A major part of the reason that people enjoy sports is to see excellence. But with women's basketball, you have to put an asterix next to your admiration of the physical feats they're performing because they simply can't perform at the level of the men.

Um... There are plenty of women pro-sport organizations like golf and tennis that are quite successful. People don't watch to compare to the men. The problem with WNBA is they think they can be as big as the NBA.

Um...you answered your own question and just reinforced what the OP was saying.

You can watch women's golf and tennis and see excellence. A woman can get up and down out of the sand just as well as a man, and can execute a baseline save about as well. While a professional man would beat a professional woman, a professional woman would still beat >95% of amature male players at both of these sports.

Not so in woman's basketball. A decent high school team would beat the WNBA Champs by 20.

That's true, but only part of the equation. The lack of sex appeal is a big factor in the WNBA's limitations. The biggest women's sports in the world -- tennis, gymnastics, figure skating -- are those in which women can maintain femininity and sex appeal. Tall women dressed in basketball shorts will never be sexually appealling, and more to the point, it can be a downright turnoff for guys. For this reason alone, the WNBA's reach will always be extremely limited.

I took a quick look at the Seattle Storm's roster and I figure their average height is about 6 ft 1 in, about half-way between Elle McPherson's height and Gabrielle Reece's height. So I think women this height can be physically attractive/sexy, except to insecure guys. Granted there aren't any air-brushed mascara-wearing super-models on the team and, like any professional sport (male & female), the WNBA has their share of unattractive players. But can you check out the Seatlle Storm's roster -- Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Lauren Jackson (okay she's really tall), etc. and honestly say there aren't attractive young women on this team ?

Ok, there may be some attractive women on the team, but they simply don't LOOK attractive when you watch them play. If they were all dressed in miniskirts on the court, more people might find it interesting to watch.

I agree with you on the uniforms. I started an earlier post here title stating much of the same

I have always found Sue Bird cute and attactive but she is an exception and when she broke her nose and had to wear that mask, well, lets just say it was pretty.

There is only so much time for men to watch sports and they would rather spent their time watching men play than women. For the women sports market to grow they have to get more women interested. I just don't see that happening.

jazzguitarman:

I have always found Sue Bird cute and attactive but she is an exception and when she broke her nose and had to wear that mask, well, lets just say it was pretty.

There is only so much time for men to watch sports and they would rather spent their time watching men play than women. For the women sports market to grow they have to get more women interested. I just don't see that happening.

I'm a straight female who watches. More of us would watch if they did less of what you suggest. I watch to see basketball, not "sexy", just like my husband watches to see basketball, not to see Tony Parker is tight shorts. That's a really "guy" thing.

They need to focus on female fans and men with daughters and just leave the casual fans alone. There are more women than men in the US. Market it right and the women my age (40s) and under will come. The younger generation is more sports minded- the fathers will follow the daughters. That "sexy" stuff will turn off fans like me and our daughters. I don't want my daughter doing any of that trash.

And I know men who watch women's tennis because Venus is good. And they have daughters who love her. That's the key. The daughters.

They need to attract me, and I'm not watching to see women in short skirts. I'm watching because I played. They need to stop trying to get casual male fans, because those fans are fickle and causing the NBA itself problems. Focus on the core audience and grow it. Link into the roots netwrok the way the male NBA has through camps and universities.

But don't turn this into the lingerie basketball game to get casual male fans who don't like or respect this game. The female game is different and excellent in different ways, including the running of plays, coordination and leadership. Market to the people who respect that.

You hear that thrown around a lot, but I don't know how much I buy it. College football is enormously popular, and yet almost all of the players, even at the major schools, are manifestly inferior to what you can see on Sundays. NCAA basketball has an even bigger divide, and it still brings in quite a few fans.

So I don't get that fans only want to see the best in any given sport. Reality doesn't really bear that out.

Did you really just puzzle over the popularity of college hoops and football? People root for schools for a variety of reasons, not the least of which are location and personal and/or family ties to the college. The other big part of it is like I said in my other post, a large reason we tune into sports is to watch other people do things we wish we could do. Those things happen in college football and basketball. Clutch shots, running backs tearing off huge runs, big hits, soaring dunks, these things all still happen in college sports... Its the teams the can't produce action like this that don't have big followings... and well the WNBA does not produce EXCITEMENT....

No, you don't have to explain the popularity of college sports. I enjoy watching college football at least as much as I do watching the NFL. But it IS a minor league. People love watching this minor league, contrary to the title of this tread. So yes, it belies the argument that nobody gives a shit about the WNBA because it is a minor league.

I agree that with that women sports needs to work with young girls and thus when they get older they will be fans of women sports just like I was when growing up as a boy.

And you are right that adding 'sex' to the games would be a bad idea. For every man that might watch they would lose a few women fans. Women fans are key to their success.

Of course I did have one idea; Have all the refs be good looking guys. Hey sometimes a little bit of cheese does help!

their's minor league and theirs really minor league.

The woman's game is not even comparable in quality to high school boys basketball. If mens college basketball was only at that level, then it wouldn't be popular either.

Let's just think about it on a scale, from 1-10

1 is Sophmore level basketball

2 is WNBA

3 is Highschool Junior Varisty Basketball

4 is Highschool boys basketball

6 is DIII

7 is DII

8 is DI

10 is NBA

See how the quality slides down? There is a lot of distance between DI and the WNBA.

So, no, you haven't adequately refuted the quality argument, because the gap is too large to overcome.