Big Day For WNBA: Skims Drop Goes Viral And Teams Are Enjoying Their First Chartered Flights In League History
Tomorrow night, the WNBA kicks off their season....without a doubt the most anticipated season in the league's history. One of the biggest changes for the league in 2024 will be the quality of travel. Since the beginning of the league, the teams mainly traveled commercially:
ESPN - Since the WNBA launched in 1997, teams have primarily traveled on commercial airlines due to financial reasons. And all travel parameters were part of the collective bargaining agreements between the league and players' union. But in recent years, the call for charter flights has grown more insistent.
The WNBA began using charters for all playoff games in 2023. But on Tuesday, the league -- without going into specifics -- confirmed even bigger travel changes are coming.
"We intend to fund a full-time charter for this season," WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. "We're going to as soon as we can get it up and running. Maybe it's a couple weeks, maybe it's a month ... We are really excited for the prospects here."
The overall cost will be $25 million. This is a huge cost for the league considering it brings in around $200 million per year. The league's profitability has a huge upcoming media rights deal. How much ESPN/NBC/FOX pays for that could show us how successful the league can be. The trickle-down effect of Caitlin Clark will also be something interesting to watch....will fans tune into just the league's #1 star or will they become fans of their local teams?
(Side note: the idea of Caitlin Clark flying commercial for every game in 2024 is comical....it would have been a safety concern. There's a reason why she already has a security guard)
Building a successful league in the modern era relies on one thing: stars. That's what the WNBA has, in not just Caitlin Clark. brands like Skims want to get involved:
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