Despite the massive growth the WNBA has had in terms of attention and revenue this season, an October 18 article from the New York Post indicated that the league is still operating at a major financial loss — and NBA owners (the NBA controls the majority share of the league) are getting to their wits’ end over it.
“This season the WNBA will lose $40 million, a bit better than the $50 million forecast and reported by several media outlets months ago but still a loss,” the article wrote.
After noting that, “The NBA owns nearly 60 percent of the league,” the article went on to say, “Some NBA owners want more transparency from NBA commissioner Adam Silver about when they will get to see some return from the suddenly popular WNBA. New York Knicks owner James Dolan has been pushing Silver behind the scenes.”
While this report came out nearly two weeks ago, it wasn’t until Tuesday that Silver issued a response to what was written in the New York Post article during an interview with CNBC Sport.
“We are all one integrated business. So when you say ‘they’, they is us,” Silver began.
When asked directly about the aforementioned article and its truth, he said, “There was a lot of different points in that story so it’s hard to say correct or not correct. I would just say the answer is yes. We’re working with WNBA owners, WNBA owners that also own NBA teams, and then more broadly the NBA owners on what the right valuation of WNBA teams are going forward, what the best way is to operate that league.
“It’s very integrated now with the NBA,” Silver added of the WNBA. “So it’s a balance of things. But I’d say we’re collectively looking at all those issues, figuring out the right way to operate going forward.”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver spoke with Alex Sherman about the WNBA media rights deal, expansion, and the NY Post report of disgruntled NBA owners. (via @CNBC)
“To say the market may be in a different place than it was at the time we were negotiating, we’ll see. There’s still… pic.twitter.com/8H2YP4GCj3
— WNBACentral (@TheWCentral) October 29, 2024
In so many words, Silver ended up confirming that, yes, some NBA owners are frustrated about the financial return on their investment in the WNBA.
While he didn’t necessarily convey the same sense of urgency the article suggested, perhaps that was merely his media training kicking in. Or maybe it was a result of the knowledge that the lucrative new WNBA media rights deal he also discussed will kick in soon enough.