The WNBA made a controversial decision to remain partnered with the NBA on its latest round of TV rights deals despite the women’s league experiencing astronomic growth in recent seasons. However, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is optimistic that the league is just getting started on maximizing its broadcast revenue.
When the WNBA pooled its national TV rights with the NBA last year on a new 11-year deal with ESPN, Amazon, and NBC, the women’s league crafted the deals to guarantee that it could add more TV deals in the future. In a new interview on The Bill Simmons Podcast, Engelbert finally put a number on what she is expecting the league to reel in on those additional contracts.
“We’re not even done yet. That was our ‘tranche one’ deal … that was a $200 million (average annual value). And we were going in with about $40 (million),” Engelbert explained. “But by the time we’re done with tranche two, hopefully, we’re aiming to be (at) about $260 million over many years.”
The new contracts will see ESPN/ABC, NBC/Peacock, and Prime Video broadcast the postseason, All-Star game, and exclusive weekly national games. However, as Engelbert noted, ION and CBS have had great success building out Friday and Saturday windows on free traditional television over the past two years.
While the Washington Post previously reported that this deal will be the last one in which the WNBA is tied to the NBA, Engelbert believes the combined package was a big draw for streamers in particular.
“We’re the only two leagues that can provide over 320 days of live programming to a streamer,” Engelbert said. “We’re a four-and-a-half-month season … and it’s not as interesting to a streamer who’s on a subscription plan with your subscribers every month. You need to provide year-round content, and that’s why that was an advantage.”
It is difficult for the WNBA to value itself at this moment, given its seemingly boundless growth. Even at $260 million per year, the league could be undervalued in just a few years.
However, with the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations underway and increased revenue already transforming every aspect of the WNBA, that number will go a long way in moving the league forward.