They'll need a stronger plan to move forward and create a star-driven league like the NBA.
(What do you think of the WNBA/NBA team naming suggestion by Strauss? Send us your thoughts: alejandro.avila@outkick.com)
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