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Interactive News by Email Hoopchat Frequently Asked Questions Sister Act keeps rolling for Ackerman's brainchild
Mark Woods
From my seat in the middle reaches of Madison Square Garden, I look up and gape at the giant hanging video suspended above centre court, the screen blasting into life, bringing the close-ups shots of the stars of the New York Liberty into focus as the tuned-up athletes make their entrance onto the hardwood. 14,500 souls stand in unified applause.
The WNBA is big news Stateside, not just for basketball but for the ambitions of female sport in general. Now up to 16 teams after the addition of Indiana, Miami, Portland and Seattle at the outset of this season, this weekend sees the conclusion of the league's fourth campaign in existence.
As in 1999, the Liberty have reached the showdown best of three series but so too have Houston, the Comets ready to extend the dynasty which has seen the championship trophy leave in their hands each and every year.
With the season's Most Valuable Player Sheryl Swoopes in their ranks, Houston start again as favourites but with sell-out crowds and rising television attendances on offer, the identity of the victor is almost immaterial to WNBA President Val Ackerman.
Having succeeded whether others have comes up short in establishing a fully professional women's league, she is well placed to offer comment on the road best travelled. And unsurprisingly, obtaining mass exposure for her product is top of the list.
"I would stress to them the importance of national television," outlines Ackerman.
"We have agreements with three national networks here in the United States and that was the primary reason we decided to operate the league in the summertime, while most other basketball around the world is played trough the winter and the spring. By doing that we have been able to get television that might not have otherwise been available to us. "TV is important because not only does it bring exposure, and more people will watch your games than will read about it in the newspaper or come to the arena. It gives us credibility and also revenue. That's what attracts sponsors.
Val Ackerman (centre) has taken the WNBA
from nothing to centre stage this summer.
(NBA Photos)"What we have is especially attractive is that sports generally have great appeal, they bring out emotions in people that other forms of entertainment don’t. People are loyal to their teams and we're able to tap into an emotion which advertisers want to link into.
"We've been successful in tapping into a very different demographic than most other sports. Sports here typically attract men in the age 18-49 but we're different. We're reaching more women and more and more advertisers have come to understand female customers. They understand that women are making more buying decisions and they’re looking for new ways to reach them. Through the WNBA, they have a way to access that customer in what that they can’t through a men's sport."
Watching a WNBA contest at first hand, it doesn't take long to spot that the audience is more feminine that you'd find at your average football match. More kids, more moms. Higher pitches screams all round.
It is a group which Ackerman believes have been excluded for too long from sporting spectatorship, a zeitgeist inspired by women's basketball which is breaking down traditional perceptions.
"Women seem to be so proud of this league and what it represents for them, to see young girls who are wide-eyed watching the players, learning from them, benefiting from the positives of what our players represent as role models, and the good feeling which our league has brought on," she relates.
"The league not only represents great basketball, something which fans can come out and support but it also in its way, represents how the opportunities for women in this country have changed for the better."
With the season starting earlier than normal this season to accommodate the Olympics, attendances suffered their first drop. Head to head competition for attention with the NBA and NHL play-offs and the start of the baseball season was the reason offered. Yet the league's American television coverage, spread across three networks - Lifetime, ESPN and NBA - enjoyed a higher audience.
However, there are weak spots within the 16 host cities, the 16,000+ gate enjoyed by Washington a far cry from the mainly empty arenas in places like Charlotte and Detroit. There is talk that re-location , rather than expansion, will bring the next alterations to the geographical spread.
"It's a possibility," Ackerman admits. "We don’t expand to expand for at least another year and next summer we will still have 16 teams. Beyond that, I don’t know.
"A few years ago, we thought we'd only average about 4,000 per game and we're doing better than that everywhere. It may well be that in certain markets, it may just take a little longer. "We have grown rather quickly and I think now is the time to take a breath. Re-location is a possibility at any time. Because f the way our league operates, we have rights to make judgements about whether particular markets are viable in the long term. That is very much something we would look at. But at this point, we haven't made any decision.
The New York Liberty draw crowds
of 15,000 to Madison Square Garden
(NBA Photos)"Our teams in all of our markets are working very hard. We share strategies collectively - if something is working in New York, it is shared with the other teams so they can try it in their city. So in some respects it has been frustrating that we haven’t done as well in some places. We learned a lot in the past few years about who is likely to come to the games. But we're largely going to try and stay patient."
With eight of the 12 competing squads in Sydney in September containing WNBA alumni, there's no doubt that like the NBA commercial that was the Dream Team in 1992, the Olympics will showcase the women's game as never before.
"It's a huge opportunity for us," Ackerman points out. "There's no substitute for the Olympics as a global platform. It's an event which draws incredible exposure."
Exposure which the WNBA has hitherto lacked in the UK and Ireland, a symptom of old attitudes at the broadcast rights holders. Even the limited regional coverage offered on ITV2 was withdrawn this year, the network disinterested in taking up its option to transmit coverage.
But a branch of hope has been held out, Ackerman promising that we in Europe will get more chances to see top class women's hoops at first hand.
"This coming year, our primary international focus will be on Sydney but we are now beginning to look very closely at the possibility for future international games. We have opportunities with and without the NBA. They continue to play regularly in Asia and in Europe and we have the chance to be part of those tours but we have the opportunity to do some stand alone things. It's very much a possibility."
The reality though remains that the WNBA is a new league with costs which are ever increasing. $11 million will be spent on player salaries this season, a sum triple that incurred in its inaugural campaign.
A bargaining agreement has pushed up the minimum salary levels and brought in additional benefits. It will be a challenge to manage that relationship and compensate those who are the best at what they do, while striking a balance with where the league is.
Yet its association with the NBA is its trump card, the offshoot still heavily reliant on the continued backing of the 29 owners in its men's counterpart. While it took the NBA most of its first 50 years to get to the place where its younger sibling has reached in only four, Ackerman does not hide the primary reason for such rapid development.
"Our league would not have been possible without the support we get from the NBA, from David Stern, from the teams," she concedes. "It comes in different forms. The association alone is very valuable because of the credibility it brings. The perception that it brings, the NBA's reputation as a global brand is invaluable to us.
"Beyond that, part of the beauty is our model in using the NBA front offices and their facilities, we didn't have to start from scratch. We were able to use existing infrastructure, facilities and relationships that the team has locally and that really has given us a leg up over many other start-up leagues who had to start from ground level."
On the ceiling of Madison Square Garden are banners which are testament of the lexicon of achievement realised by its representatives. Names like Reed and Bradley hang along side those paying tribute to titles collected by the Knicks and Rangers.
Yet the newest, shiniest one states ' Liberty - Eastern Conference Champions 1999'. And like the WNBA itself, it looks quite at home among more established company.
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