Why Lowering the Rims Could Help Save the WNBA
Women’s basketball has been on the rise recently, with stars like Caitlin Clark (Indiana Fever) and Aja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces) playing their hearts out. According to Front Office Sports, there was a 17% increase in viewership in the WNBA in 2024. But, there is still one problem with the WNBA: money. Right now, the WNBA, according to the Mises Institute, is losing about 40 million dollars a year. This means that the WNBA is not a profitable organization.
There are various ways to fix this problem. My suggestion is to lower the rims on the baskets, because it would bring more viewership to the WNBA. The majority of people want to see flashy dunks. They want to see highlights, and highlights consist of a few things. They either have to be clutch moments like a final score to win the game, ankle breakers like making a dribble move that puts the defender on the ground, three-point shots from outside the arc, or eye-catching dunks that seem impossible. Dunks are the most exciting, which means more viewers. Ajay ‘28, a student basketball player and enthusiast, said, “Lowering the rim would increase the entertainment factor. It would be tough. It would also be easier to market the players and stars.”
Increasing the viewership is essential because the more views the WNBA gets, the more cash flow there is. The WNBA is in desperate need of money to flip its 40 million dollar deficit into a steady stream of profit, which would make it a thriving business. If things continue as they are now, the WNBA would go extinct if it weren’t for the NBA. According to Sport Co, the NBA owns 42% of the WNBA, which is the same amount that the WNBA owns of its own league. Without the NBA, the WNBA would not exist.
Commissioner of the WNBA, Cathy Engelbert, is trying to find a way to bump those sales numbers up, and she is. According to the NBA, the sales of the WNBA have increased by 600%, which is a staggering number. This brings back the question: why is it necessary to lower the rims if the WNBA is booming? The answer to that question is that the WNBA is still not making enough money to be profitable, which is essential if they want to take it up a notch.
The women in the WNBA are also irritated about the pay gap between the NBA and the WNBA. ESPN says that the NBA’s average salary for its players is 11.9 million. Yes, that is a million with a big M. The salaries on the higher end are also nearly 60 million dollars a year. Guys like Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid, and Nikola Jokic are making 6,000 times the average person in the US. On the other hand, the average salary for the WNBA is 100 thousand dollars, and on the high end, 200 thousand dollars. That is a significant difference between the two. The NBA players are making about 119 times what the WNBA players make. This sparked the big debate in the WNBA, where the players wore “Pay Us What You Owe Us” shirts.
The reality is, the WNBA doesn’t make enough money to pay the women’s teams the same amount as the men’s. This is devastating to the women because they have worked their whole lives to play at the highest level, just to be so underpaid compared to the men. This is why the rims need to be lowered to allow growth in viewership and allow more sponsors to want to give money to the WNBA.
There are also downsides to lowering the rims. Coach Bachis, a former women’s basketball player and coach, said, “Lowering the rims would take away from the game too much. It would take away from the fundamentals of the game. It would take away from the style. In the guys’ games, it’s just three, dunk and layup, but the WNBA has the mid-range as well.” This is all true. Lowering the rims would mean that it would change the game completely, and as a basketball player herself, Coach Bachis thinks that wouldn’t be good.
The style of play of the WNBA is very different, and that’s what sets the two leagues apart. Ajay also said, “Lowering rims would separate women’s and men’s sports, making the two less united and inclusive. The youth would also have to be trained differently and relearn basketball. They would have to shoot on a lower rim, which would take years to adapt.” This is also true. Lowering the rims would take years, maybe even a generation, to adapt to. It would change how good players are due to the fact that their shots, which they practiced all their lives, would be off.
The reality is that the WNBA is in debt. It doesn’t make enough money to support its needs and keep up with the NBA. One solution would be lowering the rims. This makes it more exciting to watch and generates more views. The more views the WNBA gets, the more money it makes. Gradually, the WNBA will become profitable, which will solve its problems of debt and pay the players what they deserve.
