The WNBA is on the cusp of upgrading its travel logistics.
The league is discussing the parameters of all 12 teams flying by charter “as soon as this regular season,” USA Today’s Christine Brennan reported on Tuesday.
“Why now? The explosion of interest in the league, business growth and anticipated future revenue from the next media deal,” Brennan wrote on X.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Englebert quickly confirmed the report, telling reporters Tuesday that the charter flights will be up and running “as soon as we can get the planes in place.”
The WNBA has been in a pickle for several years about teams flying commercial.
Two years ago, the league fined the Liberty $500,000 for breaking the rules and flying private, as players crowed on social media about getting treated well by team ownership.
On one hand, the players become household names in college basketball, where in many cases they fly private.
On the other, the league is entering its 28th season and has traditionally lost money and been subsidized by the NBA.
This past season, LSU star Flau’Jae Johnson railed that the WNBA does not treat players as “professional.”
Women’s college basketball has for whatever reason been much more popular with viewers over the years than the WNBA has been.
The women’s college basketball finals this drew 18.82 million viewers in April as Caitlin Clark’s Iowa team took on undefeated South Carolina.
Last season’s WNBA Finals between the Liberty and Aces averaged 728,000 viewers — the highest total in 20 years.
Even before Clark was on the scene, the women’s college basketball finals generally drew three or four million viewers.
Nevertheless, the WNBA is clearly primed to get a big bump not just from Clark but from other incoming stars like Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso, Cameron Brink and eventually Paige Bueckers and JuJu Watkins.
There is a generation of women athletes who have have had elite development since youth and they are playing a brand of basketball that is exciting to watch.
The WNBA will get a big bump in its next TV deal, sponsorship money will be through the roof, and there will be franchise expansion.
There will soon be a depth of talent to support far more than 12 teams.
Ownership stakes have skyrocketed in value in the last several years.
In 2019, Joe and Clara Tsai bought the Liberty for what CNBC estimated was in the $10-14 million range.
Last year, Warriors owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber paid a $50 million expansion fee to launch a team in the Bay Area.
It would hardly be surprising for an expansion fee or franchise sale to reach nine figures by the end of the decade.