The NCAA News - News & Features

Pro or con?

Women's basketball hopes to capitalize on new professional leagues while avoiding pitfalls that afflict men's pro game

BY SALLY HUGGINS
Staff Writer

The announcements that two professional basketball leagues for women are forming is a positive sign for women's athletics -- especially because of the high visibility it will provide, women's athletics administrators say.

"It's a tremendous opportunity," said Donna Lopiano, executive director of the Women's Sports Foundation. "When you can take a performing-arts skill like sports and make a living at it, at something you will do for nothing, that's great."

The American Basketball League and the National Basketball Association each have announced plans to organize women's professional leagues. The ABL is expected to begin play this fall and the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) anticipates its teams will take the court next summer.

Professional leagues for women have been attempted in the past, but the difference this time is financial backing and timing, said Christine Grant, women's athletics director at the University of Iowa.

The inaugural games of the ABL will be played soon after the end of the Summer Olympics, which are expected to shine a spotlight on women's basketball and could create a greater audience for the sport.

"With a highly talented Olympic team, it will get some good TV coverage of these highly, highly talented women," Grant said.

Many of the members of the U.S. Olympic team have committed to play in the ABL, and enough additional talent is available to create quality teams.

The WNBA teams, which are not yet formed, will be affiliated with current NBA teams.

Lopiano said the talent pool in women's basketball has grown considerably in the past 10 years, with the collegiate ranks producing some exceptional players. Grant said those talented athletes will provide exciting games for the fans.

"All of this gives the new leagues something the former ones didn't have," Grant said.

But will successful women's professional athletics be accompanied by the negatives that have plagued men's professional sports in recent years? For example, will women de-emphasize educational goals and instead pursue illusory dreams of big money?

"There is nothing inherently bad about professional sports," Lopiano said. "It's the values that people bring to it."

Grant said she hopes women will be able to learn from the mistakes of men's professional leagues and avoid some of those pitfalls.

She doubts there will be a problem anytime soon with women athletes leaving school early.

"Young women still don't have the same foundation as young men. Boys are urged into sports from the time they can walk," she said.

Girls, lacking such encouragement, will need collegiate playing experience to mature their talent, Grant said.

In fact, the ABL has said it will not accept a player whose college class has not graduated -- even if that player did not go to college.

The ABL will start its 40-game season in October, with playoffs scheduled for March 1997. It will have eight teams with 10 players per team.

The WNBA plans a 10-week, 30-game schedule beginning in 1997. Eight teams will be located in NBA cities and will be owned and operated by the NBA team in that market.

The U.S. National Team is the core of the ABL, which conducted a draft June 19 to round out its teams. But some of the biggest names in women's basketball -- such as Rebecca Lobo and Sheryl Swoopes -- are waiting until after the Olympics to commit to a team.

The leagues already have announced television packages. TV coverage and corporate sponsorship by firms such as Reebok and Nike likely will make the leagues a success, Lopiano said.

"There is no question that the leagues will be a success. The key element missing in the previous efforts was the corporate support," she said.

The NBA and NBC have anounced a five-year television deal to broadcast WNBA games. The agreement calls for NBC to broadcast a late-Saturday game of the week, starting June 21, 1997.

"Good media coverage might give the professional leagues the boost they haven't had in the past," Grant said.