The WNBA is experiencing record breaking success, so what can the WNBL learn from it?
Fuelled by the next gen star power, the WNBA is experiencing record breaking success, so what can the WNBL learn from it ahead of its new era? Code Sports investigates.
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Walk down the streets of Brooklyn and you’ll be hit with a wave of New York Liberty seafoam green.
Traditional basketball fans who typically are heard saying “I really only watch the NBA” are now talking about the WNBA’s top stories.
When Indiana Fever comes to town, teams accommodate an upgraded stadium.
In the same breath, Liberty, the reigning champions, regularly sell out the 18,000 seat Barclays Center in New York.
Fans travel interstate to catch a game.
Now, the two biggest markets are set to collide, with Liberty’s champion coach Sandy Brondello set to coach Caitlin Clark’s team at this weekend’s All-Star game.
The WNBA has experienced unprecedented growth over the last two years, 2024 saw the league set a new all time single game attendance record and highest season total attendance in over two decades, plus digital numbers reached new heights and more merchandise was sold than ever before.
It’s time Australia’s WNBL took note.
YEP, MARKETING IS KEY
It’s a tale as old as time, marketing is a major driving factor to the success of a team.
Local WNBL players have been calling for a marketing-driven investment for years, and the new ownership has made an initial start with new league-wide branding.
But fresh colours and a new logo doesn’t exactly stamp change.
It’s the high quality and creative video production on game day and team generated social media content fuelling fan interest and engagement – telling the ever important story of the athletes but also selling them with elite superstar status.
It’s the consistency across game day activations and a curated merchandise range.
The brand appeal not just exclusive to the men’s game.
Whether you’re at the Barclays Center to watch the Liberty, or the 4,200 seat CareFirst Arena to catch the Washington Mystics in DC, the level of marketing remains the same.
Front of house, pre-game the lights are dimmed and the hype content is in full force and getting all the fans pumped for play.
The reigning champion players tower over New York’s skyline, as if they own the city.
A well executed product with incredible creative flair.
Back of house, content creators are on the sidelines, and dedicated staff are producing real time content to share to their followers.
Fans now are connecting with their teams and players via social media, some now keeping up on platforms rather than watching the game itself.
The Fever’s Sophie Cunningham’s social media grew by more than 240k on Instagram and 700k on Tiktok in the following three days after she came to teammate Clark’s defence and the footage blew up on social media.
Sophie Cunningham appears to be Caitlin Clark’s enforcer now 😳
— Chelsa Messinger (@ChelsaMessinger) June 18, 2025
pic.twitter.com/ORrSPKJqUD
“We’ve had great players in this league since day one but now with the visibility that we have, with social media, the impact that has, these players become household names,” Australian Opals and Liberty champion coach Brondello told Code Sports.
“A lot of them have their own shoe brands, they’re being marketed off the court.
“It’s great to see our league getting the flowers so to speak, because these players deserve it.”
And that’s just something the WNBL has always lacked. Investment into their media teams.
Highlights and score graphics posted by game day interns just doesn’t cut it anymore, a curated content plan produced by digital experts is where the current climate is at.
The WNBA’s financial investment has begun to cover more than the sugar, it covers new hires, new teams and a modern day approach to the game’s success.
Now, the WNBA is expanding with three more teams, with Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia joining the league between 2028-2030.
If the WNBL wants to follow in the WNBA’s footsteps – with the opportunity to expand – investing in their creative teams to sell the already top tier product would be a good place to start.
THE VISION ‘STARTS FROM THE TOP’
As Brondello told Code Sports “it really does always start at the top, the investment”.
The reigning champions have become a major attraction over the bridge of Manhattan – billboards, merchandise stores, TV crews, the works – but it wasn’t always that way.
Before new ownership took over the team in 2019, Liberty had been playing out of a 5000 seat Westchester County Center for two years, located far north of the City, approximately 56 minutes from Central Park in NYC via public transport and one hour and 40 minutes from Brooklyn.
The location alone challenged the growth of the team.
Now, media swarm the Barclays Center, back then, you could count on one hand the local media who would show out to cover the team.
Brooklyn based journalist Myles Ehrlich has watched the growth of the team first hand.
“In my first year covering it, there were three local reporters and now it’s hard to get a seat,” Ehrlich told Code Sports courtside at the Barclays Center.
“Post-game scrums are now 30 reporters deep.
“Seeing that growth organically from where it was to where it is now is just emblematic of how much the sport as a whole is growing and how much the interest is there.”
Enter billionaire Joe Tsai – at the time (2019) a minority owner of the Brooklyn Nets – who was prepared to invest in a team with potential and had a plan to make these female athletes front of New Yorker’s minds.
The previous owner declared the team was losing $100 million per season, now it’s reported that the team is worth approximately $450 million.
“They (new owners) had a vision and they were going to support this team,” Brondello said.
“It’s a real movement now, women’s sport is getting celebrated like it should’ve been.”
Over on the West Coast, the league’s latest expansion team based out of San Francisco, Golden State Valkyries, has been valued at $500 million less than halfway through their first season – the highest of the WNBA.
Similarly, the WNBL is about to embark on its new era.
This coming season, fans will experience a new league with Robyn Denholm and Larry Kestelman’s Wollemi Capitol Group consortium at the head.
It’s not expected that all problems will be solved and the numbers will skyrocket as much as the American counterpart has experienced in recent years, but the new investment led by business powerhouses does spark the expectation that the tide is set to turn.
And Brondello is optimistic for the domestic league’s future.
“I’m excited about the WNBL and the ownership that we have there.”
“Without that, we don’t know.”
RIVALRIES DRIVE INTEREST
Sit at a bar in any city and you’ll overhear the talk of stars Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and the differing opinions of their heated rivalry.
The league has capitalised on their hottest commodity, tipping off the season with Clark’s Indiana Fever and Reese’s Chicago Sky in the first round for example, and that’s only set the tone for a season that’s continued to obsess over the battle between the two.
They’ve each become household names, and they lean into it as much as anyone else.
Social media savviness, heated press conferences, the rivalry that launched in their college years has made for the WNBA’s perfect storm.
And for skyrocketing interest in the league.
Clark, the generational talent, could be seen as the WNBA’s hero while Reese has taken the opposing role in her stride.
Using the surging popularity to their advantage, raking in mega brand deals and opportunities, Reese was just announced as this year’s WNBA 2k26 Cover Athlete.
Clark was Time’s 2024 Athlete of the Year, Reese was on the cover of Vogue in January.
Wind it back and Australia’s greatest basketballer Lauren Jackson rivalled US legend Lisa Leslie.
An individual rivalry topic of conversation is one thing that the WNBL is missing.
You don’t have to be a basketball fan to know the names Clark and Reese, and that’s something the WNBL should lean into to drive interest in particular games, individual player match ups.
The AFL has Collingwood vs Carlton, the Showdown and Harley Reid vs everyone it seems these days.
Australian cricket has international rivalries with England and India; individually Alex Carey returning to Lords after his controversial stumping was prime viewing.
Superstar Bryce Cotton’s return to Perth after the biggest trade bombshell in recent NBL history will be a game marked in basketball fan’s calendars.
The list could go on.
When the WNBL’s Melbourne Boomers collapsed, so did the league’s Melbourne derby match up.
But does Perth Lynx’ MVP Anneli Maley have competitive beef with her former Bendigo Spirit teammates?
Or does Sara Blicavs signing with UC Capitals this season burn a fire in the Southside Flyers?
Would make for some fun dinner conversation.
PLAYER FIRST PR
As it stands, the NBA owns a 50 per cent stake of the WNBA, contributing to the support and growth of the league.
And finally, the WNBL will sit alongside the NBL, under the same ownership umbrella.
But outside of the business, the player-led camaraderie and public show of appreciation is generating buzz.
The Indiana Pacers and the Fever players showing up to each team’s games over the past few months, with courtside interactions between Tyrese Haliburton and Clark has made for epic and engaging content.
LeBron James posting about the WNBA record breaker makes headlines.
"He loves basketball. He certainly loves the Fever and he loves this state."
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) July 11, 2025
Caitlin Clark talks about how Tyrese Haliburton shows up and supports the team for every game ðŸ¤ðŸ’™ pic.twitter.com/gBWHQnrqpY
Australian Georgia Amoore is yet to play her first WNBA game, however, had NBA star Russell Westbrook calling her up for a “surreal” WNBA Draft fit collaboration, which went viral on social media.
WNBL athletes have always maintained a need for independence, and there is no suggestion that they should only align with the men’s game at all, but it’s proven that the stars of each league getting around each other only adds eye balls to the game.
A touch more overlap between the biggest NBL and WNBL names wouldn’t go astray.
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