FORT WORTH, Texas — He’s a comedian, so maybe he was just kidding, but Bill Burr’s take on the WNBA and entertainment has more uncomfortable truths than not.
“(The WNBA) have been playing in front of 300 to 400 people a night for a quarter of a century,” said Burr in a now viral rant that he made in July. “Not to mention, it’s a male-subsidized league!
“We gave you a league, none of you showed up! Where are all the feminists? That place should be packed with feminists! Faces painted, wearin’ their jerseys. Goin’ nuts! Like the guys do.
“None of you went to the games. None of you. You failed them. Not me. Women failed the WNBA. Ladies, name your top five WNBA players of all time. Name the WNBA team in your city. You can’t do it.
“You don’t give a (bleep) about them. They play night in and night out in front of nobody, and it’s a tragedy.”
To see if Burr’s bit about the topic is true, I attended the Dallas Wings’ first-ever home playoff game on Wednesday night against Connecticut Sun in Game 3 of their first-round WNBA series at the College Park Center on the campus of Texas-Arlington.
Burr is not completely right.
Burr is not completely wrong.
The WNBA, much like The G League, is subsidized by the NBA. Both are essentially write-offs in the marketing budget for the multi-billion entertainment brand.
Burr’s attendance figures are hyperbole, but he has a point. Average attendance for a WNBA game is around 5,000.
The challenge remains is that the audience the WNBA should attract, overwhelmingly, would rather watch The Bachelor, The Kardashians, or some other stupid scripted TV show that perpetuates only about 8.5 million stereotypes.
Or, “The Real Housewives shows? Their makin’ money hand over fist,” said Burr, who is scheduled to come to Dallas and play the American Airlines Center on Sept. 10. “ ’Cause that’s what women are watchin’.”
He is inescapably right.
Do not believe any sports pundit who says otherwise; believe the money.
The Kardashians are worth so much they could fund a few LIV Golf tournaments; the origin of their success was a sex tape made by Kim Kardashian herself, and they have built an empire of money based on their looks, sex appeal and nonsense drama.
The Bachelor is about a good looking man weeding his way through a lineup of attractive, desperate, fame-seeking women who want to be his wife.
Then there is the equal-opportunity The Bachelorette. It’s about a good looking woman weeding her way through a lineup of attractive, fame-seeking men to be her wife.
Real Housewives is a show about women who look pretty, and currently play dress up in an effort to look younger, and fight among each other over cat toys.
“(Women) would rather watch that (bleep),” Burr said. “Real housewives, a bunch of women tearing each other down. That’s the message you sent: We’d rather watch that than a bunch of women come together as a team and achieve a common goal.”
It’s funny.
It’s not entirely true.
It’s also true enough.
On Wednesday night, the Wings’ season-ending loss drew an announced 5,016; estimate that figure is inflated by about 1,000.
That was a great crowd for the team. It was a good atmosphere. It’s more than the “300 to 400 people a night” that Burr says attends a game.
There is an audience for the WNBA. There is an audience for women’s sports.
The size of the audience is just small, and it grows at a painfully deliberate pace.
The proponent of women’s sports, in this case the WNBA, insists the reason why the pace is so slow is marketing.
That if only the WNBA, or NCAA women’s basketball, was marketed better, and promoted more, the audience would grow quicker.
For years I sold this line because I believed it. As someone who worked as a women’s basketball media relations director for two seasons, and covered God knows how many women’s sporting events over the years, I no longer do.
Because it’s not true.
The NBA, and NCAA, blow through millions and millions and millions of dollars to promote women’s sports.
The NCAA could spend more money to promote its NCAA women’s basketball tournament, and the number of interested fans will move at its glacial pace.
The average attendance for the Wings this season was 3,787, 10th in the 12-team league. Seattle led the league with more than 10,000 fans a game.
Ratings for the 2022 NCAA women’s basketball title drew a record 4.5 million viewers, and the game is moving to ABC next year.
There is progress, but the evolution just takes forever, and we are an impatient society.
Bill Burr was just doing a comedy routine, and if you can absorb it the way he wrote the material it’s not as sexist as it sounds.
He’s indicting the desire to watch empty, mean-spirited trash TV over content that should inspire an audience, and a gender.
There is an audience for women’s sports, and specifically WNBA basketball. It just doesn’t compare to that the Real Housewives.
