On Thursday, February 15, the WNBA announced an activation at NBA All-Star weekend, which will be happening in Indianapolis. The location of this year’s festivities is serendipitous for the W, with the Indiana Fever on the clock for the first overall selection in the upcoming 2024 WNBA Draft. The W is capitalizing with this fan-centric event, which will be open Friday through Sunday during NBA Crossover, will be an immersive experience, where fans can simulate—atop a league- and Fever-branded stage—being named as the No. 1 draft pick.
Ahead of the exciting weekend, WNBA chief marketing officer Phil Cook talked to Winsidr about the event. “It’s a pretty amazing draft class,” Cook said of the potential incoming prospects. “This could be a franchise changing moment for Fever basketball. That was the insight: to recreate and let [fans]go through the draft experience, like a first overall pick would.”
There will be a tablet set out at the start of the experience, allowing fans to customize what they see as they make their way to the stage, with TV screens replicating their selections. Each of the league’s dozen teams will be represented within the activation, with some WNBA Draft trivia sprinkled throughout. All six athletes under the Player Marketing Agreement (PMA) will spend some time around the activation, so fans will have the opportunity to see and take photos with some of their favorite WNBA stars.
Friday, Feb. 16: Brionna Jones of the Connecticut Sun (3:00-3:30 pm)
Friday, Feb. 16: Rhyne Howard of the Atlanta Dream (3:30-4:00 pm)
Friday, Feb. 16: Arike Ogunbowale of the Dallas Wings (3:30-4:00 pm)
Saturday, Feb. 17: Shakira Austin of the Washington Mystics (12:30-1:00 pm)
Saturday, Feb. 17: Aliyah Boston of the Indiana Fever (1:00-1:30 pm)
Sunday, Feb. 18: Jewell Loyd of the Seattle Storm (4:00-4:30 pm)
“They’re all going to be invited to come over and engage in the activation with our fans,” Cook said. “When you go to an event like Crossover as a fan, having the opportunity to see a legend, see a current All-Star, see basketball royalty—[that’s] what every fan wants to do.”
“I’m excited to be attending NBA All-Star and happy the W will have a strong presence there,” Brionna Jones said. “It’s all about bringing basketball fans together, and with women’s basketball having a major moment right now, it’ll be fun to celebrate our game together.”
Women’s basketball, both college and the W, has enjoyed tangible and consistent growth in recent years, but there hasn’t always always been synergy amongst the two. With the hardline definitions between pro and amateur loosening ever so slightly in the NIL era, perhaps we’re heading towards a more congruous era.
Per Across the Timeline, the 2023 WNBA attendance marked the league’s highest average since 2018. According to ESPN, last season was the W’s “most-watched regular season in 21 years.” With a 40-game schedule generating extra revenue for markets, an increase in nationally televised games increasing easy access to new viewers, and more brand partnerships coming on board (which is a big part of Cook’s job), the W has been on a consistent upswing. Cook, who joined the WNBA ahead of the 25th season, believes there’s been a transition from survive to thrive. “We’ve shifted the narrative,” he said, “from ‘support us because we’re the right thing to do,’ to ‘invest in us because we’re a good return on your dollar.’”
On the college front, last March’s NCAA tournament provided the blueprint, and not just for women’s basketball, not just for college athletics, but for sports as a whole. It all comes back to building narratives. “The deeper we go in athletes’ storytelling, the greater the fandom that we’re experiencing,” Cook said, reflecting on last year’s phenomenon. “The NCAA [enjoyed]an amazing experience last year with Angel [Reese] and Caitlin [Clark] working their way to the championship and the 10 million followers who decided to watch it on television. That is just where the sport is going, and we’re very excited to be a part of that conversation.”
This is just the first step in a series of planned activities ahead of the WNBA Draft. Cook said that the league will be more intentional about having a brand voice at and around the NCAA tournament. It’s a connection point that makes all the sense in the world, but until recently, the W has siloed itself off other adjacent women’s basketball organizations. Thankfully, we’ve seen a change in that philosophy of late. WNBA League Pass expanded last year to show a majority of Athletes Unlimited games, and they’ll run back that partnership when AU returns to the court at the end of this month. League Pass has also streamed Australian hoops this winter, bringing the WNBL onto the app.
“We’ve never been outwardly promoting the league, having a point of view on who we are as a league during tournament time,” Cook said, acknowledging the shift. “But we know there is a really huge fandom around college basketball, there always is. So, for the first time in our history, we’re gonna have a brand voice in and around college basketball and this is awesome. You’ll see us on the ground. [At the] Sweet 16 and Elite Eight towns of Albany and Portland, and then you’ll see us on the ground at Cleveland during the Final Four weekend. You’ll see us on television for the first time ever.”
Of course, this will be terrific from a brand harmonization standpoint, in sealing the gaps in the college-to-pro pipeline, to smooth out the transition for college fans who might not follow their favorites to the next level. The goal, in Cook’s words, is to be “authentically relevant” throughout the entire year, and not just on the court during the season. To that end, we’ve seen an uptick in year-round WNBA visibility with players like Candace Parker, Lexie Brown, and Aliyah Boston earning broadcast opportunities.
For ep 4 of Pull Up with Myles and Owen, we spoke to multitalented sharpshooter Lexie Brown of the Los Angeles Sparks. Lexie’s currently hooping at Athletes Unlimited, but also worked as an ACC Network studio analyst, so she dropped some tourney knowledge!https://t.co/mXhnAPVMDK pic.twitter.com/CmspxnGMk9
— Myles (@MylesEhrlich) March 16, 2023
We also see it when W players show off their personalities in commercials, or in league-driven initiatives like the six athletes under PMA contracts that stay stateside and help promote the WNBA in the offseason. “When we have PMA athletes who are willing to be advocates and promoters of the league for us at all these events,” Cook said, “they are the strongest and best voices for promotion of the game year round. Obviously, when they’re on the court playing, that’s our best representation of the league, but off-court, when they give their time and energy to promote the league… this is the ongoing unlock for us.”
The first chance for WNBA fans to see all six of these PMA athletes is this weekend, if you’re able to pull up to NBA All-Star weekend. And keep your head on a swivel: while not scheduled, some other league favorites—A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces, Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty, and Natasha Cloud of the Phoenix Mercury—will be hanging around NBA Crossover. While you’re there, go and see what it would feel like to be drafted to the Indiana Fever.
The 2024 WNBA Draft Day Stage Activation, along with the rest of NBA Crossover, will take place at the Indianapolis Convention Center (100 S Capitol Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46225).
