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Losing Record but a Winning Gate
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Teams such as East-leading Connecticut (16-10) and Sacramento (15-12) have seen 7 percent and 6 percent drops, respectively, in average attendance this season. And in its third season, Chicago struggles to regularly fill more than half of UIC Pavilion, the smallest arena in the league with a capacity of 6,500. Houston, one of the league's original eight teams and most storied franchises, is looking for a new owner; its attendance has plummeted by 16 percent.
"The WNBA is continuing to find their consumer base and their place in the sports market," said Paul Swangard, managing director of the University of Oregon's Warsaw Sports Marketing Center. "I do think because it is such a different product though, with its female and family orientation, that there are a number of markets where the demand is very viable and they're starting to find that."
Swangard said he believes "stability has arrived" in the WNBA, as the league takes more steps to embrace its female-dominated, family-oriented audience and that its affordability has helped make it more of an option for casual basketball fans.
"I think the strength of this league is really in grass-roots marketing," Orender said. "Once we start reaching out to the core of a community we see movement and the great talent within the game continues to propel that. . . . Cities are really starting to see the WNBA as a community asset because it's really about the successful relationship -- a very personal relationship -- with the community."
Mystics Notes: Interim head coach Jessie Kenlaw said earlier this week that she doesn't expect to have point guard Nikki Blue in the lineup tonight against the Sky (8-17).
Blue is day-to-day after she sprained her ankle last week in practice, and even if she's cleared to play, "she won't be game ready," Kenlaw said. . . .
In the three weeks since veteran forward Taj McWilliams-Franklin was traded to the Detroit Shock, second-year player Bernice Mosby and rookie Tasha Humphrey, whom the Mystics acquired in the trade, have shown glimpses of being able to handle the role and will split time, according to Kenlaw . . . .
Kenlaw said she plans to use sharpshooter Laurie Koehn more than ever. She called Koehn the team's most improved player over the four-week Olympic break and has created different offensive options that will give the Mystics' most accurate shooter more opportunities.
