bankybruce said:
If that is true why is womens tennis and soccer more popular then mens tennis and soccer. I bet Venus and Serina could beat most of the men on the tour and I bet our womens US soccer team to compete with our mens. There are 4 sports that are main stream, golf, soccer, tennis, and basketball. 2 of them are more popular then the mens, those are good numbers, plus the NBA was not a over night success. The year beofre Michael entered the leauge they have no TV deal and were losing so much money, but 1 man turned that around, so do not write off the WNBA. The Conneticut team sells out every game, those are steps in the right direction. I think not being affiliated with the NBA will help in the long run, because i thing the NBA could only hold them back and not allow them to go to markets that that does not have NBA teams, but does want some sort of basketball, or is popular with womans NCAA. I bet a team will relocate to Tennasee soon neas were teh Lady VOLS play(I think that is what they are called).
Women's tennis is more popular because of the rackets. They made so many changes to tennis rackets(what they're made of, the size of the racket face and the sweet spot) that the mens game became serve, return, volley point. Women have more rallies. Remember when people used to say Roscoe Tanner was boring because all he did was serve and volley, that's what most of the men on the tour do now because they can serve so much faster.
On the women's tour the speed on serves is much lower so the game is far more interesting, points last longer. That said the fact is studies show Kournikova draws better than any player on the tour but the Williams' sisters, nobody is paying because of her tennis skill. Women use the same rackets but the speed is not the same so there's more to it. I used to love watching Bjorn Borg play, I can't watch men's tennis now.
Women's soccer is more popular than mens' in the US, MAYBE, worldwide not even close. I think the mens team would wipe out the womens team they're just too fast, but the womens team clearly plays better fundamental soccer. BECause womens pro leagues aren't as common, the women tend to stay together on the national team for years so the team aspect is enhanced. men go play pro.
The WNBA fails because not enough women watch it. They have tried unsuccessfully to market it to women, young girls like it, some men like it, but their target audience doesn't like it. Men already have the NBA and college. Men want to see people who can do things they can only dream of doing, that's not the WNBA. There are some good players mind you, but the average guy who played HS basketball watches one of those games and says I could do that at that age why would I pay to watch them do it?
I worked with someone who was on the border of making the WNBA, (she was trying to get into the ABL before it folded and then the WNBA). We used to play basketball on a portable hoop in our parking lot at lunch, she was good, as good as any of us guys save 1, but none of us were 6 feet tall, none of us played ball past HS, and we were in our mid 30's or later(one guy was mid 40's) she was in her early 20's. Even she said she much preferred to watch the men.
