NBA commissioner Adam Silver says the NBA has a “vested interest” in making the WNBA a profitable business, and the League is “doubling down” on the WNBA.
In a story by B/R Mag’s Mirin Fader, Silver said he hired a consulting firm to help “reboot” the WNBA.
Silver and the league office have a vested interest in making the WNBA profitable. The NBA owns about 50 percent of the WNBA, and five of the 12 WNBA owners are NBA owners. “In essence, we’ve incurred 70 percent of those losses over the last 22 years of operating the league,” Silver says, “so it’s critically important from the NBA’s standpoint that we figure out a way to create a model that’s sustainable for the long term.”
So what is the NBA doing right now to help grow the WNBA?
Silver says the league office is “doubling down” on the WNBA. He has brought in a consulting firm to strategize on how to grow the brand and better market its players, calling the present WNBA moment a “reboot.”
“There’s no one in the NBA league office or no WNBA owner right now who’s saying they’re giving up,” Silver says.
